“You need to do the same, dear sweet arrogant beautiful crazy talented tortured rising star glowbug….I want to know what you have inside you…So, write [Heather Gayle]. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherf*cker.” -Tiny Beautiful Things, Cheryl Wild
I have this quote post-noted to my computer (with the personalized emphasis) and I read it every day. And yet, I still put off writing my next blog post, or in my journal or honestly even my to do list. I don’t know what it is about getting back into the groove. It is just plain hard.
Writing is something like working out. When you are in the thick of it, it’s enjoyable, even addictive. But the moment you get out of the routine, it becomes the most difficult thing in the world to start again. It becomes the elephant in the room that I ridiculously refuse to acknowledge.
I went on vacation and so it was easy to put off writing. I was busy seeing new places, meeting new friends, and eating EVERYTHING in sight. Then I had Malaria in which I could barely move. I was a heap of hallucinations and in no place to write. And then I had work meetings and my mind was too exhausted to come up with something worthy of posting.
And then. And then. And then.
It’s easy to make excuses and it is easy to just quit writing. But with each day that I chose not to write, it became that much harder to start again. So, on days where I need a little extra inspiration to light a fire in my fingertips, I try to remember these 3 things:
- It doesn’t have to be long, just write
- Keep it simple and keep it honest
- It doesn’t have to be perfect just write
You wouldn’t expect to be able to run a marathon after having not ran in a while. Similarly, you won’t maybe be able to write the most dazzling blog post after taking a 7 week writing hiatus (thankfully I have learned to back log at least a post or two!). The important thing is to just get back into it.
So, as I look at this quote one more time, my fingers are starting to feel the blaze. Not for a marathon, but maybe for a 5k at first. Time to write like a motherf*cker!