Better Your Writing By Being a Beginner—Every Day

Yi Shun Lai watercolor notebook

Today’s guest post is by author Yi Shun Lai (@gooddirt).


I’ve been a writer nearly all my life. When I was younger, and way more earnest, and probably more prone to listening to everyone else who came before me, I used to say things to myself—and others!—like, “Ass in chair,” and “Write every day.”

I don’t do that anymore. Which is also to say I don’t write every day now—or I’m not working on my next magnum opus every day of my life. I don’t believe you have to be feeding the literary beast every single day in order to be a prolific, successful writer.

But, as is the case with all things #liferules, I have recently found cause to believe that it is very good practice to do something creative every day. And I did it by taking a 16-day break from writing to focus on another artform.

We accompanied my parents on a cruise to Iceland and Norway recently. I’ve been dabbling in watercolors for the past few years and I was looking forward to seeing a whole new landscape and trying experience it through my new art.

Yi Shun Lai watercolor raccoonPlus, it’s fun. Once or twice a week or so, I’ll pull out my supplies and make myself a little painting, usually involving animals wearing clothing. (I don’t know. Don’t ask. Probably something to do with my unhealthy obsession with Wind in the Willows. Moley + Ratty FOREVER.)

So when I plan for trips, I take all my watercolor stuff with me. My desired MO is as such:

  • See pretty thing once or twice or five times a day.
  • Lay down pencil sketch.
  • Take picture of pretty thing.
  • Complete drawing/watercolor many hours later, or maybe never at all.

What has happened in years and trips past, predictably, is that these drawings never, ever get done. I have nice notebooks filled with pencil sketches and sad-trombone noises.

But this time! This time I managed it. Over our 16 days away, I completed 22 individual drawings and colored them in. And this experience taught me something:

You don’t have to sit down to do something every day. But if you do, you get better at it.

This is probably old news to you. But for me, it was a huge lightbulb moment, because I have never, ever thought about the sitting-down-to-write-every-day thing as a matter of getting better. I have always thought of it as a matter of diligence.

The getting better was of secondary importance.

Yi Shun Lai watercolor notebook two

But with watercolor, it’s easy to feel the difference with each consecutive drawing I make. I could sense myself getting more confident when it came down to the initial sketch; knowing which colors to mix to get the right tone; trying and failing and then eventually achieving the right texture for everything from flowers to lattés to turf houses to blue glaciers.

With writing, though—with writing, I’ve forgotten how to feel those incremental improvements. I think this is because writing has been my career and my passion for over twenty-five years. I have been a published writer since I was 18.

I got cocky.

But looking at a creative endeavor with a beginner’s eyes allowed me to remember what it means to get better. That, when you’ve fought your way through an essay to a conclusion you didn’t see coming, or created a character with a tic that really defines her, you are improving.

Landing Your First PublicationIn Mandy C. Wallace’s new book Landing Your First Publication, she quotes Ray Bradbury: “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” Wallace, who collects writerly quotes, says that the real hidden gem in this quote is the strategy behind it. She uses the quote to encourage writers to not only write a short story a week, but to submit them, as well.

Wallace’s choice to see Bradbury’s words as strategy over inspiration provides us an opportunity to put those short stories to the test. Her book’s prescriptive plan for sending these stories out is the equivalent of my seeing my watercolors fill my notebook; watching the pages wrinkle with absorbed water, so that when I close my notebook again, it never quite sits closed all the way.

With visual art, it is easy to see when you are improving. With the written arts, less so. My wrinkled notebook is what you want with your writing practice: You want your creative life to be bulging at the seams, too, so that you can always see improvement, and room for it.

If you’re writing and submitting, á la Bradbury & Wallace, then you’re going to be getting feedback, even if it takes the stark form of acceptances and rejections.

I think I’d argue that it’s worthwhile for us to assume beginner’s brain when it comes to our feelings about our craft, too: how does it make us feel to look at it? What feeling do I get when I write this sentence or create this character? What does that sense of elation I’m feeling upon completion of this essay comprise?

In order to do this, though, you have to make something that produces these feelings. That means writing frequently.

Wallace’s book comes with a giant passel of prompts, as well as some tools designed to make submitting less onerous. And there’s another book of prompts that my dad bought me about two years ago sitting right next to Wallace’s book on my desk. I’ve only completed a few of the prompts in the older book, mostly because I’ve been of the opinion that writers should be able to find inspiration wherever they go, and that I shouldn’t have to rely on a pre-made book of prompts to do so.

The difference is, the prompts in the book come from without. Like the inspiration for the drawings I make when I’m out and about, or even just imagining a lizard wearing a helmet, I got the idea from somewhere else. And that’s okay.

Letting someone else help you is probably the best part of beginner’s brain, after all.

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BK Jackson

I have definitely learned that creativity, whether writing, drawing, or whatever, is best done if not every day (which just isn’t realistic) than most days of the week. Not only for improving your writing but when I set a story aside for more than a week, all that story energy that was buzzing in my head, helping me turn over character and plot points on the backburner fizzles away and it’s like having to start over.

Ditto for drawing, etc. When I draw several days a week, I can both see the progress & feel the creative energy buzz. When I draw once every 4 months or so, the drawing looks lethargic and my creativity FEELS lethargic.

But the very act of being interested in multiple creative things is one of the things that keeps me from working on it regularly. I can’t speak for anybody else, but for me, writing, drawing, painting, etc are very time-intensive endeavors. Paying enough attention to one ultimately means short-shrifting the other.

Yi Shun

There’s a really great study out there that was done on Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Apparently, they are 12 times as likely to participate seriously in the written arts, and 22 times as likely to participate seriously in the performing arts. *Twenty two!!* I take this as proof that our brains need and love other things to think about.
Your anecdote also points out something else that’s really important: Everyone’s brain works differently. Drawing several days a week still feels scary to me. 😀
Thanks for commenting!

Priscilla Bettis

I write 6 days/week. Taking off a day helps me see improvements (if there are any!) when I write that first day back after the break. And it also helps keep writing interesting rather than nose-to-grindstone all the time.

Yi Shun

I’m a huge fan of days off. On Fridays I take the day off entirely, just to catch up on things that interest me that I haven’t had time to get to earlier in the week, to make those deep dives. And I love your comment about “keeping writing interesting.” That’s a great way to look at it!
Thanks for the comment!

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[…] Writing in different genres and formats can improve our craft and open opportunities for us. Jeanne Veillette Bowerman shows how to adapt a book into a screenplay, Chris Lentz shares the top 5 things learned from writing a biography, Penny Appleton discusses writing later in life, and Yi Shun Lai tells us how a beginner’s mindset can improve your writing. […]

Gail Trowbridge

Okay, this is the best article about creativity I’ve read in a long time. I don’t write every day, but I feel that I’m supposed to, which sort of kills my creativity. I’m writing a YA novel and got excited a couple of days ago when I decided to have my protagonist keep a sort of collage/journal, which means I get to play around with my own collage/journal! I love the paintings you shared, and I feel that drawing or painting or collaging, anything that can get us away from words for a little while, is a way to fill my well of creativity.

Yi Shun

Thanks so much for commenting, Gail! I find it so exhilarating when life throws these little dovetails our way, and I’m glad you’re taking advantage of it! Have fun, and enjoy the writing.

Diane Corsello

I just finished my first book. I have two part time jobs, a husband, a home, and two young ladies at home to watch over. For the past year, I’ve been going away to beautiful place once a month to write so that nothing else in on my mind. It works great as far as limiting distractions but there are some big drawbacks: travel time, unwinding, and packing. I do not have a private corner here at home to write in yet. Any suggestions?

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