My Writing Fast Journey: First Lesson Learned

As I promised to update you on my journey as I learn to write fast, I thought I'd tell you the story of my first lesson learned. 

I used to write fast years ago, when I was a baby writer and was totally filled with enthusiasm and the unquenchable desire to just write. As the years passed, and with every subsequent rejection, I learned something new about what I was doing wrong. In my effort to ensure I never repeated the same mistakes, I dragged my internal editor into the chair next to me and made her promise never again to let me make the mistakes that got me rejected. 

Of course, my int ed has taken the job seriously ever since.  

In an effort to silence the editor until I tell her to speak, I embarked on a quest to learn how to write fast. One of the methods I heard was to turn off distractions. 

We all know the best way of shutting down the int editor is to write a rough first draft and don't stop to edit until we get to the end. Just the thought of doing this is impossible for me. Regardless, I kept looking for a way because my main problem is I can't seem to proceed until I make what I write perfect.  

I realise that looking at my previous sentences activates my internal editor, which distracts me from continuing until I fix a word, phrase, reaction etc. I read somewhere that a good method to overcome distractions when writing is to remove all visual disruptions so your mind can continue the writing process unhindered. 

I guess this is something like meditating. You close your eyes in order to shut out distractions. The article I read suggested that you try writing with pencil/pen and paper. You switch off the light, or close your eyes. Apparently, this method allows ideas to flow so your hands can write what your mind sees and stops your internal editor from interrupting.

I was so excited I couldn't wait to try this method! I settled in bed once the kids no longer needed me for the night. I turned off the lamp, and I began to write. I couldn't believe how well it worked!! I wrote pages and pages--something I haven't been able to do for a while. It was late by the time I decided to call it a night. I turned on the lamp to see how much I'd written only to discover that I'd managed to write and rewrite all over each lines despite taking pains not to do so. The thing was illegible in places! You can imagine that I can't even remember what I had written, so I couldn't even salvage it.  

While this method worked fantastically well for shutting down my internal editor, it didn't work so well for being able to use what I'd written. 

Lesson One Learned: don't write in the dark! :D

Back to the drawing board...  

I'll keep you posted :)