I heard this one in ‘Finding Forrester‘ (2000)’ when William Forrester (Sean Connery) tells his protégé – Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) to write and not waste time thinking. William Forrester is a writer who writes one book that becomes a phenomenon. The debut book becomes widely popular with the author receiving rave reviews from critics and fans alike. But for some reason he stops writing and becomes a myth.
Jamal has a talent in writing and starts looking up at Forrester as a mentor. On one occasion Jamal finds himself not able to write a word. Forrester sees this and asks him to start typing. Jamal says he can’t think of anything to type. That is when Forrester goes on to demonstrate on his typewriter. Forrester says, “When you write, just write, Thinking comes later”.

This statement did make a lot of sense to me since this ideology has helped me write better especially when I am stuck (which is the case most of the times). At times you too might feel stuck, when you start working on some post or article. I have come to realize from experience that when you get into the rhythm of writing words starts to flow automatically. I used to face the dilemma of not knowing how to start a topic, even after I have figured out a topic to start writing on. But when I applied this simple formula of JUST WRITING and not THINKING, it worked.

Today I just start typing and create a first draft. The first draft is the skeleton. Your ideas take form in the first draft. You might feel that the first draft is pathetic. But that is why you call it the first draft. The skeleton was never supposed to look beautiful, unless you were some Cannibalistic tribe from the Amazon and liked to use them as ornament. Once you have the skeleton, you can then decide on the flesh. Give it a form, shape and some aesthetic value.

I hope all those budding writers who are still ‘Thinking‘ about how to start, should give ‘Writing’ a chance and then see the results. Best of luck my friends, HAPPY WRITING!