Today I want to blog to you (random mislead person who probably ended up here by pure chance and will likely assume this isn’t worth their time and click away again) about three things I’ve found to be very important in life. With me being a writer you can safely guess they’re about writing but I truly believe they matter in all aspects of everything – especially happiness.
They are:
Why Not
Just Do It
and Organic (writing)
Let’s start with the first.
Why Not – Don’t be fooled. This isn’t a question (← see, no question mark!). This is a statement, something I think we all need to ask ourselves when standing on the precipice of creativity (or anything really). You get a new idea, you think it’s stupid. No one will like it, nothing will ever come of it, blah, blah, bladdi-dah!
Obviously you can think up a million and three reasons not to go for something. It’s human nature to cave to caution and avoid any possible pain that may rain down on us. It was a good survival trait when we were hominids foraging on the Serengeti, just learning to walk upright and work past the grunt to give that giant golden kitty cat a name before it killed us was adventure enough. Why Not is perfectly understandable self-advice when faced with dangerous situations like that.
What I don’t get though is why Why Not applies so heavily and so harshly in non-life and death situations. It’s silly. Why don’t you go to the dance? Maybe no one will dance with you? So what! Why don’t you give that passionate speech about something you care about? It’s scary? You might really suck? So! Why don’t you write that weird beyond genre novel? It might never get published? It’ll suck? You’re wasting your time? So, so, so!!
Who knows, it might rock. You might make a point or dance like a rock star and if not – is it going to kill you? Is a little social scorn enough to hold you back from having even the tiniest chance at having the time of your life? If it is, I’m sorry but in the end please don’t let it be a question. Let it be a reminder.
It’s not going to kill you to try but it’s hard to live if you don’t.
Just Do It – If memory serves me right this has something to do with Nike commercials but as I’m proud to say I haven’t yet turned on the blasted television today it’s not likely to have anything to do with shoes…
Everything else on the other hand, yes. Writing most especially.
Once you get past Why Not all that’s left is to do it – to just do it. Sitting there thinking/complaining/worrying/whining and other notorious ing words aren’t going to get anything done. They don’t write page one and without page one you have no page one hundred and ten in your future unless you slipped on that banana peel and fell into a dyslexic time paradox (also known as a concussion).
If you don’t Just Do It you never actual take the chance. Nothing (aside from the aforementioned and hence banished Why Not) is standing in your way except that first step and then the one after that. You just have to Do It. Open your wings, jump the fire, collect your bonus points and +1 life and then write!
Nothing is accomplished by waiting for it to happen.
Organic – A simple word followed by a concept that isn’t always so. I often connect it to one of my other favorite words, raw, and an assortment of prosey concepts like untempered metal fresh from the kiln, sun spotted flesh and laugh wrinkles, vines of lightning splitting the sky with elemental energy. Broken molds. Grainy breads and hard cheese. Smells and sights, fragrance and pigment. Chipped paint on China dolls and torn lace under stained teacups.
Obviously I find organic to be a bit on the beautiful side. I also find it very helpful.
If you’ve ever done the NaNoWriMo then you’re familiar with writing by the seat of your pants. You sit down, grab a pen or keyboard and just go, go, go! Some of us just skip the sitting down part. The goal of NaNo is to write 50,000 words within thirty days, the idea is that if you Just Do It and keep doing it that you can write at least a standard sized novel in a money (1,667 words a day).
The often less focused on part of NaNo (because 50,000 sounds so horrifying at first that you can’t possibly push anything else into your brain) is the write without looking back part. You don’t edit and you seldom plot save for some ideas on the back of a box of Tampax. That’s what I’m talking about when I say Organic.
Have you ever just written? Just laid down a paper and let your brain hit the surface with a great big splat of ink? Have you ever painted without worrying about the lines and colors and does a person really need all ten fingers? What if Picasso ha been a perfectionist?
What I’m saying is – yes, while eventually you’re going to have to make sure your main character has the same name you gave her 300 pages later and run more than just a simple spell check – don’t get hung up on all that jazz. Writing is writing. Painting is painting. Doing is doing and fine tuning… is better left for when you have something to tune. In the mean time, have fun with your work. Explore your characters and your canvas. Don’t be afraid to be stupid and silly or passionate about something scary. Don’t worry about being good or great, just be.
Perhaps I’ve rambled and I’ll be honest I’m not sure I’ve made the point I was aiming for because I’m so easily sidetracked but either way…
Don’t ask Why Not, understand it and Just Do It. Most importantly Do It Your Way.
