For Years, I Was Confused About the Purpose of Writing (and Maybe You Are Too)

I’ve found a number of mistakes in articles written by my favorite authors — Ryan Holiday, Tim Denning, Shaunta Grimes, Tom Kuegler, you name it.

For years, every time I found a grammatical error or misspelled word, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe someone of that caliber would publish a piece that contained an obvious mistake.

But then I realized that I wasn’t following those people for their perfect grammar. I was following them because they helped me understand the world in a fresh way. They offered unique insights I couldn’t find elsewhere.

“Don’t you yourself like or dislike writers mainly for what they choose to show you or make you think about? Did you ever admire an empty-headed writer for his or her mastery of the language? No.” -Kurt Vonnegut

This realization has gradually shifted the way I approach my writing. I’m now focused on the depth of thought behind each piece rather than the glossy sheen of making an idea look pretty.

In the world of writing, the window-dressing doesn’t matter as much as what is in the window. A weak idea dressed up in a tuxedo will always lose the beauty pageant to a brilliant idea in basketball shorts.

As a writer, your core job isn’t grammar and punctuation. It’s idea generation and clarity. You are a public thinker.

In the words of Stephen King, “Writing is refined thinking.” The words are merely the raw material used to convey your deep thoughts to your readers.

Observing literary guidelines (and selectively deciding when to break them) is only important because it helps you convey the idea you want to convey. But the point is the IDEA — not the packaging.

In her newly released MasterClass on writing, Roxane Gay says that misspellings don’t ruin writing, but bad thinking does. Your job is to think deeply so then you can write deeply.

As a writer, your core job isn’t grammar and punctuation. It’s idea generation and clarity. You are a public thinker.

If you’re getting excited right now, thinking that you no longer have to spend time editing your work or learning literary rules, you’ve missed the point.

If you want to be a writer, you must learn the basics of writing. You must learn to spell words correctly, utilize appropriate grammar, and develop an ear for strong syntax. But those things aren’t the point.

The point is birthing new ideas into the world — ideas that will hopefully challenge your reader’s perspective, teach them something new, or inspire them to take a difficult but necessary next step in their lives.