Writing is kinda like throwing up.
Your stomach hurts, you’re nervous, yet you know you gotta get those words (or vomit) out. Resisting the urge to write only brings more pain and frustration (not unlike what happens when you refuse to, um… upchuck), and the only relief comes when words begin to form on paper/a word document. After it’s done, you’re like,
Man, why do I even bother worrying about this? I should write, not think.
But then again, to say something like that would be doing yourself a disservice, because as writers, our greatest asset is our mind. (Well… that, and our uncanny inability to actually grow up). So thinking is great!
However, over thinking is not, which is something that writers tend to have a problem not doing. Over thinking in of itself is a crazy concept. You’re thinking about the fact that you’re thinking about facts, which is an interesting fact to think about on top of all the other things you’re thinking about. All of this usually leads to insomnia and mild to severe bouts of brilliance. The former is almost always unfortunate, while the latter is only sometimes unfortunate.
Regardless, (that was my clumsy attempt to find my way back from the rabbit trail that was the previous paragraph) sometimes it is better to just start writing and see where the words take you, because words can take us to places our feet can’t. Imagination is the last uncharted land that we have in this life, and words are kind of like compasses that help us traverse the unknown regions of our minds.
Since we’re writers, we know how to use this compass.
The vast majority of the population doesn’t have a clue what to do with it, so it’s our job to be their guides. We have to explore this dichotomously old and new country and show people how to imagine. Everyone is born with this ability, the ability to imagine, but the world gets in the way of most people, and they forget. But like I said earlier, writers have the ability to not grow up, therefore we don’t forget how to imagine! It’s brilliant! It’s our job to help these poor, miserable, unimaginative grown up people to remember how to dream.
So writers! Take your pens and MacBooks and write, write, write!
