I’ve never been a consistent writer.
It wasn’t due to lack of desire. The reasons were always valid, complex, and crippling; even during NaNoWriMo, while making my word count for the month, I’d go as long as a week without being able to put anything on paper.
Until this year, when I finally figured out how to write daily. For good.
Listen: CreateIt22 WORKS. It’s so simple, so doable, and only difficult because I first had to unlearn what I thought I knew about daily creation. #writersblock #artistsblock
Listen: CreateIt22 WORKS. It's so simple, so doable, and only difficult because I first had to unlearn what I thought I knew about daily creation. #writersblock #artistsblock Click To TweetOne: Create Something New EVERY Day.
One new thing.
Draw a circle.
Write one sentence.
Paint one swipe of color.
Choose one note and put it on paper.
This is hard. Why? Because we want it to be something other than what it is – which leads to part two.
Two: Do It Wrong. Yes: Wrong.
This, right here, is the reason I couldn’t create.
I wanted to write what fit my story – what might be keepable. What could develop character, advance plot, something.
That’s not always possible, but forward movement is.
I wanted to write what fit my story – what might be keepable. What could develop character, advance plot, something.That's not always possible, but forward movement is. #CreateIt22 Click To TweetListen: anyone can make one crappy new thing.
One sentence that’s completely irrelevant.
One chord that doesn’t fit the structure.
One circle that looks more like an egg.
Anyone can create badly.
And we’re terrified of creating badly because we think that’s it. That’s the best we can do. If we make it bad, we’ll be bad, somehow, forever.
But that isn’t true.
When a child learns to walk, they do it poorly. They fall, wobble, make a real mess of it – because that’s how we all learn to walk.
If you’re willing to make something every day and allow it to be wrong, you will find that you CAN create.
There’s no such thing as blocked if you’re willing to write the wrong sentence.
There’s no such thing as blocked if you know the color you chose to paint is wrong, but you do it anyway.
There’s no such thing as blocked if you go ahead and write that lyric, even though it doesn’t fit or rhyme or even make sense.
Creation is inertia.
If you want to create better tomorrow, start creating today.
Doing it wrong is scary, but freeing. You’re pushing past your inner critic and back toward the bliss of play – and creation is play, no matter how serious it is.
You can do this. If I could figure it out, so can you. Don’t be afraid. Make something new today, and keep moving forward tomorrow.
