Why Writing Gets Easier When You Stop Trying To Be Perfect

byChrisTowers

4.5K followers

1 week ago

One thing that used to slow me down more than anything was trying to make every sentence perfect before I published a post. I would sit there, staring at the same line for ten minutes, rewriting it, deleting it, putting it back, and then spent even more time asking myself why writing felt so tiring.

Sometimes it would take me 10 -12 days to publish something. Its not enough right?

What helped me in the end was realising that most of that pressure came from me trying too hard. I was being far too tough on myself and not giving myself a break!

I thought everything needed to sound perfect and clever from the first draft. The thing is though, writing becomes a lot easier when you stop expecting things to be perfect straight away.

Once I got into the swing of things, I started letting my first draft to be what it was. Okay not completely awful, but just natural. I stopped worrying myself to death about whether a sentence was the best I had ever written and concentrated instead on getting my idea down.

Most of the time, for me at least, once my idea is on the page, cleaning it up later is a lot easier. A difficult line is easier to fix than not having the line at all.

I also noticed that writing feels a lot easier when you stop imagining people judging every word. Most people read quickly, and they care more about the point you are making than whether every line is perfect. If something helps them, they wont stop to question if my sentence could have been better.

I also thought about and now care a little less for my mistakes. A typo here and there isn’t the end of the world for me. If something doesnt flow that well, I will fix it later. I used to feel really bad about small mistakes, but the longer I have been doing this, the more I realise nobody writes perfectly the first time around.

Letting go of my stress to be perfect also helps me sound more like myself. When you are not trying to impress anyone, your voice comes out. And that is what people relate to. Readers want to feel like someone is talking to them.

Another thing worth mentioning before I close is how perfection slows you down. You might think you are improving your work by going over and over every line as you write, but all you're doing is interrupting your flow.

When you write free and tidy things up later, you will find things move a lot faster and the quality is actually better.

So if writing feels difficult for you now, try taking away some of the pressure. Let your first draft be simple. Let your sentences be normal. Then you can fix things afterwards. Writing is much easier when you allow yourself to be human.

How about you guys?

Do you get stuck because you are trying to make everything perfect, or have you found ways to write a bit more freely?

Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)

Chris