Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
What do I do? Or not do? Everything and nothing. Life and laundry and dinner and work and simply not taking the time. Once upon a time I wrote. I wrote my thoughts and journal entries and stories and quips. Whatever came to mind I recorded. Now not so much. I could leave it at the fact that I’ve got other things going on and writing, even though it’s important to me and is something I enjoy, doesn’t make the top 10 on my to-do list. But that’s just because I don’t put it in the top ten. I don’t even put it in the top 100.
So why don’t I? Because of fear and insecurities. That I’m not good enough. That I’ll reveal too much. Really, do you want to know what I really think? Do I want to read on ink and paper or on screen the thoughts that are buried deep in my mind? I recently found my diary from high school. I only read a few pages and I wanted to burn the whole thing. There I was all alone in the family room reading my girlish loopy cursive from 15 years ago wanting to cringe. It was so painfully embarrassing that I couldn’t bring myself to finish reading it. If I want to burn that innocent teenage diary now, there’s no telling what I’ll want to do to my current writings 15 years down the road.
In all my worry and self-doubt and comparing I forget that nothing is perfect. That writing can be an exercise, an experience, a therapy session, an outlet, an alternate reality. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be for anyone else but me. I’m not setting out to write the next Great American Novel. It’s okay if I read something in 15 years and want to burn it. It can be for the moment and not for posterity.
So the question is, can I eliminate the things that stop me from writing? Of course I can. I’m the only one stopping myself.
Thauna says
oh so true….we are the only ones stopping ourselves. Kick the need for perfection to the curb. And I love reading about what’s in your head.
Thauna recently posted..Writing – reverb10
Holli says
I could have wrote this word for word Lizzi…. you’re in my brain with this one! I so get you…….
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Mama Kelly aka Jia says
staying out of our own way and allowing our writing to be what it is can be so very difficult … we are often our harshest critics …. keep writing! let it happen!
Mama Kelly aka Jia recently posted..What I’ve Made in 2010 is Making 2011 – reverb10
Judy Schwartz Haley | CoffeeJitters.Net says
oh, yes, I battle perfectionism too.
Judy Schwartz Haley | CoffeeJitters.Net recently posted..Writing – Reverb10