Some weeks, much of my writing is done for others. By the end of those weeks, I begin to feel edgy. Writing for others may bring some satisfaction, but it’s writing for myself – writing that may or may not be shared publicly – that brings it wholly.
Write Right and Wilbur
13 Tips for Aspiring Writers
A few weeks ago, I was asked if I had any tips for aspiring or new writers. Two things immediately came to mind: read a lot and work with a mentor. I then decided to work on a list because I knew two tips weren’t nearly enough. [Read more…] about 13 Tips for Aspiring Writers
View Everything as an Experiment
I’m sometimes asked how I deal with failure or how I keep moving forward when I struggle with perfectionism. One of the tricks is to keep a forward mindset as well as an other-minded one. The other, to borrow a phrase from Paul Jarvis, is to “view everything as an experiment.”
Is It Time to Recalibrate Your Content Strategy?
I happened to get into a long chat on Twitter about blogging the other day. The long and short of it is that I was trying to help someone see that a blog had to tie into a business’ aims. It couldn’t be an afterthought nor could it ramble from one irrelevant topic to another no matter how popular those topics were.
[Read more…] about Is It Time to Recalibrate Your Content Strategy?
Writing toward Something and Something Else
The words do not come easily this morning. I am exhausted, weary even. I don’t want to sit in front of my laptop and try to compose something; I want to crawl back into bed and pretend I don’t have responsibilities. I don’t want to write when I’m in this mood, but I know better. I know better than to give into despondency. I know to fight it. I’m a writer, and writers write.
***
I trust if I continue to write, if I marshall past this emotion, I will get to something. Maybe I’ll even get to something else. I will have an “encounter,” as Paul Celan says. I will meet the self that isn’t encumbered by daily life and isn’t an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. I know this. Even so, everything in me rages against the attempt. I feel a tension with the words and with myself. Everything is a bit sideways. I want the world to realign.
I know, though, that realignment begins by writing one word then another. “Bird by bird,” Anne Lamott says. That’s why I sit down. I write. I write the one bird, then I write another. I keep writing about those birds until I find something and something else.
***
The day and its responsibilities order me away from my laptop and toward what is on the day’s agenda. I may not feel ready for the day, but I’ve written. I’ve written my birds. I’ve attempted to have an encounter. For now, that will have to be enough.
Image: Dr Phil (CC BY NC SA 2.0)