Lies, lies, lies
We’re all looking around going, “The world’s a fucking mess.”
Right? I know I am.
Geez Louise.
Thoughts:
A. You can look around and go, “The world’s a fucking mess… so what’s the point of me writing and publishing anything, let alone that thing that really matters deeply to me?”
B. Or you can look around and go, “The world’s a fucking mess… and so what am I waiting for?”
If you choose A, you’re done. You can quit reading, I guess?
But! I know you want to choose Team B. That’s usually how people find me.
And if you choose *B*... you’re just getting started, cupcake.
You’ve got the ideas. I know—I talk to you. (They’re really good ideas, by the way.)
If you’re anything like me and the women I know, you spend a lot of time torturing yourself over whether those ideas are the right ideas. A moment’s hesitation can snowball into rejoining Team A. We don't want that.
And so I posted my three big myths about writing:
Only certain people should write.
Good writing comes from a bolt of inspiration and you have no control over when that’ll strike.
Writing has to be painful. (aka SUFFER for your art.)
Surprise! I got several more myths batted back to me in the comments.
These myths we repeat to ourselves about why we shouldn’t be on Team B… are so ingrained within us, yet they are also so easy to call BS on.
Like one of the comments I received:
“Only certain people with totally original special and unique perspectives should write AND that is not you.”
My response: As each person has a unique, unrepeated combination of personality, experience, and expertise, doesn’t each person fill this bill?
Who determines which “certain people” earn this distinction?
OK, you say, so maybe that one doesn’t hold water.
...
But how about this one (again from my comments): “My ideas aren’t original.”
Ah yes, the ole positioning ideas as though they can only exist in polarity: original and non-original.
Ahem: Why is an “original” idea that incorporates no input—no communal rumination or mulling over—more valuable than an idea that honors those thinkers who came before, and one’s own contemporaries? (Hint: it’s not)
While we’re asking questions: Why do we venerate originality as a superior form of creation to collaborative work? (Hint: patriarchal White supremacy.)
Anyway! Toss me another myth that shuts you down and shuts you up because you know what?
I CAN GO ALL DAY.
I will bat this shit down with one hand tied behind my back and the other hand playing Candy Crush.
And I love doing it! (I even create a file for each client called a Resistance Log where I catalog every time she tells me why she can't do it, and leave little notes about why the myth is a myth and not the truth.)
….
Because like I said, I know you have the ideas. You’ve got the “what.” What you want to say, what the world needs to hear.
The "how" is tripping you up. It’s not as easy as just “start writing.”
It’s about making the choice.
When you choose Team B, that doesn’t mean you’ll write every day. Maybe it means you’ll write a lot and then you’ll set it aside for weeks, and then you’ll talk to someone awesome in your life about it and they’ll encourage you to return to it.
Maybe it does mean you set aside 30 minutes a day, or 2 hours once a week, and just write and have a damn good time doing it.
The matter at hand is not to commit to a writing schedule that you have no idea whether you can maintain. It is choosing B, and re-choosing it each day, and knowing that means you’re at the beginning of something.
And remember: that A Team is a dead end.
PS: If you ARE struggling with what to write about, or that feels like part of what holds you back, my Be About Something package is still on sale. Get all the details on my site.