Writer's corner

9:00 AM


We are all writers here, right? Even if we don't consider ourselves starving artists we still write blog posts or college papers.

With that in mind, I'm introducing a new monthly feature called "Writer's corner". On the last Wednesday of the month I'll post tips on how to write better, interviews with authors, my personal experiences with writing and so on.

For the first Writer's corner, I'd like to begin with a great piece of advice given by author Ira Glass. I read this a couple of months ago and think it is one of the best things an aspiring writer could do (the highlights are mine):

“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.
It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
You guys know I love making deadlines and I think it's great to introduce a practical solution for a creativity problem. It's just so much easier than simply waiting for inspiration. You can watch the whole interview here.
What did you think about Glass' advice? Have you ever tried writing on a deadline?

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6 comments

  1. I have tagged your for Liebster Blog award.

    Love Rie x

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    1. Thanks so much, Rie! xx Have a great weekend!

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  2. Great idea, Paula. Looking forward to future installments! I think that's excellent advice. It's hard to trudge through those first few years of discovering who you are as a writer. Accomplishing it is hard! And I do want and need to improve on writing for deadlines. I set one for myself (just posted about deadlines on my blog!). I'm finishing the complete draft of my young adult novel by July 1st.

    Eeep. Send chocolate! ;)

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's so nice finding new writers out there. I'm good at meeting my deadlines at work but not with my stories...

      You're writing a young adult novel?! That's so cool! Can't wait to know more about it ;) Have a lovely (and creative) weekend xx

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  3. One more thing we have in common - it's somehow easier to meet work/school deadlines than writing ones! What a stories about? If they're anything like your blog, I'm sure they're well thought out and written.

    Yes, I am! It's the first in a fantasy series...I'll be posting more details and snippets of it on my blog soon. Thank you! :)

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  4. Thanks for the kind words, Grace. You're the sweetest ;)

    I soo want to know more about your novel - I love fantasy!

    Right now I'm translating one of my short stories from Portuguese to English. It's a suspense, but the thing is I get scared of it myself. I'm a huge scaredy cat...

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