But, Because, So: Simple Brilliance

They might be closed but their awesomeness is in tact.

In November 2021, I wrote a post for my blog titled “Write with Purpose Using Indexing.” I had gone down a rabbit hole while doing research for a coaching client. In summary, “Write with Purpose Using Indexing” defines 13 different purposes a paragraph can serve. Yes, 13. For now, if you aren’t ready to dig that deeply into your paragraph-by-paragraph writing, let me present something a little simpler but still worthwhile that will improve your writing sentence by sentence.  

Simple Yet Brilliant: But, Because, So

If 13 paragraph purposes overwhelm you, let’s look at how to write with greater depth and clarity using these three little words—but, because, and so. Consider these three sentences, which all start with the same independent clause:

1.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home but recognize that major repairs might be right around the corner.

2.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home because builders used older-growth wood than was stronger and more resistant to sagging and delamination.

3.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home so you will benefit from moving into an established, landscaped neighborhood.

The independent clause is “If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home.” In case your grammar is rusty, an independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete sentence. So, you could make the statement, “If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home” and be done. Should you want to offer a contrast, a reason, or a consequence, tacking on another clause that begins with but, because, or so gives you that opportunity. Like this:

1.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home but recognize that major repairs might be right around the corner. (But offers a contrast or change in direction in thought.)

2.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home because builders used older-growth wood than was stronger and more resistant to sagging and delamination. (Because offers a cause or reason for why the statement is true.)

3.     If you want to buy a house, consider buying an older home so you will benefit from moving into an established, landscaped neighborhood. (So offers a cause and effect, consequence, or result.)

The use of but, because, so sentence construction is a simple way to validate the points made in your writing. It’s a type of writing analysis that is encouraged in the early grades, high school, and even English Comp college classes. At the higher levels of education, the thoughts and statements become more nuanced and complex, requiring qualifying, evaluating, and synthesizing multiple statements over several paragraphs. But the basic structure is the same.

Final Thoughts

“But, Because, So” is clever.

• “But, Because, So” is clever but it must be used selectively for greatest impact.

• “But, Because, So” is clever because it forces the writer to validate their statements.

• “But, Because, So” is clever so writers should use this construction as a springboard to creating more in-depth, paragraph-level prose.

What do you think?

Let me know but don’t be cruel.

Let me know because I love to hear from you.

Let me know so I can improve my blog content.

How to Plan a Daily Writing Practice

A routine supports your inner writer.

The primary purpose of this article is to offer advice to novice writers who want to begin the process of writing a book. By that, I mean people who are serious about steadily producing pages of content toward a goal of completing a novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.

If this is you, the advice I’m offering is basic but useful for finding your inner author’s place in your world. You must take your inner author seriously and give it every advantage to succeed.  

THE WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW OF DAILY WRITING

Let’s start by establishing the place, time, and method you will offer your inner author. The purpose is to create a ritual-like atmosphere around your writing sessions.

Where

Where will you write each time? A designated spot is important for new writers. A chair in your bedroom? Your couch in the living room? The breakfast table? At the library or neighborhood coffee shop? A park bench! Choose a place that provides you with the right atmosphere: the right amount of light, quiet, and comfort. Make that your writing spot and go there for each session.

When

When will you write? What time of day will work for you? Early morning with your first cup of coffee might be your time. Maybe after you get the kids off to school or the hour before they get back home. If you work, maybe you will write during your lunch break. Or in bed at the end of the day. Find a time that works with your schedule and stick to it each time you write.

How

How will you write? This refers to the method of writing that works best for you: on your laptop, at a PC or Mac, a touchscreen device like an iPad, or good old pen to paper. Use whichever method you are most comfortable with. If you are quietly scoffing at my mention of pen and paper, consider this—writing with a pen on paper uses different parts of your brain than typing. Research confirms that handwriting improves memory, learning, and cognitive processing. Handwriting allows you to feel more expressive and stimulates creativity. If you are a mature (read, senior) man or woman, you might know that cursive writing is used in therapy to increase cognitive function and stave off mental decline.

SETTING DAILY GOALS

Use these guidelines to set the goal for your writing sessions. Choose the option that you are most comfortable with. But once you set a goal, strive to achieve it at each session.

