Friday, October 31, 2008

A Lesson Remembered, A Card To Be Mailed

This morning I thought we could brainstorm reasons why we aren't writing notes to friends, letters to editors, essays, articles, anything personal. Here's my list. I'm still working on writing notes.

What if I say it wrong?
What if I am wrong?
What if I'm misunderstood?
What if I'm rejected?
What if . . .

Wait. I see a pattern here, so let me change hats from writer to self-editor. If I go back and cut out the repetitious "what if" and question marks, then I can see more clearly. Sometimes I say it wrong. On rare occasion, perhaps, possibly, maybe, I am wrong. I have been misunderstood. And yes, (sniff, sniff) I know the pain of rejection.

Well, how about that? No need to fear being human and part of the human race. Now, if I can change hats just one more time and move from self-editor to teacher, let's conjugate some verbs. Remember conjugation?

I will say it wrong.
You will say it wrong.
He will say it wrong.
We will say it wrong.
You will say it wrong.
They will say it wrong.

See the universality of our phobias? Let's do another one.

I will be wrong on occasion.
You will be wrong on occasion.
She will be wrong on occasion.
We will be wrong on occasion.
You will be wrong on occasion.
They will be wrong on occasion.

I will be, you will be, he will be, she will be, we will be, they will be misunderstood, rejected. So if you've been feeling all alone in your misery, welcome to my world.

So what is holding you back from actually putting pen to paper (or seat to computer chair) today and writing, then placing what you've written in envelope or hitting "send"? You don't have time, you say? Oh. We can talk about that another day. Right now I'm, ah, out the door.

But first, just a quick report: I did mail two cards yesterday. I agonized over one, still on the dashboard of my car. I have another card to write today (and three letters that are nagging). Now that I've remembered how to conjugate verbs, I'm encouraged. I'll go ahead and mail that sympathy card. If I said it wrong, then I'll have to trust the family receiving the card is good at reading between the lines and will understand I care. I am so sorry for their loss, I'm speechless -- or feel that way.

Hug someone. We all need love.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Why Writers Advance?

Many of us have been stuck for a very long time. We want to write. We think about writing. We talk about writing with our writer friends. But actually putting pen to paper or seat to computer chair seems too difficult. All the old fears come up, so rather than write, we busy ourselves alphabetizing the fears by name. Fear of Rejection goes behind Fear of Failure but in front of Fear of Success. We are so neat and tidy, so organized.

Let's not pull back any more. Let's advance. We're writers. Our voices in print are important. We don't have to write the next best seller for our words to be effective. Maybe someone is waiting to hear from us.

So today, if you don't have a pressing deadline for an editor, I invite you to write with me. I need to send out a sympathy card, a thinking-of-you card, a how-about-that-grandbaby note. I need to come up with maybe three or four sentences per card. For me, that's hard. Maybe you've been thinking about sending out a thank-you note or about writing your congressman or that letter to the editor.

If you are in the middle of a novel, go ahead. Write. But if you are a writer who is not writing, I challenge you to twelve sentences, more or less. Your written words are important.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Welcome to the Beach!

For a long time I've wanted a place at the beach. I've finally found it right here on blogger -- my own piece of real estate. I want to invite you to join me.

What are your concerns, your hopes, your dreams? Write about it.