Weekly Inspiration: Write, Write, Write

Inspiration:  Write, Write, Write:  My biggest problem in writing, I think—aside from the whole spelling and grammar thing—is that I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I feel every time I put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, the words I put down must be profound, moving, beautiful at the very start or they don’t deserve to be there. It doesn’t help that I know writers whose rough drafts are awe-inspiring.

My worthiest words come not from my writing prowess but because my muse sends me voices unhindered and demanding I write their story. And receiving such material, I begin revising, rewriting, and revising again. Moving words around, cutting tangents, filling holes. Spending hours, if not days, on a word or a phrase in hopes I give justice to the story given to me.

Every time I sit down, I wait for my muse to take over. When it doesn’t come, I give up, do something else, discouraged that I’ll never again write a decent word.  I do this knowing that those free-writers whom I admire have become admirable because they didn’t give up, they didn’t do something else. They wrote.

Writing this, I realize that if I want to write brilliantly each time I put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, I need to, well, I need to write. I need to encourage my muse, not wait passively for her to show up. 

So, I ask myself, seeing the StoryADay challenge in a recent Writer Unboxed blog, why not now? Seems like this self-isolating, social distancing routine is going to go on for a while. And, I’ll enjoy writing, even if it is crap, more than cleaning my house ~  

Julie Duffy runs the StoryADAy project and offers prompts and encouragement along the way. Happily, she says there are no rules except to try to write 31 stories in the month of May.  Easy-peasy, right? 

Want to join me?  Here’s the rundown on Writer Unboxed

~ carol 

Carol Phillips