I have a confession to make. It’s amazing how much I DON’T edit my articles. I spend an hour writing a post, re-read it from top to bottom, then I make any necessary edits in 5 minutes. And that’s it. I don’t ruminate on every sentence. I don’t ask for feedback. I just write and publish.
Glad I stumbled on this piece and your work. After reading this, I feel like we just chatted at a coffee shop. And I’m going to guess that’s how you want it to feel. After Substack started getting crowded with the “here’s how to grow and write” people… I’ve noticed myself stepping away and not writing here as much.
This is like a kind invitation to come back. An inspiring one too. Thanks for this.
Thanks Tom, Everytime I read one of your posts I feel better about just writing what I'm inspired to write and making genuine connections. I believe that my words will resonate with who they are for. Thanks for the reminder.
Even getting to this point is a leap of faith. To know that you can bang something good in an hour. And we all remember those posts that we agonized over and die a painful death and the ones we wrote in ten minutes on the toilet, and everyone love.
I love this. I enjoy the reading most when it touches me, and those are the readers I seek on Substack. Spot on. My essays follow the way my brain thinks.
In the book I’m creating called “Staying Together”, I’m more careful about the words and sentences because it’s not about me. It’s about teaching couples therapeutic techniques to maintain and improve their relationships. Yet, even in this, I find myself very aware of creating an alliance between my readers and me. My book follows the way I interact in a therapeutic environment with clients (even tho the book isn’t therapy.)
Yeah, your write about people not karing about mitakes. It's really the message that matters.
I'm getting over the perfectionism thing after being afflicted with it for a decade. I've spent months on essays before, crafting each sentence into a finely made work of pretension.
It sounded pretty, but most didn't care about that either. It was at times my vanity writing over top the message I was trying to convey with a gleeful "Look how smart I am!" type of display masking my insecurities.
I’m all about the feels. I think I’ve tapped in to what you are talking about from the beginning. Since I’m writing letters to my son, everything is personal. Writing weekly helps me break free from being too attach to a piece. I press publish and let it do what it was meant to. The story is mine but the words are meant to touch others. Thank you for this reminder.
That's a fantastic perspective. I should do the "emotion transmission" exercise more often, even in my science-based articles (I tend to focus on the information I should get through, but I do not really think about passing on an emotion). You got me thinking here....💡
Well said, I have been grappling a lot about how do I get a post right, how do I improve my sentences. Just thinking about them after reading this post makes me realize how foolish I have been. As rightly said, let’s go with the flow.
Thanks for this post. I loved the line - Reading is a magical experience, not a technical one.
It’s emotional. It goes deeper than the words you’ve written on a page and HOW you’ve written them. You are absolutely right.
Nice post thanks. Lately I’ve been thinking about the use of paragraphs. It seems the latest style is to use them frequently, as you have done.
I was always taught to group all sentences on a subject within the same paragraph. Do you think this has gone out of style?
When each sentence is a separate paragraph it leaves me feeling a bit breathless.
Glad I stumbled on this piece and your work. After reading this, I feel like we just chatted at a coffee shop. And I’m going to guess that’s how you want it to feel. After Substack started getting crowded with the “here’s how to grow and write” people… I’ve noticed myself stepping away and not writing here as much.
This is like a kind invitation to come back. An inspiring one too. Thanks for this.
I hope this post goes viral. I found it incredibly helpful.
Do you think, for a newer writer, there is a lot to gain by editing in a more painstaking manner?
You may be able to edit your blogs in 5 minutes, whereas for me it would take 50. Just given your experience vs mine (as an example).
Thanks Tom, Everytime I read one of your posts I feel better about just writing what I'm inspired to write and making genuine connections. I believe that my words will resonate with who they are for. Thanks for the reminder.
I find sometimes you can edit too much and you fall into a bottomless pit that will suck away your time.
Even getting to this point is a leap of faith. To know that you can bang something good in an hour. And we all remember those posts that we agonized over and die a painful death and the ones we wrote in ten minutes on the toilet, and everyone love.
Agreed! This is how I go into my Substack posts too. 🩷
I love this. I enjoy the reading most when it touches me, and those are the readers I seek on Substack. Spot on. My essays follow the way my brain thinks.
In the book I’m creating called “Staying Together”, I’m more careful about the words and sentences because it’s not about me. It’s about teaching couples therapeutic techniques to maintain and improve their relationships. Yet, even in this, I find myself very aware of creating an alliance between my readers and me. My book follows the way I interact in a therapeutic environment with clients (even tho the book isn’t therapy.)
Very true 🙏🏼
Yeah, your write about people not karing about mitakes. It's really the message that matters.
I'm getting over the perfectionism thing after being afflicted with it for a decade. I've spent months on essays before, crafting each sentence into a finely made work of pretension.
It sounded pretty, but most didn't care about that either. It was at times my vanity writing over top the message I was trying to convey with a gleeful "Look how smart I am!" type of display masking my insecurities.
I’m all about the feels. I think I’ve tapped in to what you are talking about from the beginning. Since I’m writing letters to my son, everything is personal. Writing weekly helps me break free from being too attach to a piece. I press publish and let it do what it was meant to. The story is mine but the words are meant to touch others. Thank you for this reminder.
That's a fantastic perspective. I should do the "emotion transmission" exercise more often, even in my science-based articles (I tend to focus on the information I should get through, but I do not really think about passing on an emotion). You got me thinking here....💡
I love the ‘Force’ analogy. Very accurate to my own writing experience.
Well said, I have been grappling a lot about how do I get a post right, how do I improve my sentences. Just thinking about them after reading this post makes me realize how foolish I have been. As rightly said, let’s go with the flow.