Don’t let it stay there
A few months ago two lovely people I know, both wonderful writers, asked me how my own writing was going. I pointed to my head and said “It’s all in here, not down there on paper.” As though I was somehow writing in my head and that was okay because I was writing, right?
We all do it. For different reasons. We procrastinate. Procrastination. The act of avoidance.
So what is it that makes us pause and head in another direction when it comes to writing? What could be better than putting all those thoughts that scramble for attention into sentences, on paper or on the screen? What a feeling of accomplishment to write, to say I have done it, progress is happening, the end is in sight. Why is it so hard to walk through that door?
Do we maybe fear embarrassment, is there a little of Imposter Syndrome in us? Quite possibly. Maybe we have left it so long we are not sure where to start or how to pick up the story again.
We use all sorts of excuses. Like, the ironing needs doing, or the car needs a wash, the cat ate the last page I wrote…anything that will stop us from putting pen to paper. It’s almost as though we need to give ourselves permission.
But you know what? Those niggling ideas, those conversations between the protagonist and the antagonist will not miraculously write themselves.
I have given myself permission to write. Today, tomorrow, how long I can’t say before the procrastinator in me stops my forward momentum.
Give yourself permission to write, and hold back a bit on the expectations.
Pauline Rutherford: Writer 