Writing is nothing more than thinking.
And most people are lazy thinkers. Most people have some idea about what “great” writing is supposed to look like because they were taught at school what “great” writing was. Then they try to copy the style of these “great” writers and also think of all the people who will be impressed by their “great” writing.
But teachers forgot to mention thinking.
The best kind of thinking emerges organically without conscious control. Thoughts collect energy and flash themselves to you throughout the day and night. Some of these mental collections are more interesting to you than others. Most people ignore these constant flashings because they are too busy or too stressed out or too self-critical.
These flashes are what I pay attention to when I write and I wait until my mind collects them before I begin. The more you notice and collect these mind flashes, the easier this process becomes.
The real trick, however, involves becoming free enough to have time to collect and share these mind flashes.
Also, you have to feel that your mind flashes are worthy enough to be documented. People have been made to feel that they are not important enough to have their mind flashes documented. No one is better than anyone else. We are all humans. We all have a mind.
Most jobs are detrimental to writing.
I've spent my entire adult working life trying to escape from meaningless jobs so that I could have time and space to think. I have always had a very rich imagination that refuses to be quiet. The things that were constantly getting in the way were jobs.
So financial freedom is what is needed before you can start really becoming good at thinking. But you can’t take your free time for granted once you get it. Once you become free and good at thinking, you might decide to share these collections of mental flashes in the form of writing.
But you also might find yourself worrying about losing the money that made you free enough to think clearly and write.
At this point you might want to join Steemit where you can turn writing and social energy into money.
That’s what I did.
Writing is an expression of thought as you did say..
People need to follow their heart. And express what they feel.. Its no good forcing yourself to be creative if you don't feel it..
Great post and much love from me
-Goldie
Thanks for you kind comment.....now, time to relax:
Writing is a lot of things. I like to think that when I write I am giving a part of me. Aloha!
Thank you for your thought provoking ideas about achieving financial freedom before you are truly able to think. At least a dedication of a larger portion of your time to thinking.
Great and insightful! The best writing is when you tap into core of your being, embrace by the creative juices flowing through you. It always turn out to be your own authentic voice and original. Holding nothing back by the ego drive - "what would people think", "what i could be perceived"...The beauty part of the creative process is that it also sometimes liberate you from "who you are not".
I did write the post titled, "How to Write As If You're Dead"....
Thanks for the tips. I hope to get my brain unscrambled enough to write some decent posts.
key: "and social energy"
If you don't like to write, there are plenty of other things to do on here to generate money.
There are dank memes for example
It's the sharing I like; the money is a nice bonus. I've always liked commenting and supporting others posts. Recently I've been sharing some of my photos.
yes, me too. Sharing is the original hook for me.....
If I look back on my life, it was sharing that has been my main activity.
As a child i had over 20 penpals from all over the world, and nearly every day i'd write a letter to someone, and get a hand-written letter sent to me. I'm still that same person.
Keep going. You have a gift. I've enjoyed following your posts over the past year.
thanks. I feel like i'm all over the map as far as topics go....
Great article🌞 You made some great points. I remember when I first joined I asked you how you how you are so free and open in your writing- and you told me to spill my guts out! Anyway, I love all your posts and I don't tell a lot that people that either. Your posts suck me in and keep me glued. Have a great day! 📝
HAHA Love it @stellabelle :)
Aww sweet :)
Oops, I just noticed I had some errors in my first comment, I fixed it!!
Great post, and so true! Writing is just thinking.
I am far from a writer, but I have time to think now which must be why I'm here on steemit.
Thanks for this insight
Thinking is the most underrated activity ever.
There are no commercials for thinking.
Fair point.
There should be a thinking Olympics
There are, kind of, in several forms-
but because they're not called such and promoted to the billions of not-terribly-advanced primates swarming the planet, they don't generate the kind of buzz, rewards, or mass motivation any college or pro team of mostly-not-excellent thinkers who might be excellent at kicking or hitting a ball can
Have you noticed there used to be nothing else of significance in the mass-appeal sports world other than the big 3 of football, baseball, and b-ball in the US, and football/soccer (and maybe cricket), golf and tennis to a far lesser extent as the main modes of maintaining blind hysteria in the masses, but now there is opportunity to package and promote nearly any team sport, and a lot of individual activites?
Of course, AIs are robbing a lot of potential interest for games humans used to be the only participants, but when robots do the same thing to physical sports, we might come up with a solution to both out of necessity.
As someone that often have to write for work I have learned to think about writing as "thinking out loud - on paper". Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
For me you spoke volume in what I see is wrong with the school systems. Everyone is always so concerned about having to pass tests that are only good at putting you in a box, and the way you think in a box. Some of the best classes I ever had the teacher was the book that taught the class. The book didn’t teach the class.
