There
are lots of good reasons why you should operate on the principal of
multiplicity--multiple writing projects, projects at several phases of
completion or incompletion, multiple genres. Maybe especially multiple genres.
Try to balance many writing projects at once.
-multiple
phases: you've got at hand notes toward one project, a handwritten rough draft,
a freewrite, a middle draft, a document that recently received feedback, and
another document that is at the proofreading and final phase. In no particular
order of value: the notes are not less valuable than the nearly completed
piece.
-multiple
genres: you've got at hand a poem draft, a piece of creative nonfiction, a
journal entry, an email in-progress, a draft of a scholarly article, part of a
book proposal, etc. In no particular order of ability: you don't judge one
genre as less valuable because you are less of an expert in it.
Why
it's helpful? Because multiplicity mirrors the constant flux of our internal
talk. The calmest and probably most productive writer is the type of person who
follows flux, so it makes sense to establish working conditions that both
foster and mirror flux.You'll want to cultivate an appreciation for
impermanence as much as possible in your writing practice. Providing yourself
multiple opportunities for writing (i.e.: keeping many genres and phases on
stock) allows your mind to embrace change.
Writing
in more than one phase is helpful because it's a way to take charge of the
proximity of audience in your thinking. At certain moments, you may want to
keep that audience very close to you in your thoughts (i.e.: an advanced draft
or editing). At other moments, you may want your privacy from other people; you
may want to write by yourself, without concern for what others might eventually
think of your work.
Writing
in more than one genre is helpful because if you are anxious about Task A, you
can consult strategies and dispositions you developed to finish Task B, from
another genre. You can tap into a previous positive writing experience.
Specifically, you can borrow the positive audience dynamic inside another genre
if your current thoughts about audience are an obstacle. A genre like poetry,
for instance, carries no (or at least minimal) commercial expectation which can
be liberating for writing prose. A transactional genre like an end-of-the-year
report can be helpful in developing a rebuttal for a scholarly article.
Start
each writing session by turning to your mind and asking, "What is it I'm
interested in working on right now?" And accept whatever reply your mind
provides.
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