Pick One – Make Excuses Or Write The Darn Story

OK so what’s your excuse this week?
The Cat had to go to the vet 8 times this week and you spent all your time in the waiting room or driving to the vet hospital.
The kids destroyed the house for the 18th time this week and you had to spend all your time picking up after them.
You had to work through lunch and breaks at work, plus stay until midnight every night.
A major earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, tornado or other massive natural disaster and it’s taken all your time and attention?
Guess which one of the above is the ONLY acceptable excuse for not put at least one sentence on paper? You only get one guess and if I need to give you a hint, then you probably need to examine whether or not you REALLY want to be a writer.
A lot of people SAY they want to write, but when it comes down to it, it just doesn’t seem to “happen”. There’s always something that “comes up”. There’s always something that takes up all their time. There’s always some reason why they don’t have time.
There’s always something.
And that, dear reader, is a pretty good clue that if you’re one of those people, maybe you don’t really want to be a writer. Maybe someone said you should be a writer because you wrote something nice in school. Or maybe you just want to have written because there’s this great romantic idea of what being a writer is like and you’ve fallen in love with that great romantic notion.
The problem with that is that great romantic notion is just something made up in novels and movies. It’s not real.
Yes writing is a fabulous occupation for some people because it allows us to communicate what’s in our heads, whether it be a fictional or “real”. But it’s also a craft like playing the piano, creating fine furniture, painting or a myriad of other occupations that requires practice and thought.
At some point a piano player has to sit down on the bench, put their hands on the keyboard and play something. If she wants to get really good at it, she’ll probably practice scales for hours and play the same piece over and over until the piece is in her bones.
It takes time. It takes practice. And it takes work. (Although, if you love it, it really isn’t “work” as in a JOB. But, yes, it CAN be work!)
Our society has turned into an instant, give it to me now with no effort kind of place where we think everything should come easily and quickly and without breaking a sweat.
Well, guess what — it doesn’t work that way!
If you’re looking for writing to fit the instant coffee model, you picked the wrong career. Writing is about practice. It’s about putting words down on paper and pushing them around in your head as well as with your pen. It’s about sitting down every day and actually writing something. Even if it’s just for 5 minutes.
The good news is that if you really are a writer, the more you put words down on something, the more you love it. The more you communicate the stuff in your head, the more joy you experience in the actual doing. It’s not a chore doing something you love.
I still rather suspect that the biggest block for writers is the idea that whatever we put down has to be perfect or we are personal failures.
But consider musicians. No one puts that kind of expectation on them. Everyone knows they practice. They have rehearsals. They are expected to practice.
Well, here’s the latest news flash for you: Writers have to practice too.
So, take a look at your excuses. Why is it you’re REALLY not writing? Do you secretly hate it? Are you trying to write something you aren’t passionate about. Are you really secretly a horse trainer? Are you really destined to teach history?
Take time to consider why you think you want to be a writer. Maybe it’s something your read or something your mother or an influential teacher said. It may be that you really DON’T want to be a writer, you just think you “should”. Or maybe you are a writer and just don’t have anything to say right now. That doesn’t mean you won’t at some point, you just aren’t there yet this year.
The best way to find out is to stop trying to write. Put away all the writing stuff. Close up shop and go do something fun. Go have a life. Do something interesting. Join the Peace Corps, backpack on a different continent (or two or three) for a year. Volunteer in an inner city school that desperately needs good teachers who give a rat’s ass about the kids and could make a difference. Join the police force. Join the State Department and take postings all over the world. Join the CIA or the Navy or the Air Force. Learn a new hobby or two. Learn a new skill, like woodworking or painting or interior design.