About Writing - a guest post by Beach Sloth

Writing about writing is meta.

Hi everyone! Please enjoy this guest post today by your best friend on the internet (did I just make that up or did I steal that from somewhere? never mind, I checked and “your best friend on the internet” is literally Beach Sloth’s tagline, as it should be since it’s true!), the infamous

BeachSloth

. If you are an indie writer or musician, or if you’ve ever done anything bloggable, then you’ve probably heard of Beach Sloth or had your work written up by him on his prolific blog. I can’t think of anyone more supportive than Beach Sloth. He is a friend of mine and for that I am grateful! Today he is here writing about writing, per my request. If you like what you see, please consider checking out his Substack.

Writing about writing is meta. I never thought of writing that way. I did it and have done it for a long, uninterrupted period, about a decade-plus at this point. One of the reasons I think I kept up with the habit is simply that I made the time for it. My day job, thankfully, does not require me to approach writing the way I do in my creative way, and I am incredibly fortunate to be lucky enough to separate the two. I have a day job and have had a day job during my entire adult life, so money at least has always been coming in, allowing me to indulge in the food and shelter habit I’ve grown ever so fond of. 

For individuals who want to become writers or want to know how to sustain themselves during the extremely (possibly life-long obsessions) that is writing, I’d say there are probably a few rules that I would consider paramount to getting it just right (get it, the pun, eh?). I know a list of items to adhere to, but none are complicated. I tried to keep them simple because when you see paragraphs of text signifying nothing, that’s usually a review of a jazz record by a college professor. Nobody ought to experience something as dreary and dull as reading 50,000 words about one person’s thoughts, and I agree there are exceptions to that rule; I tend to think it is a good form of guidance. 

To get to the profound heart of the matter, here are a few things I’ve done to work on my writing habit, sustain it, and become a better writer. I hope one day to get better at what I do, but already, I can return to my old pieces and see how I’ve grown, where I’ve improved, and where I can still grow. It feels endless only because it is, but I don’t consider it a scary form of endlessness. But I am rather happy that it is a journey that will continue for the rest of my life, no matter the subject matter, interest, hobby, or general commentary.

Please see the below: 

1. Be a reader – this one seems straightforward, but I will flip it around. You might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t care about ‘Insert Major Literary Work Here.’” That’s fine. You don’t have to. Literature is more than whatever gets published in a book, though that’s the part of literature that I think gets the most attention, even though, in percentage terms, it is the smallest part of literature. Next, you get the larger swath of journalism – this can be reviews, new articles, etc. This is literature but tends to be ignored as possessing artistic merit. There is something to be said for conveying the news in an impactful way, even if it is not explicitly emotional or tugging at the heartstrings. You might say, “I don’t read books or newspaper articles.” I’d say that’s not necessary. Every day, you engage with literature through Twitter (I’m not calling it X; call it my rebellion against a lonely, painfully unfunny billionaire who moonlights as the face of misogyny) and Facebook, among others. Some blogs even win awards for their highly in-depth coverage of esoteric topics. I love the deliberate, concise language and the limitations. Because within limits, a lot of creativity can be had. Various Tweets will forever be stuck in my mind for their humor and poignancy. More than several hundred pages’ worth of nothing have been made in too many books to count. I love books, articles, tweets, and Facebook statuses so much. For individuals who claim the loss of literature through these new forms, I swear they are clinging to an old form, unwilling to admit that language has evolved, and want it to stay the same as they remember it. Even the supposedly dreaded “Instagram Poetry,” I have found examples I like too. Like every other art form, there is good and bad to be found, and taste is very subjective. Things that have moved me and others felt nothing; I’m okay with that. We are all different creatures with different experiences. 

2. Adhere to a schedule – I was a night owl. Now, I am a morning person. Make time for writing; it must not be some great, epic work that will change the world. You can journal, tweet, status update, etc. Not everything needs to be taken seriously. Have fun with your creations, and realize that it is inherently playful. There is no right or wrong way to approach writing, and the limitations exist only with the imagination. An hour or so a day can be plenty, and you can find that time in a lunch hour or even during a commute in a carpool/train/bus. Just because the world wants to oppose a seemingly endless number of chores and things to do does not mean you need to agree to all of it. Sometimes, you can find a way to slip away, to get a little time to contemplate what deserves to be considered. You will improve if you do anything long enough for an extended period. They call that “statistical inevitability,” which is 100% your friend. 

3. Find a subject – Okay, now it’s personal. Or not. That’s honestly your choice. Many individuals write about themselves, and why not – people can be interesting. Not all people are created equally interesting, and even some fascinating people like to remove themselves from the action just a little. Instead of writing directly, they have a self-insert character within their story. Maybe they want music architecture and think they are writing dry, detached works. Spoiler alert: even the most detached writing still contains traces, mere speckles of the writer. So, while finding something worth writing about is noble, an essential part of writing is knowing that you will be giving part of yourself away, and you need to be comfortable with that, no matter what the subject is. 

Out of all the advice I have been given about writing, these three have stuck with me because they are universal. Anybody will experience these three, regardless of the region they live in or their economic circumstance. You cannot avoid these, but embrace them and see yourself grow. This is what the world needs and you must improve yourself to become the writer you’ve always dreamed of being.