Thursday, May 6, 2010

Testing The Waters

I bit the bullet and signed up for a writing workshop.  It's a one-day six hour long workshop  on Saturday about essay writing taught by a writing professional.  I'm so nervous about it.  Mostly because I'm afraid I'll get there and realize that I'm a terrible writer and have no real shot of creating something good.

I was writing yesterday about my life in Vancouver and in the middle of typing I just stopped and looked at the screen and thought: "Who the hell is going to care about this? How is this interesting at all to anyone but me?"

There are numerous times each day that I think I'm wasting my time doing this project.  That I'm just kidding myself if I think a non-writer can just sit down and write an entire book without years of experience and publications under her belt.  That, frankly, I'm just delusional about the whole thing.

But then I remember the promise I made to myself and to you.  The statement that I've made about myself by making this promise out loud for the world to hear.  That I will do this thing no matter how hard and how unlikely it may seem to others.  And that makes me want to keep going. 

Just write one word at a time.  Take one step at a time.  Go to the workshop and see how it goes.  Don't worry about your husband having to take care of the kids all day by himself.  He'll be fine.  The kids will be fine.  Just go. 

Nike really hit the nail on the head when they came up with: Just Do It!

6 comments:

  1. Yes, do it, do it, do it!

    Almost every time I feel hestiation about something I'm so thankful afterwards that I didn't talk myself out of it.

    You're not a terrible writer, otherwise we wouldn't all keep coming back! ;)

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  2. you've got the right attitude. I don't believe the woman who wrote Harry Potter had any writing experience under her belt. I could be wrong but I don't think so.

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  3. You write from your heart with honesty, self awareness and reflection. That is not something you can fake. I have been reading your blog for awhile now and find you very engaging, real and delightful. Thank you for your gift of writing and for sharing it!

    lynne at fairpoint dot net

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  4. have you ever read The Artist's Way?

    she talks a lot about how we try to convince ourselves we can't create/write/be artists --

    you can do this. hoping the writing conference was great.

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  5. I think anyone would love to read your story as long as "you" are in the writing. Everyone's life story in outline form is boring (and if not - it generally means that it has been horribly tragic...) It's the writing that will make it interesting. So maybe a writing workshop is what you need - so help you find or just recognize your voice. Can't wait to hear how it went!

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  6. Mel - Thank you! That helps.

    Jessica - You're right! I looked it up. How great is that?

    Lynne- I love that you enjoy coming back. I love being connected.

    slow panic - I just heard about it during the workshop. Interesting!

    Kate - How did you get so wise. SO TRUE about the voice.

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