Getting to first post

Gotta get there…

 

 

 

Why do we write?

We write to explore, to invent, to create, to make sense of our world, to know ourselves more fully and understand others. We write to express and share what it is to be human. We write to feel passion, love, grief, pain, anger, fear, and ambivalence, envy and hate. We write to be known and to pretend, to wound, to soothe and connect. We write to experience intimacy.

Writing is the work that we do alone in our chosen space, in our head, scribbled in notebooks, on serviette’s or bus tickets. An idea is like a seed and in order for the seed to germinate, the outer shell needs to be scarified or cracked open. So too does the writer create and engage the reader. A writer brings those things in life that have distressed, bruised and scarred to the page and it is these things that breathe life into the work.

 

 

 

 

 

So you want to write, right? I do too!

Who said, that writing is easy – huh? One of the hardest things about the whole damn writing business is to sit down with the intention to write.

In recent months I’ve found it excruciatingly difficult to write just about anything really despite the fact that I’m studying, so I’ve decided to create a blog about writing, but wait, there is a method in my madness. Maybe by sharing my thoughts about writing, I will be able to lubricate the wheels of my creative tandem and perhaps this might also be instrumental in helping you guys out there to identify and address your own difficulties.

 

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Please feel welcome to catch a ride and we’ll pedal together, let’s see if we can motivate each-other to write with purpose, meaning, intelligence and passion.

Here’s a brief list of the time and energy sucking, confidence depleting, exhausting and tedious shameful aspects of me – Shelagh. Hee hee it’s a bit like hanging your ‘auld washed out, bung elastic, big knickers, outside your front door for everyone to blimp … well, let me tell you, these are the very issues that thwart my writing.

Take a look…

 

• Procrastination

I’ll always find other tasks or projects rather than actually sitting down to write and yesterday, instead of knuckling down and completing three different writing assignments for the purpose of study and fast approaching the submission date, I ran around my house like a crazy woman. I scrubbed, vacuumed, mopped, sucked out crumbs embedded in the couch and pruned bushes, not to mention spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook.

Hoovering instead of writing

 

 

• Lack of self-discipline

I seem to be quite discerning about what I need to be determined about and more often than not, writing isn’t up there on the list of priorities. This can make me feel like disowning myself, which then, in turn becomes a self-perpetuating downward spiral, sound familiar?

Arrrgh!

 

 

• Distracted and unfocused

I am ashamed to admit that Facebook is a distraction and at times it feels just like an addiction. I log on but before I realize, I’m sucked into the merry-go-round and try as I do – I can’t get off.

A preoccupation that gets in the way of being creative

 

 

When I’m in my car navigating peak hour traffic or standing in a line at the bank, the inspiration genie besieges me with a litany of eloquent words, a unique character or a complex plot line, but once I’m at home with all my paraphernalia and ready to actually write, the little genie disappears and I’m faced with the tyranny of the blank screen and a sense of hopelessness.

 

 

Where art thou inspiration?

 

 

Help!

How do we tackle these problems?

In my next post I’ll explore some practical ideas. Incidentally, my first step towards making a commitment to be mindful about writing is actually establishing this blog, so I’m really quite pleased with myself.

 

Do say hello and remember….

Step one…

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