And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Thursday, November 6, 2014

The hazards of writer's block

I love to write.  Every November I reminded of this as I head into the Nano season.  (If you don't know what that is check it out: nanowrimo.org)  I love sharing what is on my mind.  I love developing characters.  I love telling stories.  If I am totally honest my least favorite part of writing is editing.

This November it is slightly different for me.  I am writing for the first time in months.   I have not gone this long in between writing since I fell in love with it in high school.  I would tell you how long ago that was, but then I am reminded about how old I am.  But writing again!  A small victory in my life.

After getting sick in August, and having my entire world shifted I couldn't bring myself to write.  I would pull up my blog to a fresh blank screen ready to write.  Ready to let the thoughts that had been zooming around in my head come spilling out on to the page, and yet nothing would come.  The thoughts vanished.

When October rolled around and my best friend asked if I had any ideas for Nano this year I hesitated.  I honestly didn't think I could do it.   I didn't have any ideas.  I hadn't been able to blog in a few months.  I hadn't picked up my journal, or written a poem.  Could I really write 50k words in one month after all this?

Thank God for best friends because she convinced me to try.  What was the worst thing that could happen?  I could fail.   But I would fail more if I didn't even try.  

Now I am sitting here. I am writing.  The words are coming, and they might not be great.  They might need a lot of editing, but I am writing.