Words on paper. There is something about taking your thoughts and putting them down in a place where you can actually see them, read them, edit and rearrange them until they are what you really want to say. Last week, I hosted the first of five meetings for the Soul Writers. The idea came about because I have so many friends who are writers that never write. They love writing, they are amazing at it, but somehow moment by moment life has made other plans for them, shown up with stuff that demands attention, like jobs, kids, spouses, and etc.
Top 3 reasons these awesome writers aren't writing:
1)Time
2) Busy Lives
3) Self Criticism
Through our free write we discovered dozens of ways to express those three things, but really that's what it came down to...we're busy, we don't take the time to write and when we do we don't think it's good enough to share.
So here is the secret I want to share with you today. All of that is bullshit. Of course we're busy, so what. Time exists as a vehicle to decompress every experience, so that not everything is happening all at once. Past, present, future...it's not all one line moving only in one direction and I can get all woo woo and philisophical about it, but the point is we do have one thing that we have control over...we have this time called NOW. We can make time, even if it's 5 minutes a day. That's 5 minutes when we could be writing. And the most difficult piece...being afraid of being judged or worse the judgement you pass on yourself...well if it's keeping you from doing something you love, then I question your need to commit to it. I'll admit it. I have been that closeted perfectionist, that person who missed a million chances to share my work because it wasn't just right. Then a few years ago, I got over it. How? Why?
Well it was kind of an accident. I wrote and published a book. It was a Christmas gift for my mom, but then once I saw it, once I held it in my hands and thumbed through it and it looked so much like a "real" book...that's when I realized that it was. Yup, the book I wrote turned out to be a real book. Then I read it and well...it was actually good. So then I threw myself a party and to my surprise lots of people came and suddenly I had sold 200 copies of my book, mostly out of my purse (I have a big purse). And then I put it on facebook and my friends in Chile, Japan, Guatemala and Spain ordered it online...then suddenly I had this book that was being sold internationally. Can you belive it? Well, believe it. It happened. It's still happening. I sold three books this morning!
Now what if I had just kept re-commiting to never being good enough? Where would that have gotten me? Nowhere...so I shifted my focus to just taking everything step by step, writing a poem, helping someone else write a poem. And now here I am again having just published a poetry anthology with about 80 teenagers I took to Guatemala, and I am just a few weeks away from releasing my second solo collection of poetry: Love and Guatemala.
I'm not bragging...okay I am a little bit :). But more than bragging, I'm trying to make the a point. Here it is: If I can do it you can do it. Who you are makes a difference. What you write makes a difference. So even if you can't join us for the next Soul Writers, please don't let that deter you from grabbing a pen and some paper and sitting down to let it flow. It is so worth it! And that is my long-winded diatribe for today.
Top 3 reasons these awesome writers aren't writing:
1)Time
2) Busy Lives
3) Self Criticism
Through our free write we discovered dozens of ways to express those three things, but really that's what it came down to...we're busy, we don't take the time to write and when we do we don't think it's good enough to share.
So here is the secret I want to share with you today. All of that is bullshit. Of course we're busy, so what. Time exists as a vehicle to decompress every experience, so that not everything is happening all at once. Past, present, future...it's not all one line moving only in one direction and I can get all woo woo and philisophical about it, but the point is we do have one thing that we have control over...we have this time called NOW. We can make time, even if it's 5 minutes a day. That's 5 minutes when we could be writing. And the most difficult piece...being afraid of being judged or worse the judgement you pass on yourself...well if it's keeping you from doing something you love, then I question your need to commit to it. I'll admit it. I have been that closeted perfectionist, that person who missed a million chances to share my work because it wasn't just right. Then a few years ago, I got over it. How? Why?
Well it was kind of an accident. I wrote and published a book. It was a Christmas gift for my mom, but then once I saw it, once I held it in my hands and thumbed through it and it looked so much like a "real" book...that's when I realized that it was. Yup, the book I wrote turned out to be a real book. Then I read it and well...it was actually good. So then I threw myself a party and to my surprise lots of people came and suddenly I had sold 200 copies of my book, mostly out of my purse (I have a big purse). And then I put it on facebook and my friends in Chile, Japan, Guatemala and Spain ordered it online...then suddenly I had this book that was being sold internationally. Can you belive it? Well, believe it. It happened. It's still happening. I sold three books this morning!
Now what if I had just kept re-commiting to never being good enough? Where would that have gotten me? Nowhere...so I shifted my focus to just taking everything step by step, writing a poem, helping someone else write a poem. And now here I am again having just published a poetry anthology with about 80 teenagers I took to Guatemala, and I am just a few weeks away from releasing my second solo collection of poetry: Love and Guatemala.
I'm not bragging...okay I am a little bit :). But more than bragging, I'm trying to make the a point. Here it is: If I can do it you can do it. Who you are makes a difference. What you write makes a difference. So even if you can't join us for the next Soul Writers, please don't let that deter you from grabbing a pen and some paper and sitting down to let it flow. It is so worth it! And that is my long-winded diatribe for today.
No comments:
Post a Comment