The same can be said for most job markets. Every company wants that “perfect” employee that fits in their box of checkmarks. They often overlook and even miss out on great problem solvers that could have solve issues their standard cookie cutter employee will not. Even when they do hire that great problem solver the company’s internal politics and policies restrict that employee in such a way they underutilize those skillsets.
good points. I did go to a private school run by hippies until third grade. I believe this helped to form my imagination...
I was a security guard for 10 years.
That decade of vacantly staring into the distance, thinking my own thoughts, made me who I am today.*
*Not handsome though, I was already handsome.
I was a security guard at a museum, so i get it.
I dont see my original comment here...weird.
@stellabelle i love this. I think people can tend to overthink as well, which can cause a lot of confusion in a persons head when they are trying to write something, writing should just be natural and organic like you said. Thanks for that interview yesterday with Terry, i learned a lot from it!
Peace and Bliss.
it is better when it goes like this:
Third eye explosion!
The greatest gift we can teach a person is "how" to think. We all assume we already know how. Usually, in almost every academic setting, we are only taught the information; we are told "what" to think. The mind is a muscle and thoughts, idead, concepts and images are the different kinds of mental activity, like weights at the gym. Thinking well takes effort and practice. We will never think well on accident because thinking and feeling about anything is by choice which is a function of our will; our will is our personal power to make things happen. If we live on autopilot, dragged around by thoughts and feelings you do not consciously and perposefully choose, we can live under the "power" of someone or something which is not what we want or who we are, and it can leave the inner realm of the heart and mind in a helpless state of boredom, frustration and restlessness. Great post. Happy thinking:)
I can't stop watching this....ahahahaha...Booyakahshaaaa!!!
I suck at writing and spelling. Most likely because I went to Public School.
grammar is not that important. Thoughts are.
Aww I love your ending!
Writing can be pretty hard, but practice helps a lot and here on Steemit, we get to practice!
Awwww well I'd like to think us Steemians are just a tiny bit more nice about it :D
I enjoyed this and I just had the same thoughts driving to work two days ago. I turned everything off and just started enjoying the time with myself. Soon ideas were just flooding in. It is a world of distractions to keep you thought from coming through. Thanks for sharing. We all need to spend more time with ourselves.
driving and walking, well, they promote ideas
Great post and my sentiments exactly - I've gathered many thoughts on how to tell my fathers story from his early life to his war years experiences to the life altering post war years that nearly destroyed him. This is a good platform and thank you for helping all of us newbies
Wow, Good stuff @stellabelle. That was an eye opener.
thanks! Nice to see your interview too! And happy you're posting as yourself...
Fantastic post as ever, I love your work and it has also assisted me in many ways. Sending love and happy vibe's to you 😍🕉
thank you
"People have been made to feel that they are not important enough to have their mind flashes documented. No one is better than anyone else. We are all humans. We all have a mind."
@stellabelle, I love this part more. One thing I'm good at, is that I never allow anyone make me feel that way.
Great post from a super woman.
Thank you. And now for a random Steemit moment....
You are welcome.
you said it
i listened ^^
your post gonna help some steemians for sure :-)
liked... ups i meant upvoted hahaha
After a series of extremely disappointing interactions, I'm also going to mention the possibility that some people are just F@&ng stupid.
well then, there is that, true.....
look for those who are not stupid, and you will be happier
Great!! this is such a great article for people like me!!
learnt a lot..
Loved it!!
Yes, after viewing you videos and blogs, I though about myself who I am. I don't know how to write blogs or story but, but this word "Writing is nothing more than thinking" really touch my heart to go ahead to write. Thanks @stellabelle
Good summary of the writing process. I write in a similar fashion. Most of the work is done before typing begins. I take little noes on my "flashes" throughout the day, sometimes in 2-3 minutes a whole article is "composed", if not written.
my teacher always said I write like carving wood with a nail.
ha ha....that sounds interesting. i think the best writing is the most unfiltered.
Can only speak for myself. Freshly off the experience comes great because details... but I also found that hesitation makes rich unfiltered stuff richer
That can produce some very interesting results.
thank you @stellabelle. this will enable many people. may your cup be ever full.
I hope so....
Wonderful article and quite insightful, straight to the point
the type of writing taught in schools is more concerned with practicing the ability to write and think clearly. Imaginative writing is more spontaneous and tends to rely on intuition and flashes of inspiration as you stated in your post.
I've been on both sides of that desk and as a writer I regularly break all the rules I painstakingly taught my students LOL!!
breaking rules is essential.
I've never been much of a rules follower anyway
You obviously don't suck at this! nice work. We think your bottom avatar is gangster as welL!
"Mind flashes" is a brilliant way to describe your inspiration for writing and I love your confessional style of writing 🙂
thanks, i learned it from James Altucher.
