The second monster is 'the paper with plenty of unorganized words’

I had started practice writing, in Thai, regularly many years ago by using the technique called ‘Morning Page.’ This technique was suggested by Dr.Vithan Thanawut when I consulted him about my writing problem.

He told that the main street to better writing is ‘write, write, and write’, but in doing so, we usually have to face ‘the blank piece of paper’, which I call the first monster. Because when we meet it, our mind goes blank quickly, and we cannot write any things at all. Morning page help us to overcome it, by start writing as early as possible in the morning, and write the words directly from our feeling, not our brain, as fast as possible. By practice this way, I learned that the main obstacle of writing is ‘thinking’, which can make our ideas disappear very fast. Furthermore, it usually brings fear and many other negative thought to our mind.

I have gradually improved my writing skill, by written my feeling and initial thought in Morning pages regularly. But, I met the next problem while written other form of writing, such as report paper, article, or letter. I usually lost huge amount of energy to rewrite them again and again. I feel that ‘the paper with plenty of unorganized words’ is like a beast, so I call it the second monster.

I attempt to find the ways to defeat it!

I learned from ‘A New Guide to Better Writing’ that my problem is about planning. Dr.Flesch and Lass stated in the first page of first chapter with the words: ‘Don’t just start.’ They clearly explain the problem which I face. They also give a very useful instructions which I want to share hear, in their words from page 15.

Before you start to write:

1. Take your time and think about what you are going to say.
2. Put your main idea into words.
3. Work out what order your ideas should be in.
4. Put this plan on paper.
5. Never start to write without a plan.

Now, I find the way to go next.