Writing advice for the perpetually fearful

I like to think I’m a damn good writing coach, the kind of Word Angel you want on your shoulder during the endless miles of writer’s block, whispering sage advice in your ear.

Why am I good? Because I empathize.

Anyone who writes knows what it’s like to sit in front of a computer screen or blank sheet of paper, wishing the perfect arrangement of words would instantly materialize in congruence with the fleeting insight of one’s thoughts.

At the middle school where I volunteer in its journalism program, I usually help one student in each of the last three periods of the day. Most times, they’ve already begun turning their notes into stories, and so my input is as a nuts-and-bolts editor –” let’s move this graf over here;” “you need to verify this or find out about such and such;” correcting grammar and spelling and adhering to AP style.

But when a student sits frozen in front of the computer, unsure of where to begin turning her notes into story — that’s when I feel I have the most important advice to offer:

Just write.

Don’t worry that it might not be any good, I say. It probably won’t be, but who cares? Just get it on the page, so we have something to edit, something to work with.

Since the time I started working as a journalist, this has been my guiding principle. I never wait until the last moment to write a story, and I never, ever do a notebook dump. Instead, I write the story as I’m gathering information. It’s the best way I know to do my job.

Sometimes, a fake lede will focus my efforts before I’ve had my first interview. As I gather notes, I put them in the story, wherever it seems they would logically fit. This way, I have something to work with, something to revise every day, so that the story takes shape in bits and pieces. Because, regardless of what you’ve been told or led to believe, stories don’t write themselves, and the longer you delay putting your first thoughts to paper, the tougher the process becomes.

It’s easy advice to give, but much harder to put into practice for the hesitant writer. So I nurture the process along by letting the students hear my thought process — “Do we need this direct quote, or would it be better to paraphrase it?” “What’s the story about?” “These two items are related — let’s copy them into the document right now.” Often, putting down those first words can be as simple as “This is the graf where info about such and such will go.”

Worry about transitions, making sense, and clever turns of phrase later. Because the only way you’ll get to that point in the writing process is by typing those first few uninspired words right now.