There’s no such thing as writer’s block. There’s simply a fear of bad writing. Do enough bad writing and some good writing is bound to show up. — Seth Godin
I did some writing today, mostly fiction and editing of some stories I had written but somehow I felt my story was not yet ripe for posting. I checked the time and realized the day was winding down and would soon be over.
What I mean is that I would soon leave the comfort of my office that enables me to write, read and study and go home where I would be bombarded with family life and activities. I am not complaining.
It's one of the blessings of life to be surrounded by family, having people who support you and want to spend time with you. So I may not have the time or attention span to write something and post. And for the past two weeks I have tried to consistently write and post at least once per day.
I felt like I haven't accomplished much today in the area of writing because I had not written enough to warrant posting. Am I being hard on myself? Maybe. Or was I experiencing writer's block? I had ideas already but had not written them down. The ones I had written, I felt were not 'good enough' or 'ripe' for posting.
Then I went through my emails. I subscribed to @shadowspub Prompt A Day where I receive daily prompts via email and you can too by clicking the link. These prompts have been helpful. I had not read the ones sent for the past seven days or so. I went through and found inspiration to write!
I read this inspiring quote by Seth Godin, a marketer and thinker, which encouraged writers to "just write something". Most times, we pen down our thoughts or daily activities but feel it's not worthy enough to share or have these great ideas of things to write about but feel we may not get the desired audience to read them. Then we sigh and say, "oh, I have writer's block!"
Like Godin said, there's no such thing as writer's block but a fear of bad writing and I agree. Just write. It may not sound great at first, you can always return to it minutes or hours later or even the next day or week. I do this sometimes and it has proven very effective but I don't practice it often.
Of course, this is not to excuse bad writing but to encourage better writing. Write, read and edit. Then do it again and again till you are satisfied. If possible, get a fresh pair of eyes to read your work and critique it. I also do this sometimes. That way, you turn out quality content.
I'm still learning and hope to keep getting better. Thank you for visiting my blog.