Watch a child draw.
Look at the fascination in their wide eyes.
They don't worry about 'technique.'
They don't second-guess their style. They just create.
And they often need a very good reason to pull themselves away.
And yet, here you are, struggling to sit down to write anything.
The tragedy unfolds when we first learn about 'effective' writing.
We are introduced to 'proper' structure.
We are shown how to write like a 'professional.'
And, God forbid, we had a stint somewhere that forced us to develop an academic writing style.
Suddenly, our natural voice that once flowed out of us so effortlessly gets strained.
Like sand covering a rotting corpse on a beach, our voice is buried under rules, fears and expectations.
I see it in people's writing all the time.
It's part of the reason I barely read online articles anymore. I'm just watching a talking puppet post-assassination.
Where someone's ideas held so much potential, we see forced sophistication, try-hard eloquence and subconscious manifestations of self-censorship.
People are borrowing personalities that aren't even their own.
And AI only accentuates this dreary crap.
But finding your voice isn't about learning a new way to write.
It's about subtraction.
You must unlearn all the ways you think you should write.
Strip away all pretence. Reconnect with your inner child.
They possess more play, more insight, and more flare than you ever believed was possible.
Stop trying to sound like a writer.
Become a master at letting. the fuck. go.
My Online Writing Alchemy course shows you how to implement 15 more secrets for how to write like a human who builds a buzzing tribe that allows you to be free.
—
And if you’d like access to hundreds of locked articles like this one, you’ll want to become a paying subscriber here on Substack for less than the price of a couple of coffees each month:
I'm reconnecting with my inner child and teaching her it's ok to let go and have fun. thanks for the advice today!
We must unlearn to let go of the screens and take a walk in the forest! Thanks for sharing Alex, keep the words coming! And Happy Holidays :)