An Amount of Time

Write for a specified amount of time each session, then stop. Decide what you think you can achieve and give it a try. You can always raise or lower your time goal. Example: Each session, I will write for 30 minutes; 1 hour; 2 hours. When I have written for that amount of time, I will stop.

A Number of Words

Write a specified number of words each session, then stop. Decide what you think you can achieve and give it a try. You can always raise or lower your word count goal. Example: Each session, I will write 250 words; 500 words; 1000 words. When I have written this number of words, I will stop.

A Number of Pages

If you are handwriting, write enough to fill a certain number of pages in your notebook, then stop. Decide what you think you can achieve and give it a try. You can always raise or lower your page count goal. Example: I will fill 3 pages in my notebook each session; 5 pages; 10 pages. Then I will stop.

GETTING STARTED EACH DAY

How slowly or how quickly will you get starting writing at each session and how slowly or quickly will you produce your writing? If you prefer to ease into a writing session and need something to get the juices flowing, try one of these exercises:

• Start by writing 5 feelings or emotion words that capture how you feel at that moment before you begin to write. Examples: excited, nervous, confident, worried, brave, uncertain, happy, disorganized, tired, upbeat, focused. Don’t overthink it. Don’t elaborate. Just acknowledge these feelings—good or bad—and use them to fuel your writing during this session.

• Reread your previous day’s writing before you begin this session and write a short reflection on it. Yes, you are taking a few minutes to write about your writing! It can be very illuminating. If you are disappointed in your writing from the previous day, don’t beat yourself up! Note what disappoints you, shake it off, and keep going.  

Some prefer to start putting down words as quickly as possible, writing as fast as their hand can travel across the paper or fingers can fly on a keyboard. Others like to take it as slowly and meticulously as possible. There’s no right or wrong method—do whatever works for you.

SUMMARY

If you are a newbie writer, establishing a routine for your writing is not just a good idea, it’s recommended for making progress. Famous authors, with multiple books and accolades under their proverbial belts, use these same techniques book after book, year after year. Having a special place, time, and method for writing puts you in the right frame of mind to produce. Your brain recognizes the environment you have created and snaps into writing mode automatically. Give my suggestions a try. Let me know which ones work for you. Add your own tricks to get into a writing headspace that others might find helpful.

In addition to working as a nonfiction and creative nonfiction editor and writing coach, I am co-author, with Dr. Terri Lyon, of the book Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism: No activism degree required—use your unique skills to change the world. Visit my website page Make a Difference and Dr. Lyon’s activism website Life At The Intersection to learn more about Make a Difference, including how to place bulk orders.

P.O.W.E.R.: My Formula for Writing about Tough Stuff

P.O.W.E.R.

To guide writers into the ofttimes difficult job of creating a memoir, I have developed a formula. But to keep the suspense high, here is what this formula is not: As an editor, I’m all about syntax (word arrangement), grammar, spelling, word choice, and all those necessary components of quality writing. As a coach, I’m all about helping the writer identify their audience (who they are writing for), settle on their theme (point or argument), and improve in the art of dialogue, description, and scene creation. My formula isn’t about any of this. Keep reading.

I’m Not a Doctor, I Just Play One

Forgive me, it’s just some old-school humor. No, my college degree is in English, not Psychology. But my years of experience leading support groups and teaching classes for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) have given me extra insight into understanding the effects of trauma, grief, loss, as well as reflection on joyful or happier times gone by. Any time we take a walk through our memories, we never know what emotions we might stir up. I found my NAMI experience to be surprisingly helpful in working with people as they write their memoirs; an unexpected bonus, of sorts.

P.O.W.E.R.

My formula is not about grammar and syntax, or dialogue and scene creation. It is a guide for writing while exercising self-care and self-kindness. It’s P.O.W.E.R.

Pace yourself.

Own your feelings.

Write when you feel like it.

Ease into the tough stuff.

Reflect as you remember.

You see, there is no writing instruction here. It’s strictly about protecting your psyche as you delve into memories that at times might sting. Let me discuss each point of P.O.W.E.R.

