The seven stages of writing

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,

“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write.”

Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella.

I used to agonise over how I wrote, because it seemed to be so disorganised, so messy, so … inefficient. And then, at some point in my thesis write up, I realised that there was no point in worrying about the things I could not change, as Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer advises. It was then that I started to realise that this was just how I wrote, and to make a virtue out of it. But one stage of my writing still troubled me and tripped me up. At some point in any writing project I undertake I would become convinced that I was not able, and never would be able, to finish it  – either because my writing was rubbish, or the topic was trite and boring, or because I was not authorised to write about it – the reason would vary, but it always happened. At this point sometimes I just gave up, but when it came to my thesis write up there was no way I was not going to submit it. I’ve written before about this writer’s block, and how I don’t find it easy to let go of my writing and publish it, but as time has passed I have realised that this despair that I feel is actually just one of the stages of my writing. And although that doesn’t stop the feelings from occurring, it is helping me to overcome it. So here are my seven stages of writing.

There’s still more to tease out about this whole process, of course – but this idea has been percolating for a long time now and it’s time to let go of it.