How to write like you give a shit

I am a terrible writer who from time to time produces something decent. That‘s how I feel about what I create. That‘s impostor syndrome for you. I suffer from it as much as the next guy. But I won‘t let it stop me from writing as much as I can. I write every day. I have to. I‘ve been doing this shit for years, and I certainly won‘t stop because my brain tells me to.¹

Believing to be terrible at what I do has one benefit though: I need to try extra hard. I go the extra mile to create something meaningful. Over the years I collected different pieces of advice and rules to help better my writing.

I‘ll publish them here as a sort of reminder. Consider this to be my style guide. Maybe you find it helpful and learn something new.

• „It is only by going through a lot of volume of work that… your work will be as good as your ambitions.“ by Ira Glass. Which translates to: Read a lot and write a lot
• „You don‘t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.“ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Let me add to this quote: Live a life worth writing about.
• Don‘t wait for inspiration or you‘ll die waiting
• Write every day as if your life depended on it. Because it does
• „This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard, and you put one word after another until it‘s done. It‘s that easy, and that hard.“ by Neil Gaiman.
• Create an outline for whatever you have to say
• „All good writing begins with terrible first efforts.“ by Anne Lamott.
• Finish your first draft and let it rest for a few days
• Edit for flow, not for grammar. And: Write for yourself, edit for your readers
• You shouldn‘t have to care too much about grammar. Use tools and auto-correct
• Shorter sentences, even shorter paragraphs: „Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.“ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Never dress up your vocabulary. Don‘t use fancy words to impress someone
• Don‘t steal someone else‘s voice. Create your own, regardless of how long it takes.
• Delete the word „that“. You won‘t need it in at least 90% of cases
• Delete „I think“. It strengthens your point
• Delete words ending in „-ing“. It simply sounds better
• „The adverb is not your friend.“ by Stephen King.
• „Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler‘s heart, kill your darlings“ by Stephen King.
• Make people angry. If half of your readers love what you wrote and the other half hates it, that‘s when you know you created something meaningful
• Publish. Don‘t let perfectionism get into your way. Sometimes good enough is good enough
• Break these rules