So hard to get started, but once started, I know I can write.
The key was to commit to those 15 minutes and just stop dithering.
I didn’t know what to write, I kept saying. I didn’t just want to babble, I wanted to write my book. However, I kept avoiding sitting down to write.
Two days, I wrote nothing. Last night before bed, I opened up my journal, since the computer was still too intimidating, and I wrote a (bad) poem. This morning I took out my journal while the kids were playing with papa, and wrote a few paragraphs. Then, when everyone took a nap, I got a brainstorm.
Bring my laptop down from the bedroom and set it on the dining table in the living room, out of the way, since no one eats there, and start writing… disconnected from the internet, which I think is key. Less opportunity to avoid. I brought down my first drafts of the first and second book. Then I still didn’t know what to do.
Luckily my uncle butted in. “Why aren’t you writing yet?”
“I don’t know where to start. Do I finish the first draft of the second book or finish the second draft of the first book?”
“Do it organically,” he said. “Just open up the program and do what feels right.”
So I did, and I did, and I ended up going back to the second draft work that I did on the first book. I wrote 1,091 words in an hour, with a break to go get a meatloaf sandwich for the lunch I had skipped.
It feels good. I wrote again. I started writing again, that is the hardest part. Once you open up the world, once you start the habit, it is easier the next time. It gets easier to get over those blocks each time you do it.
Easier and easier to take those little steps, and little steps lead to long journeys. Change your life in 15 minutes a day? Lets see if it works.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment