Constraints are a blessing and a curse.
I tend to be a more productive writer, and happier with the results, when I place some up-front limitations on the exercise, like…
“This can’t be more than 400 words.”
“I have to include one powerful bit of deep description before ‘claiming’ something or trying to persuade.”
My biggest struggles as a beginning writer, though, weren’t with this kind of constraint. They were:
- Over-editing, or overthinking before I even got started because, in my own judgment, the product wasn’t (or wasn’t going to be) good enough. (A constraint I put on myself.)
Seriously… I cared a whole lot less if someone else thought my writing sucked, than if I put something out there and later found something to nitpick myself about.
And…
- Being labeled a specialist in a particular area, which felt like a path to “lather, rinse, repeat” writing… and intense boredom. (A constraint that felt imposed by others.)
If any of this resonates with the business communicator or creative writer in you, see if this helps:
- Especially with short and “important, but not life or death” writing exercises, limit your own rounds of review and space them out over time. If you’ve read it aloud and tightened it up, put it aside for a while. If possible and appropriate, see what a peer or trusted thought partner thinks. If you make changes, put it aside again. Come back, proofread it carefully and let it fly… and let your audience react. (You can’t control that part.)
And…
- Experiment; change things up. Convey a sensory moment to your reader using a different creative mode than your usual. (No one might ever read it, but it might loosen you up.) At work, ask questions about the strategy that your writing supports, to see if tweaking your product can strengthen its strategic connections and help it matter more to your audience.
Two things will probably happen. Most of what you get back will be more positive than you may fear it might…and the rest will build your resilience to future criticism. Think of your “writer’s ego” like the fingers on a guitarist’s fretting hand; it takes some toughening up before the work will feel easier.
What else do you struggle with in your writing or business communication? Maybe I can help. (calendly.com/mattmasoncomms/)
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Photo: Some trusted thought partners from my escape last month to the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
