James Dowd

Write Dumb James Dowd

Explore this collection of straight-up stupid secrets to crafting the written word and discover that writing is far easier than people realize. All of the contained advice demonstrates the author's personal pursuit of just thinking less and always trying to be a bit dumber. From students to professionals, this book is for anyone that needs help getting out of your own way in order to be a better, faster, more efficient, more creative writer. Write Dumb helps writers understand the truth that everyone overthinks writing. You overthink it at work when you're writing even the most basic emails. You overthink it when texting. You overthink it by comparing your work to Hemingway (you're not). You overthink it and then tell yourself that that's your writing process (it's not). You overthink it when you think it's an impossible feat. You believe thought is the fuel for words, even though it's actually the one thing fueling your inability to get those words on the page. Writing is one of our strongest and most valuable tools we have to interact with this world, and yet we overthink it constantly because it scares us, it intimidates us, it challenges us, it makes us feel uncomfortable, and no one wants that nervous, I could fuck this up and look stupid feeling all day, every day. We don't fully understand it or feel comfortable experiencing it, so we waste time trying to add structure and rules and meaning and restrictions where they're not needed, or we altogether keep our distance. We blame the rules, or the endless possibilities, or the competition, and we run away from it. We say that writing down words to express ourselves is just not our thing, even though choosing not to write is no different than choosing not to speak. You can certainly give it a shot, but it's surely going to limit your ability to engage with the world around you. So why silence yourself? Why give in to fear and abandon this gift?Anyways, why not learn how to Write Dumb?