Meg Dowell Writes

For many years before I published my first piece of writing on the internet, I wrote drafts of books that no one else ever read. I scribbled journal entries that were, thankfully, just for me. I tried writing essays and short stories long before I ever thought about trying to get them published. It was during those years — before I started writing professionally — that I truly learned how to write.

Writing is different when you’re not doing it just for the hope of one day getting published. That’s usually the end goal here, and there’s nothing wrong with writing things specifically with your eye on publication — in fact, if you don’t do that, you’re never really going to get anywhere. But writing is a skill, and developing a skill requires solitary practice. There are dozens of benefits to writing for no one, but all of them combined will, without a doubt, make you a better writer in the long-term.

Writers Are Their Own Harshest Critics

There are days where I close the document I’ve been working in and am convinced everything I wrote during that session was garbage. Maybe it was, and I’ll confirm that at a later date. Maybe it wasn’t, and someone else will have to try convincing me of that — also at a later date. But realistically, it’s probably not nearly as bad as I think it is. I’m actually pretty confident in saying that writers who judge their own work harshly are far better off than anyone who thinks they’re the greatest writer who has ever written. (Confidence? Good. Arrogance? Nobody likes that.)

Why are we often so hard on ourselves? Because we want to be good writers. And we’re usually terrible judges of our own writing. It’s kind of like listening to your own voice on a recording and hating how you sound. Most people probably think your voice sounds totally fine and normal, but because you only hear yourself speaking from your own ears, it’s always going to sound different and maybe even wrong to you outside yourself.

It becomes a little bit easier to go easy on yourself when you practice writing without an intended audience. In all honesty, no one is ever going to look at your work with a more critical lens than you; that’s really just part of the job. But the more comfortable you get with sitting down and writing, the easier it becomes to get into the habit of writing even when you don’t think you’re doing a good job.

You Don’t Have to Write to Impress Anyone

When I’m working on a draft of a book — something I actually intend to be read someday; that’s why I’m working on it — I admittedly, still, find myself wondering if anything I’m writing is usable. But it’s not usually because I think I’m a bad writer or that I’m not confident in my own abilities. When I start to feel that doubt creep in, it’s almost always because I want to impress an imaginary future agent, editor, or publisher who does not, for me at that moment, exist.

Because we as writers want to impress people with our words. It’s what we do. We want our stories to stand out, our points to be well understood, our words to inspire or change or even annoy someone. And that’s where that pressure to be “really good” comes in. Which is fine in spurts. But if you’re so distracted by your need to impress a not-yet-existent audience that the writing itself becomes difficult, it might be a good time to take a step back and shift to a project that’s just for you for a little while.

You’re not going to try to impress yourself when you’re writing something you don’t intend to be read by anyone else. Not really. And that’s a good thing. Once you’re in a space where you get to focus on writing something better, or different, instead of focusing on who might be reading it one day, everything changes. And once you try it, chances are high you’ll want to do it again. And you should!

Give Yourself Regular Space to Write Freely

Even working writers can benefit from taking time out of each day, week, or month to write snippets of things that are just for themselves, or for no one — however you prefer to frame it. Sometimes this can come in the form of journaling, or essay writing, or good old-fashioned free writing — just writing about whatever comes to mind without any thought about what it means or whether or not it’s good.

Writing for yourself is a gift, but it’s also a practice — potentially a ritual that can, over time, make it easier to settle into a writing session and even refine your skills and voice in a safe, judgment-free environment.

When I journal, I write about whatever I want for as many pages as I feel I need to. It frees up my mind for writing and also helps me figure out how to untangle some of the thought-webs that often distract and annoy me. I’m a better writer because I spend time, almost daily, writing for nobody. Not because I write anything good in my journals, but instead because when I close the journal and turn to my keyboard, I’m ready to do my “actual” work. You know, the work that pays me. Well, sometimes.

Give yourself permission to write whatever, whenever, for no one. It’s quite a worthwhile experience. It’s also fun — because we too often forget that writing can, and should, be enjoyed.