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How To Be A Better Writer

Sarah McMahon
4 min readJan 5, 2020

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[Listen to an audio version of this blog HERE.]

I just finished re-reading The War of Arty by Steven Pressfield. I recommend this book to most people, but to writers and creators especially. Pressfield writes extensively about the idea of resistance, how creative individuals get sidelined by both internal and external resistance, how to overcome this, and how to be creatively productive. I consider myself an expert in few disciplines, but I write every day, and have been for a very, very long time so I feel justified dispensing the following advice. Take it or leave it.

How To Be A Better Writer

1.) Practice: This is the least sexy but most important tip. Nobody wants to hear that writing something good takes a lot of time and practice. You'll probably write a ton of bad stuff before you write anything passably good, and that's okay. Be okay with writing dumb, unimportant, terrible things. Write every. single. day. I promise, you'll get better. Like most things, progress won't happen overnight. Acclaimed writer David Sedaris said he wrote consistently for 15 years before his first book was published. If that doesn't sound like something you're willing to do, you might not have the chops to be a writer.
 
2.) Write Shit Down: This is as obvious as it is easy to neglect. Maybe you overhear an interesting conversation, or have an…

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Sarah McMahon
Sarah McMahon

Written by Sarah McMahon

Sales Professional | Blogger | Ultra Runner @mcmountain work email: sarah.mcmahon@ticketsignup.io personal email: sarahrose.writer@gmail.com

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