P: Pace yourself

Let me congratulate you on deciding to write a book, be it a memoir or another genre. It takes courage to start a project this expansive. And it will take courage to finish it. Many first-time writers settle on a self-imposed deadline for their book; they set a date, usually completely arbitrary, by which they want their book published. Then the pressure’s on! They must produce a certain number of words each day to keep up with the schedule. Author Stephen King notoriously recommends writing 2,000 words each day, for a total of 180,000 words in three months. Folks, that’s Stephen King’s output, not mine or anyone else I know! Plus—spoiler alert—don’t write a 180,000-word anything as a first-time author, especially a memoir. Creating an outline for your book is an excellent idea and I highly recommend it. And if you are a very disciplined person, you can come up a timeline that corresponds to the sections of that outline, which can result in a projected date range to wrap up the writing and move into the next phase. But, first and foremost, the process of writing a book should be fun, or at least as much fun as you can garner from it. Self-imposed deadlines are a great way to rob yourself of whatever joy creating your book could offer.

O: Own your feelings

A memoir is not an academic treatise. If you hope to write your memoir without exploring your innermost thoughts and feelings, I suggest that you are not ready to write. Within your family, among your friends, maybe at work, you might gloss over pain or mistakes or abuse or anger. You might be so accustomed to sugar-coating your life’s experiences, you’ve forgotten how to be honest with others—and with yourself. I will ask my clients over and over, “But how did you feel?” If you have a story worth sharing—one that will offer a life lesson to your readers—you will have to dig deeply into your memories, your heart, your spirit, your soul. Grab onto what you find there and bring it into the light. The time for hiding is past.

W: Write when you feel like it

This point works in concert with the P, Pace yourself. If you inflict a self-imposed deadline on your project, you sacrifice giving yourself permission to create when and how it best suits you. There will be days when you write good stuff for hours—you’re in the zone, you’re firing on all cylinders, and other clichés. Then there will be days where you’re lucky to finish a page. You write a scene that consists of four paragraphs, read it, hate it, delete it. An hour later, you do it all over again. Writing is hard, but it shouldn’t feel like torture. If your writing is strained or forced, it shows and you know it. Give yourself a break.

E: Ease into the tough stuff

I know from working with new memoirists that writing a memoir can be emotionally exhausting. I have seen writers get anxious just thinking about the part of the memoir they’re going to be working on next. This is tough stuff. Books have been written about it, one of the best being Melanie Brooks’s Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma. I suggest two ways to come at this. One, just write the bare-bones version of a scene or incident. Report it like a news story. Write the facts and only the facts. During this first round, avoid emotional language to whatever degree the situation allows. Don’t reflect yet (the R in P.O.W.E.R.). Two, this method might work for you: make a few simple notes as a placeholder in the story, then leave it; return a day or two later and add a few more notes. Take baby steps. Do this until you have recounted the entire scene.

R: Reflect as you remember

A quality of memoir that sets it apart from every other genre is reflection. A memoir without reflection is like a murder mystery novel that ends without solving the mystery. By reflection I mean, don’t just recall a memory but analyze it. Merriam-Webster defines reflection as a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation. What emotion does the memory conjure? You know what happened (it’s your memory), but why did it happen? How did it happen? How did you feel at the time? How do you feel now? If your feelings or impressions changed over time, why did they? How does the scene play into setting up what else is coming in the book? Reflection in the now helps you put your past in perspective. Here’s where you figure out how what happened shaped you into who you are now for the purpose of this memoir.

Exercise P.O.W.E.R. as a Writer

Writing a book is not for the faint of heart. There are so many moving parts: theme, structure, grammar, supporting your argument, adding creative elements, what to put in, what to leave out. . . it can be the challenge of a lifetime. For my website’s blog, I have written several articles to help improve your writing:

Write with a Purpose Using Indexing

Best Writing and Editing Resources

How to Write Good Dialogue

Writing Sensory Description, Part 1 and Writing Sensory Description, Part 2

But P.O.W.E.R. is about you, as a person, tackling a big job. Don’t let the writing dominate you. Don’t let it drag you into your past and leave you there. This is your book and you are in control now—of the people, of the words, of the scenes. You decide who enters, what they do, and when they leave. They can’t stay longer than you want them to. They can’t say anything you don’t want them to say. Exercise your P.O.W.E.R.

In addition to working as a nonfiction and creative nonfiction editor and writing coach, I am co-author, with Dr. Terri Lyon, of the book Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism: No activism degree required—use your unique skills to change the world. Visit my website page Make a Difference and Dr. Lyon’s activism website Life At The Intersection to learn more about Make a Difference, including how to place bulk orders.