Happy Sunday, folks, or Monday already depending on where and when you’re reading this. I know a lot of us in this community are also writers, so I thought I’d share a quote that resonated with me this week:
“We may think that the book we will write will be bad. Even worse will be the one we put off writing. At least the book that has been written exists.”
-Fernando Pessoa
Yikes. I can definitely relate to that, almost too much.
Anyone else?
I always seem to put off writing until I’m in the right mindset, until I have an evening with no plans, no distractions, until I have an idea that’s good enough. But good ideas don’t have to start as good ideas. Good writing doesn’t have to start with good writing, it’s just important that you start.
Besides being a member of this amazing team on Pointless Overthinking, I also write poetry and excerpts of a book series I want to publish in the future. One of the positive sides of quarantine has been that I’ve had more time to write without distractions. Over time, I’ve learned a lot about good and bad writing habits that I have.
One of those bad habits is procrastination.
I never force myself to write, it’s a passion that I’ve always had ever since I was a little girl. But I realized I had been using procrastination as an excuse to not write, which isn’t the same thing.
Block out 5 minutes of your day to free write, if it takes you somewhere go with it, if not, at least you started to build a good habit and gave your mind a break.
Sometimes I write 5 adjectives that come to mind, sometimes I write 5-10 word poems of random words, sometimes I describe all the unique colors I can see… Whatever works for you. Check your perfectionism at the door and start.
To answer my own question, no, I don’t think you should ‘force’ yourself to write. The most important thing is to have a healthy relationship with writing. But I do believe blocking out time every day to free write is a healthy exercise for your mind and many ideas can stem from there.
“What I write, knowing that it’s bad, might also offer a few moments of distraction from worse things to another sad or wounded soul. That is enough, or rather, it isn’t but it nonetheless helps in some way, and that’s how it is with life.“
-Fernando Pessoa
What do you write about? Do you also struggle with procrastination at times? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
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You can read my poetry blog at http://www.poemsandprose.travel.blog