One of the hardest things about writing is to understand that the first thing you type can’t – and shouldn’t – be perfect. This is hard to understand.
On my first day as a freelance writer, I truly believed that I would sit down and write the most entertaining, thought provoking, interesting sentences you could have ever read. Of course, on my first day as a freelance writer those wonderful perfect sentences were not very wonderful.
After spending an hour writing down a brilliant idea I had, I’d give up. I’d think of how much time I had just wasted writing garbage. No one’s going to be interested in that, I’d think.
I kept thinking that it had to come out perfect the first time and that was a very frustrating thing to think. I forgot that sometimes you just have to write for the sake of writing Almost like the way an athelete has to practice every day to stay in shape, regardless if they’re going out for a big race or not.
I told myself that at least I kept writing and capturing the ideas I had. Things was training for me and perhaps in time there’d even be an idea somewhere in one of these daily writings.
I’m not always good at just letting the words come out without stopping them, but I’m working on it. I’m slowly getting into the pattern of writing without thinking. Which could be a dangerous thing if that’s all I ever do but for the moment, it’s actually a very freeing feeling.
My inner critic works very hard and I’m trying to stop them for the next little bit while I just get the writer out first.
The Chronicles of Girl at Play began in April 2001 as a way for me to chronicle my leaving a successful corporate position to become a self-employed writer.
