(3 min read.) If you can read this, it might be time. (I’ll take this post down once we’ve succeeded.) It’s our job to save the world. By writing. And I don’t mean some touchy-feely “creativity helps us save ourselves” hand-knit pottery crap, I mean we’re gonna save each other. In practical terms. Like firefighters getting each other out of a burning building.
We can do this. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, most of us can agree that the world’s on fire. The billionaire class has more yachts than sense, there are thousands of children dying in poverty, there are legitimate reasons for the average person to be nauseous about whether we can trust elections in the United States or any kind of legal system on local or international levels, and even though we might disagree about how to solve it: nobody wants a dirty ocean. The world is not, (how do I put this), the world is not saving itself. And the world is definitely not saving us.
So, short of getting a doomsday bunker, what are we gonna do? Well, I’ve got good news. We’re gonna save each other. And we’re gonna start by picking up a pen.
We are gonna pick up a pen and we are gonna tell the truth. And when it seems hard we are not gonna give up. And, this might sound unimportant but it’s not, it’s vitally important: we’re gonna have fun.
Writing can save the world. I really believe this. To save the world, you only gotta do three things. You have to do them over and over, but it’s only three. Tell the truth, don’t give up, and have fun. Have your own fun. Not somebody else’s.
We’re in a global expressive crisis. All of us are writing more than we ever have, we’re leaving these massive electronic snail trails of all our ideas and opinions with literacy and publishing access that would make a medieval peasant weep. This should be an expressive paradise, but most of those ideas and opinions aren’t really ours. Some of them we’ve barely thought about at all. We’re overwhelmed by information, in a constant deluge of words flying at us all the time, and there’s this pressure to spew out an opinion every five seconds or else the world will leave you behind. How many think pieces are you supposed to pump out to stay relevant? How much water is a fish supposed to fart out into the ocean before it creates a splash?
The truth to expressive power is exactly that: power. If you wanna write to save the world, you gotta gather your power. You gotta be willing to do something different. You gotta be willing, (bear with me), to THINK.
Most of what people write, online and in books and in the newspaper, they haven’t really thought about. Because they didn’t have time. They didn’t have time to sit with the information, and hold it, and sort it, and look at it from above and sideways and from underneath, and take it apart into pieces with a screwdriver and put it back together in a whole new shape that was truly, completely, uniquely, and honestly their own.
We do this with our truth (or lack of it) and we do it with our fun, too. There’s a ton of global pressure to accept other people’s ideas about what’s true and what’s fun. What if we spent more time figuring it out for ourselves? Then, we told someone our honest truth about it?
What would the world look like if you really owned everything that came outta your mouth? If what you said captured all of how you feel? All of what you know? What if what you said was what you really meant?
Writing is where we practice. Writing is where we train this. Writing is where we take the time to have our thoughts, make our words, and then see them honestly to find out if we can stand behind them.
Writing is a tool we use to tell the truth, to share the truth, and save the world.
First, tell the truth. Then, don’t give up. If you want to make the effort worthwhile, have fun.
(Want some practical advice? Try this 90-second writing tip.)
xo, megan
Or just go home to the blog.
These (hopefully) really quite helpful creative writing tips offer what I’ve learned as an award-winning author who writes a million words a year, and what I’ve learned about supporting others as a private writing coach.
There’s no one way to write. There’s only your way. I hope some of my tactics and ideas can help you find it.
Yup, I’m a writing coach.
I work with folks at all levels of experience and all levels of income. My writers range from unhoused teens living on the streets to C-suite executives who want to up-level their communication. If you want a private coaching session but can’t afford it, email megan@howtowritesomething.com and ask for scholarship info.
curious/confused?: what does a writing coach do (and not do)
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