Do You Think Taylor Swift Uses Grammarly?
By: Rocco Pendola
Tags: Writing, Music, Creativity, Lyrics, Productivity

Know Your Strengths

I get in trouble when I try to emulate the above-referenced greats who I obsess over. It’s one thing to take inspiration from them. It’s entirely another to try to write like them. First of all, this isn’t songwriting. But, even if it is was, I’m never going to come up with the type of lyrics I love on a consistent basis, if at all.

When I first started writing, and for a period of time thereafter, I tried getting too cute with my writing. I tried treating articles like lyrics. It didn’t work. What did work was being straightforward. Not getting too fancy. Just saying what I need to say to provide an explanation, make a point, or develop an opinion in the most conversational way possible.

When I started doing that, readers responded. They started saying nice things to me. I often get “you have a way with words.” I’m hyper-critical of myself. I expect everyone to tell me I suck. I like very little of what I write (which is probably why I obsess over it more than I need to). So I don’t expect compliments.

The last one I ever expected to receive, repeatedly, is “you have a way with words.” I’m used to that compliment. I appreciate it as much as ever. In fact, it keeps me on track. It gets me from trying to be something, or someone, I’m not.

I am not a great creative writer. I’m not going to weave metaphor and imagery like Elliott Smith. I simply lack the ability to do that, let alone do it well enough times to make a living at it. But I think I do an okay job writing the way I talk, in real life. Or close to it. And that’s why I have mixed feelings about Grammarly.

I use it like any other tool. I don’t use it often. But, when I do, I pick and choose the changes I accept and reject. I do the same in Google Docs or when I’m spell- or grammar-checking a text or email (yes, I do that).

I do the same with Medium articles that provide writing suggestions (including the ones I write). They’re just that, suggestions. Sometimes I break my own rules. Because they’re not rules. They’re guidelines. There’s a time and place to follow or not follow them.

To be the best writer I can be, two things have to happen:

I have to keep it conversational.

I have to keep it flowing, rhythm, cadence, whatever you want to call it.

To even come close to achieving both objectives, I work super freaking hard. I agonize over every syllable. Then I agonize again because I fear the reader won’t believe I actually agonized over this.

This approach returns me full circle. In terms of the general process, I’m not all that different from Downie, Petty, Smith, Springsteen, and Swift. Neither are you. We all agonize. We all obsess. We just do it over the style of writing that best suits us. Or we do it on the path to finding the writing style gives us the most bang for our narrative (and writing hustle) buck.

Ultimately, the best quality a writer can have might be the willingness to try new things, experiment, and keep an open mind at the same time as knowing and staying in his or her lane. It’s the dance and challenge that makes writing for a living so fresh and exciting, day in and day out.