In Hal Zina Bennet's book, "Write From the Heart", in one of his core concepts, he writes, "It's ironic to discover that the critics who stop us in our tracks are within us...."
I received an email today from an old friend who finally started writing. I say finally because all her life she believed she couldn't. One of her pieces is being published in the Upper Room Devotional next fall. She is thrilled because she writes, "all from somebody who learned in school that "I can't write."
Years ago, when I began encouraging my mother to start writing her memoirs, her words to me were, "I can't write...or spell."
"Hogwash," I told her. "You talk to people and you know how to use a dictionary. Write like you would talk to somebody and any words you're not sure about, look up."
She took that advice and five years later is happily plodding along in Volume 3 of her life story.
It's not just non-writers who are plagued by the "I can't write's." I am amused at those non-writers who think writers sit down at the keyboard and words magically appear in our heads and we spew forth great wisdom and stories. On more than one day a week, my word count is in the negative category not the positive.
I sit down at the keyboard with good intentions. While I was soaking in the tub, plots formed, I was able to solve the national debt problem, and come up with a New York Times Bestseller all at once. The minute I get dressed and sit at my desk, I can't figure out how to keep my pencil lead from breaking, much less think about a plot line. I have banged my head on my desk, thought about shooting my monitor, and have amused myself by counting how many times the cursor will flash as it sits at the end of the word 'the'.
I've uttered those words, "I can't write." And many times I have meant them, yet after a while that feeling passes and I think, "why can't I?" I write a letter to my inner critic and ask him. He doesn't know why, so I begin by pretending I'm having a conversation with an old friend. Any words that look strange to me, I look up in the dictionary. I write and after 500, 1000, 1500 words, I see 'I can write' and the critic is silenced for another day.
Silence yours by writing. Your composition doesn't have to be Shakespeare, just words.
Til Tomorrow~