We all know the quote. Even those who weren’t born yet. I was 2 weeks old at the time, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon: “One small step for man. One giant leap for man-kind.” is what he said. Amazing. That’s exactly how I felt Friday, launching my brand new Facebook page. Amazing – and making a giant leap.
You have to understand, for me it’s been a struggle to even begin to write. I have been blogging and journaling off and on for years, but to actually try something different. Write a book? Tell the world about my writing? No way! I can’t do it.
It was even strange to me how strongly I felt about not writing. I could pick up a pen, or sit down with the laptop, and stare at the empty paper or screen for minutes. My head got blank and my hands got sweaty. I was completely blocked.
Strangely enough I attended numerous creative writing classes, and happily handed in the assignments. The difference, I think, was the environment. At school I was allowed to make mistakes, write badly, even though I wanted my work to be good. Writing outside of the classroom gave me performance anxiety. I thought my texts would have to be perfect, but there is no such thing.
Writing Can Never Be Perfect
Many people expect writing to be a perfectly executed craft, but there is no such thing as perfect art. It’s just – art. What you need to do, is to find the courage to open up the tap of creativity, and then let it flow. Once the text is written you can start editing, but let it sit for a bit first.
The editing may polish the text, but not make it perfect. Perfect is boring – we want to be moved! So forget about perfect writing. Worry about the story instead. What do you want to say?
Today I can open up the tap and let it flow. I’m not afraid to read the non-perfect result anymore. It’s an ongoing process, and I need to conquer it every day. But how do you ever get ready for another reader than yourself to take part of your work? Now we are talking about scary stuff!
You’d better take one step – or leap of faith – at a time…