I remember when I was younger and I used to believe that the world was endless. It stretched on forever in every direction, and no matter where I went, I would be faced with billions of possibilities and even more wonders.
I'm older now and I know a little better. I know now that you have to do more than just step in a direction and hope for chances to come your way. You have to step up and stand firm. You have to charge full speed ahead and go at it with all you've got.
Because living isn't effortless anymore. It might have been easy as a child. There were no goals, no expectations. Life was all color by numbers and chapter books. Outside games and fights on the trampoline and trying to hold your breath the longest in the pool.
Now, living isn't always fun. It takes will and work. And there's this cloud of expectations looming overhead sprinkling the same thoughts on you again and again: "will I ever measure up?"
And when I look around at the people I pass every day I draw breath, I wonder, "who all is living? who all is trying? who all fears they'll never make it? who else thinks like me?"
I can't be alone in this. Can I?
So many eyes, watching. So many ears, listening. So many expectations. The pressure swells and burns, and sometimes ... it's too much.
But it doesn't have to be like that.
Nano has the potential to be another one of those "to-do's". It's another accomplishment we have to check off our list, another thing we need to do. You have to write write write in order to be good enough, to fit in with the rest of us. And if you fall behind, well ... I guess you've lost. Unless you work work work yourself till drowning to catch back up to that standard you fell short of.
Writing is an art. There is no set standard for how to do any of it. There are no absolute rules, except maybe for grammar. There is a freedom that comes with writing. And with that freedom should come breath.
Remember who you are. Remember what you write for. Remember who you write for. There's always another draft. You're just a few brainstorming sessions away from working out that plot hole.
I'm going into this nano with no plotline and the barest idea of an ending. But I'm doing it, and I'm alive. It's so easy to feel like a failure. There are so many things to mess up on, so many little things to get wrong. But I beg you, take a breath and look at what you're doing. Don't try to make anyone happy. Don't try to write a perfect draft. Editing exists for a reason.
Have fun this nano. Let go of any pressure to hit that word count or write that perfect line.
Breathe. You are enough.
Sorry about my disappearance last week :P I had the ACT and then Trunk or Treat and work the night before and the post just didn't happen.
How are you doing on nano? If you're not doing nano, how are you doing with your WIP?
Writing is an art. There is no set standard for how to do any of it. There are no absolute rules, except maybe for grammar. There is a freedom that comes with writing. And with that freedom should come breath.
Remember who you are. Remember what you write for. Remember who you write for. There's always another draft. You're just a few brainstorming sessions away from working out that plot hole.
I'm going into this nano with no plotline and the barest idea of an ending. But I'm doing it, and I'm alive. It's so easy to feel like a failure. There are so many things to mess up on, so many little things to get wrong. But I beg you, take a breath and look at what you're doing. Don't try to make anyone happy. Don't try to write a perfect draft. Editing exists for a reason.
Have fun this nano. Let go of any pressure to hit that word count or write that perfect line.
Breathe. You are enough.
Sorry about my disappearance last week :P I had the ACT and then Trunk or Treat and work the night before and the post just didn't happen.
How are you doing on nano? If you're not doing nano, how are you doing with your WIP?
<3
