How To STFU And Write [Tapping Into GUTS]

HOW TO STFU AND WRITE

How to STFU And Write

I'm sure you are saying to yourself: "Frost, don't you think that's a bit crass, rude and pretty much shit that people full of themselves say?"

And to you I say: so?

Are you really gonna write that awesome post, character or story just by sitting to yourself and saying: "Wow, I really want to write but....."

Stop right there.

Quit with the buts.

If you have energy to type that thought, then you have energy to go ahead and write even one hundred words on something you want to do.

Now, I'm not saying to write when you are in the middle of going through a funeral, walking around with smoke in your lungs and feeling your body in total pain.

I'm saying that a lot of people love to talk (myself included. I feel like the kingpin of kings when I talk my good shit.) because it FEELS GOOD. When we talk, we feel like we already did the work and can rest our feet up and feel we'll get around to writing that awesome thing whenever lady muse comes knocking at our door.

Or, we may make a million excuses under the sun to try and protect ourselves from the work it takes to work.

"Oh, I didn't have muh poptarts at 8:30 am this morning, guess I can't write."

"Oh, I would love to write, but I need to finish watching a bunch of youtube stuff"

"Oh, I'd like to write but my writing is just no good."

Well, I'm here to say: fuck that.

We can make writing come when WE want it. Not when some external force is ready for us to write.

Create A Plan

Before you go guns blazing, you need to have a plan. Why is that important?

Well, while it's good to STFU and write, you need to know the steps it takes to write what you want. So I would recommed doing the following.

Plan Of Action

Create an list of one to three things you want to achieve with your writing. These can be as simple or as complex as you want. As an example, I will put something here:

Goal One: Get a post out.

Goal Two: Get a piece of equipment done


Ok. So we know what we want to do. How will we get there?

Well, to post, do the following:

- Create an outline of how you envision the post going down with the guide here:

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t17621-increasing-your-content-frequency-outlining-process-writing-guide

Why create outline? Well, when you already know what you have to write, why waste time thinking about it? It can put you in a state of flow and you can focus on just getting content out.

If you are trying to make a character app? Then do some research into character development, study other profiles, look into how themes work and do whatever types of studying is required to understand a subject. Then, when you've done that, figure out how many words you want to write and just attack it.

HELP: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO WRITE STILL

That doesn't matter. The reason why I say that is because sometimes you just need to pick something and go with it in those cases. I would make a list of the things that are making you confused and uncertain of where to write. Then, I will want you to create a list of the top three things that are on your mind and make a plan to finish them within a day or two or make some type of progress on them.

As, if you use that as an excuse, that will only pile up your to-do list and make you parayzled. So, you have to just start and ignore the confusion, doubt and frustartion. That will ease as you actually begin to make progress on somehting because you'll be too busy writing to care.


HELP: I CAN'T WRITE BECAUSE I SUCK

Then write more. Do you think I got better at writing by thinking: "wow, everyone around me is levels above me. Guess I better quit". No. I practiced and practiced until I got better and learned how to push through a lot of the doubts in my head about my writing. Even if it takes years to do, you WILL eventually get better.

Really, sit down and think: how did you master something? Everyone has had to do this process at least once in their life. Reflect back and think to when you were a baby: did you learn how to walk by refusing to walk? No. You got up, fell down and tried again and again until you were finally able to walk towards your parents. The same logic applies to writing.

You may suck today, but you aren't gonna get to the level of un-suck without struggling and attempting to get to a higher level.

How To Stay In Motion

Ok. You got your plan. You have a decent idea of what you have to write. But how do you stay in motion? Well, limit yourself. Say that you are going to write for 15 minutes and write whatever comes to mind. The reason I say this is because you WILL find SOMETHING to write in that time and you will have made progress.

This is important because your mind reaches a state of flow within the first 5-10 minutes of doing a task and this can apply to writing as well. So just tough out those 5-10 minutes and then eventually you will see something on the page and you'll have content. From then, you can either take a five minute break or do another 15-30 minute burst until you have your task done.

Conclusion:

Listen, I'm not saying to always force yourself to write when you can barely keep your eyes open in the middle of the night. However, there comes a point where it becomes absurd when you see all the stuff you are falling behind on and sometimes you just have to tough it out. So, this execrise is to push yourself to strive more for your writing. As I'm certain we didn't join this site just to sit back, relax and watch other do things. You joined because I'm assuming you had an impulse to write and write you shall.