Write, Dear Writer

To my fellow writer friends:

Do you ever get stuck on what to write? Yes, I know it’s generally called writers block but sometimes it feels less like a pipe blockage and more like a wall that you’d need several attempts with heavy machinery to get through.

The idea is there, but the actual words to express it appear not to be.

The problem, I feel, is less the lack of words – for they do come in time – but actually a feeling of inadequacy. The thought that one could write something that others would deem ‘bad’. And I think it’s the fear of that which stops me from getting the words on the page. It’s the thing that has me scrolling on my phone or reading someone else’s book instead of working on my own.

There have been many times when I’ve read a book and skimmed my way to the end because I felt it was predictable, boring, ‘bad’. But someone else has read the same book and given it five stars. Whichever camp the reader belongs to, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the author has given the time (so much time!) to write and, whether good or bad, that is a huge achievement.

Regardless of what readers think, how much notice does the author take of one star reviews and DNF comments? I assume it to be very little and that they’re far more interested in going into bookstores and seeing their work on the shelves.

So why do I allow the ‘what if..?’ thoughts to bother me? Why do I allow the thought of wanting so badly to be ‘liked’ stop me from doing what I love in case the likes don’t come?

The answer is simple: it’s comfortable.

One of the students at work asked me if I like being a receptionist. She said it with a sneer, mockingly in a ‘could-never-be-me’ kind of way. I said it was okay because I was not about to share with a fourteen-year-old that no, this isn’t the position I want to be in but, right now, it works for my family. And I don’t say that to say there is anything wrong with being a receptionist. It was just never my dream. And the more I do things that aren’t my dream, the more I wonder if my dream will become reality.

But achieving goals and dreams is not comfortable. In order to achieve, you have to first be willing to do things differently. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and believe that you’ll get there. You have to be willing to put the work in.

I have to be willing to do all of that.

I am wiling to do all of that. And I’m doing it, regardless of whether my work is liked a lot or a little. And that is the point – it’s about my work and not me as a person.

I’ve heard it said to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ or ‘fear is your friend’. I think that’s BS.

How about this for a slogan instead: Kick fear out and get to work!’

Granted, it’s not very catchy but why makes friends with something that’s holding you back? If it was an actual person, you’d have ghosted them so, get rid!

Whether you’re a fellow writer or not, whatever you’ve been stopping yourself from doing, enough wallowing/scrolling/distractions. Enough.

Let’s get to work.

Speak soon xx