Writing struggles and how to conquer it (Day4)
Today is the 4th day of 300-word daily writing challenge, to be honest, I am very stressed. One reason, because of the coronavirus threat, our evil unseen alien, Tokyo again is reported its largest single-day number of infection cases, 189 people. (東京都 189人感染確認 １日で最多 新型コロナウイルス)
Also, it is Friday today, and I am locked at home working, like many people, cannot go hang out with dear friends. (I want to have fun with people!!!)
It is so mentally unhealthy. Especially for a foreigner like me living alone in Tokyo.
The only fun I have now is to explore different supermarkets at 10 pm so that there are fewer people on the street, try to cook low-carbohydrate meals, then eat alone.
Other than the things mentioned above as the background of my days now, I also suffer the common writing struggles:
1. Thinking of a relevant topic
2. Coming up with a catchy title
3. Getting started writing (yes, every day)
4. Being too wordy
5. Spending hours editing
With these been said, I begin to doubt the purpose of daily writing challenge, "Isn't it meaningless if I am writing bullshit every day". The perfectionist in me is screaming and pulling my fingers to get away from my keyboard.
Why write?
What do I want to accomplish through writing every day??
I asked myself.
First, I want to practice using new English and Japanese vocabulary.
- Problem: I want to be quick finishing 300 words, and often I ended up using the same old words again and again.
- Solution 01: Use powerthesaurus.org to find English synonyms and replace the words you use constantly. Use tangorin.com for Japanese synonyms.
- Solution 02: Pretend like a linguist. Write a whole article about just one word. Find out its definitions, sentence examples, study the history of it (Etymology) and think about how the word relates to you.
Second, I want to memorize the skills and knowledge I gain from work, usually, which means UX design.
- Problem: I have no idea how to write professionally.
- Solution: Be a copycat. Check great articles in your profession, and annalize the language, the structure, and the topics, then do the same. Check the UX Topics to write about suggested by UXmatters.
Is my writing making sense and improving?
Pretty much all the time I have zero confidence in my writing pieces, grammar-wise and writing skill-wise. The easiest way is to hire a native speaker who specializes in writing to check articles I write.
What, you say expensive? well, it depends. I found there are so many nice teachers from Cafetalk, an online tutor free market, who charge only 500 JPY (4 USD) for proofreading of 500 words.
Okay, here is the list of my future writing topics :
1. How to use the word, _________? (English & Japanese)
2. Analyze a professional UX article (or any good articles I love)
3. Write my own look-like-professional UX articles
4. Writing tips XYZ
See you tomorrow!