Congratulations @stellabelle!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
I am null in English because I am French ^^
I'm the reverse!
Je ne regret croissant :-D
My French teacher once asked the origin of 'croissant'. I guessed it might be an abbreviation of 'ce roi sante', 'the king's health'.
It's not, it's just crescent.
Ha ha! On "je ne regrette croissant".
Post made my day :))
c'est chouette. mon coeur est joyeux.
Mon Dieu! Je ne comprends pas.
Je ressens ta peine... ;)
Write in French then.
One of the biggest challenges is learning how to translate the creative chaos in our minds, into beautiful organized thoughts on paper.
that's a good way of putting it....creative chaos.
yeah, there are so many mental obstacles in the way............drinking used to be a huge obstacle for me.
I had always written random ideas down for my entire life, but it wasn't until i quit drinking that I could begin to write better.
And back in 2015 when i decided to write my first book, the experience was atrocious. I was a terrible writer. I still have struggles expressing in words what i see visually. I see things, that won't go away in my mind.........that's when i try to write them down.....if i didn't "see" anything, i wouldn't be writing. Most things come to me in a visual way, an impression.
I know exactly what you mean about "seeing" before you write. I usually let my mind dose off into a daydream about the subject in which i'm going to write about. When the capacity in which my memory for what I was daydreaming about becomes full, that's when I start to recap and write those things down. It's a repeating process after that... It's really a matter of how much time you have at that point, but then again, time usually gets lost in all this... That's when the Magic Happens.
impressive write up. right on point.
Please do me a favor and take a look at my articles and give me your considered opinion.
I have been here for a little while and written over 10 articles and still have few readers.
Thanks,
my best advice: make friends.
Is it just me or do you guys also get awesome post ideas when you are about to sleep?
yes
Great tips. Thanks for this :)
Yeah writing is a difficult road for sure... but the only way to get your stride and create in word what your mind conceives so that more may benefit... can only come by jumping in. In our case the Steem Pond.
writing is not difficult. it's the thinking.
I believe thinking fell out of fashion with the advent of the television. Countless hours of mindless entertainment leads to an underused brain. It is then easier to sit and be entertained than to think on your own. Use it or lose it, as the saying goes. Those bastards knew what they were doing lol.
Ooo..that's my favorite show O.o lmao
I think, thinking is the easy part, it is to convey your thoughts into structured word to convey the emotives and logics... that is difficult for me.
amazing post thanks for sharing. upvoted and resteem
Thanks for posting this. Points well made.
Thanks for the tips. I find writting as an muscle that needs to be trained. At the beginning everyone writes bad, especially if English is not the main language. But after doing some practice, writting improves, like going to the gym, it would be hard to pull up 200lbs from the start but with practice it is doable. Of course writting involves thinking and taking the necessary time to do it.
also writing depends on how much risk you're willing to take.
True, only can agree to your words of wisdom
True. One tends to think in your home language and then translating makes it a big deal. But we will, however, succeed. ;)
Great post. People suck at writing because some people have a natural brain that does it better and some don't. For a lot of good writers, it comes naturally. Upvoted and resteemed
well, i would assert that it's a practice, not an inborn talent.
Take me for example, I spent nearly my entire life as a visual artist/photographer/designer.....I always wrote down ideas and impressions, but I couldn't write very well to express my ideas. Then there was my drinking which really impaired my thinking......I couldn't write hardly at all. It wasn't until i went broke and applied to like 200 jobs, and was hired as a writer that i discovered that I could write ok, if i practiced like 10 hours per day. The only reason i got that first writing job was because i was desperate, not because i thought of myself as a writer.
Then i got several more writing jobs, so i practiced writing for like 10 hours per day every day. No days off. I did this for about a year. Now it's a habit. But I have to push myself to write challenging things still. The practice will never be over.
Great advice, I find that my best ideas always come to me when I'm busy or have to be doing something else other than writing. Sitting down and specifically thinking about new ideas never works for me!
exactly. That is how i learned to draw too: during math class when my mind was occupied
time is a gift. so true.
Writing is a word and sentence crafting. Craft like every other craft - my language writers would say.
These past few days my posts have been woeful. I tried to force it, this doesn't work. Earlier today I was inspired by one of @aggroed's posts and went with the flow. It turned out (I think) great.
sometimes we try too hard......
lack of time shouldn't prevent anyone from starting, but i must say my mind is better now that I don't have to stress out about my bills.
Oh yes thinking has to do a lot with it. If we don't organize our thoughts the result is similar to throwing up alphabet soup. As always, enjoying and learning through your posts!⭐️🐵⭐️
Thanks for the tips! My issue is short-term memory loss. I'll should start jotting down these mind flashes as they come. Now where did I put my notepad?! 😜
Great input! And what a great platform Steemit is for anyone beginning or trying to bring their writing skills alive.