Writing is like asking a girl out

[NOTE: this blog post is an assignment for my online Grammar 101 course]

Writing is like asking a girl out

There are many parallels to draw between writing and asking a girl out. Actually not really, but since I couldn’t think of what to compare it to, I just took the first thing that came to mind. Let’s see how I can forcefully marry the two activities together.

Before you start writing or ask a girl out, you have to do some research. Especially if you’re unfamiliar with the subject or person. Going in unprepared is the easiest way to fail at something. Just like how you won’t write that essay on your country’s history without doing some research, you’re not going to ask a girl out without knowing anything about her.

You need to know the facts about the country, what happened, why it happened and so on. You need to find out what a girl likes or doesn’t like. What kind of person she is. What she does in her spare time. Then only you’ll know what kind of date you’d like to bring her out on.

Just like how you’re not going to make up facts for your historical essay, you’re not going to take an acrophobiac vegan skydiving and to a nice steak dinner afterwards. Either will not end well.

If you did your research and cite your sources correctly, you can’t go wrong with your essay. The same goes for taking a girl who loves new age music and drinking fine wine to a hipster joint which provides just that. You gotta know what you’re dealing with before you jump right in.

Other aspects of preparation includes working with the right medium, knowing your deadlines and submission guidelines. A beautifully handwritten essay handed in a week late isn’t going to score you any points when they specifically mentioned they wanted something in .doc format. Asking a girl out when she’s not around isn’t going to score you any dates either. Also, you’ll need to be dressed appropriately for the activity you’ll be doing.

Besides planning for the essay or date, there’s the execution bit. You can have great ideas but until you pen them down onto paper, they’re nothing more than ideas. Having the funniest lines or engaging questions trapped in your head isn’t going to help. You need to let her hear them. There’s nothing worse than staring at a blank piece of paper not knowing what to write or staring at a girl with a blank expression on your face not knowing what to say.

Have a little confidence in your writing and yourself. Be adventurous, don’t limit yourself. If you think it works, put it down or say it out. It doesn’t matter if you mess up – you can learn from your mistakes.

I could go on (actually, not really. I’ve run out of things to say but I’ve hit the 300 word requirement so I shall stop here!) – but there’s one thing left to say.

Like writing, sometimes you can just throw all the rules out the window, and follow your heart (or gut) with reckless abandon. Sometimes you write better when you don’t limit yourself and put down whatever comes to mind – everything and anything. It’s called free writing and it helps unblock your brain. It may also work when asking a girl out. Being spontaneous is an attractive quality to most people and can do wonders.

You don’t have to be the smoothest guy on the block, you just need to say the right thing at the right time, and sometimes that happens. Serendipity? Fate? Luck? Who knows? (who cares?) Maybe you caught them on a good day and things work out in your favor just because. But whatever it is, sometimes it pays to take a chance and pull the trigger without overthinking or over-analyzing your next move.

Which is pretty much what I did here. I didn’t plan this writing piece. I just wrote down what I felt and it worked out alright (I think).

And I shall leave you with some wise words some famous actor recently said – DO IT.