Best advice on writing

I’ve had several conversations with people about “how to write” lately. That topic seems to come in waves and in seasons. Over the course of several weeks all of a sudden it seems people get interested in the matter of writing, becoming a writer, or beginning a writing project. I’m never sure about how to help people who come for advice on writing. While I’ve published a few books and write a lot, I don’t identify myself as “a writer.” For me writing is more about having an opportunity to think than it is about getting my name in print, or feeling like I “have something to say.” More often that not, writing for me is a cathartic mind dump. Or, as I kid, “It helps stop the voices in my head.”

Below are some of the points on writing I offer by way of “advice” when people ask. There are more literary and more poetic and inspiring advice on writing out there, but these are the ones I’ve found helpful:

• Keep a journal. I keep two, one beside the bedside where I jot down ideas and phrases I come across while reading. Here’s one from last night: “Courage is the virtue of the weak.” A great line I’ll unpack sometime in the future.
• Write every day. Writing is a craft, and like all crafts its mastery is the result of the discipline of practice. If there’s one reason to blog, this is it.
• Publish a newsletter. A specifically focused way of writing with a specific audience and a specific purpose. After publishing a newsletter for a few years I had enough material for a book.
• Read good literature.
• Read books on writing. I read at least one book on writing per year. On occasion I’ll also subscribe to one of the writing periodicals.
• Write letters. A lost art that should be reclaimed. Read over the letters of Civil War soldiers and you’ll be convinced. E-mails aren’t letters.
• Learn to type—even if it’s using the hunt and peck method. Some people prefer longhand, which is fine. I like the feel of the flow of a fine fountain as much as the next person. But unless you want to forever pay a typist for manuscript services, learn to type.
• Have something to say when you write.
• Write about what you know. We don’t often belief that what we know will be of interest to anyone else, but that’s just not true. Share what you know.
• Avoid vagueness terms (“would,” “may,” “perhaps,” “some people,” “could be,” etc.).
• Be precise (say what you mean and mean what you say).
• Write simply (leave the big words for the dissertation writing).
• Prepare an outline before writing. Better yet, learn to use mindmapping. I can usually mindmap a book project in about 40 minutes cold, and the final project won’t change much from there.
• Edit your work, get someone else to edit it, then edit it again. Here’s the secret about writing: writing is in the editing. Most of my book projects required about five editorial revisions before being ready for consumption.
• Put the work aside for two weeks, then review and edit it again. It’s hard to read one’s own writing when one is too close to it.
• Keep writing. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. There’s not much more to it than that.

Adapted from A Christian Educator’s Book of Lists by Israel Galindo (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, ) You can order the book from the publisher, or from Amazon.com.