Focusing writing energies

I have just realised something! Over the last few months, I have been castigating myself for my lack of focus and discipline about writing, spending lots of time trying to find ways to improve the regularity and quality of my writing.  Today, I realised that I do write – and write regularly! But most of it is pointless in a way, beyond keeping in touch with friends and sharing information and commentary around topics.

What am I talking about? I am talking about my interaction of social media channels, especially Facebook and Twitter, where I love to share and discuss information around a broad range of topics.

What I realised is that if I stopped commenting and writing stuff on Facebook, I would probably have at least 500 words a day I could use for some other writing activity. But it is not that easy to do, conversational chit chat is not the same as trying to come up with writing that is both meaningful and elegant. I also enjoy the conversations had on social media and do not want to sacrifice that activity as it helps keep my mind active and in touch with friends and colleagues.

Anyway, it is good to know that I am writing, even if it is not quite what I am aiming for, it is a step in the right direction.

The challenge of writing

I have been doing a lot of reading lately about how to be a better writer.  My exploration has crossed many realms, including picking up tips on being more creative, how to be more effective (Covey) and how to be more productive as a writer. Much of the advice I have read discusses the importance of routine and habit as a writer – dedicating yourself to the task on a daily basis. This has always been a bit of a challenge for me as my writing practice ebbs and flows with my media art practice, my need to explore geographical locales, my job as a public servant, my commitments to a number of arts/community organisations, etc. I sometimes think I am juggling too many balls in the air!

What I did come across recently, via a friend was these great initiatives, designed to encourage aspiring writers:

National Novel Writing Month, shortened as NaNoWriMo is an annual internet-based creative writing project that takes place every November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and 30. Despite its name, it accepts entries from around the world. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing, no matter how bad the writing is, through the end of a first draft. The idea is that many people are scared to start writing because it won’t be any good, and if there’s a time to celebrate length, rather than quality, more people will write an entire first draft, which they can then proceed to edit if they wish.#NaNoWriMo

There is also National Blog Posting Month (“NaBloPoMo”) #NaBloPoMo.

Although it is a late start to the goal of writing a blog post every day in November, I can still catch up.

Over the next month, I will be focusing on sharing some of the latest thinking and writing about communications, PR and media. It is my challenge to be a better blogger – to keep readers informed of a wide range of topics and help ground my thinking and share some of the great resources I discover.

I hope you will enjoy!