Private Writing

How much of your writing is meant for only yourself?

It may seem an odd concept for someone who want’s to call themselves a writer, but it’s important to make time to write just for yourself.

Private Writing is what I call writing that is intended for one one other than the writer. Not rough drafts, or morning pages, but polished writing. There are many different kins of private writing, and at least as many reasons for keeping the work to oneself.

The writing can be experimental, a way to test the concept of a story, or to see how a character will respond to a situation.

It may be therapeutic. While not all writers are introverts, to write well we must have a strong introvert streak in us. Often composing and polishing a work with a theme that is troubling us, can help work through a problem or tricky situation in our lives.

But what may be less well known is that private writing is a great way to get rid of an idea. Sometimes our subconscious gets hung up on a certain idea, theme character, line of dialogue, whatever. And even if we don’t want to nail down the idea, it may be nearly impossible to get your mind to move on. In these cases the only refuge may be to buckle down and write the story. Tracking the idea down and writing and editing it into submission may be the only way to exorcise the idea.

Do you ever write just for yourself?

This post was originally posted on Write Anything—
where six writers talk about the trials and
tribulations of their writing lives. And each
Tuesday the soapbox belongs to me.