I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether or not I had any sound advice to offer on the topic of writing. When I asked myself if I was qualified to give such advice, my immediate response was “no”; however, that was likely just that pesky Imposter Syndrome acting up again. In college, I read a book called Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. That book had a really great section called “Shitty First Drafts” which was, as you probably have guessed, about writing shitty first drafts. The core message that I took away from the piece was that not every chapter, poem, or sentence will come out exactly right the first time. Sometimes, we get so caught up in trying to make something that we end up not making anything at all.

In other words: it is much easier to edit than it is to fabricate.

So, really, my best advice on writing is to write– all the time. Make it weird. You can pretty up a sloppy paragraph last minute, but you can’t write a whole paper last minute (I should know, seeing as many of my college papers flirted with that exact principle). I recommend reading that book I mentioned before- it’s a tome of sound advice spoken in a unique and easily understood style.