This week Write On Wendesday asks (read the entire prompt here): Are you ever assailed with self doubt about your writing ability, or about the reasons for writing at all? Do you “follow yourself around nagging and suggesting and complaining”? What are some of the negative things your Editor tells you? What could your Editor say to be more encouraging? How do you encourage yourself to keep practicing the craft of writing?
If you've been reading this blog of mine for long, you'll know I'm always feeling behind the eight ball with regard to time - having enough of it to go 'round and complete all the things on my "to do" list. Work responsibilities, music rehearsals and performances, elder care...fitting in time with husband, friends...getting the household chores done...ad infinitum.
So why am I spending so much time writing? Or thinking about writing? Or doing research for writing? Or writing about writing? nags the complaining voice that dogs my steps. Look at all the time you're wasting. It's not as if you were getting paid for it!
Ah ha! There's the most persistent of the nagging thoughts, especially these days when money is at such a premium in my house. How can I justify spending so much time in an activity that provides no monetary recompense? Huh? How can I?
As much as my Puritan forefathers would deny it, I believe in the value of activites which are self fulfilling and creative, activities that enrich the spirit and the mind- whether or not they enrich the pocket book. Certainly writing does that for me. Since I've been writing regularly, I feel my thoughts expanding and my confidence growing. I see myself looking at the world throught a different lens, more aware of its natural beauty, while increasing my interest in the relationships between people and the space they occupy. I'm excited by these changes. They multiply upon themselves, these rewards of writing, and I've come to consider my writing practice a good investment in self development.
I must remind myself of that, and often, especially when that nagging voice starts whining in my ear. But when I sit down to write, when I allow words to tumble out of my head and onto the page, the sensations of relief, excitement, and satisfaction, encourage my heart (and pen!) to keep writing.