Know that you have talent, are original, and have something important to say. - Brenda Ueland

Monday, April 25, 2011

Reasons

It's a talent I've honed and polished for years, although I don't use it much anymore: Excuses for not writing.

I've got a million of 'em. They're well thought out and reasoned; they don't sound like excuses. They sound like really good reasons why I couldn't write.

All nonsense, of course. If you want to write, you figure out a way to.

Distractions beckon from all corners. In my office right now, I have a stack of three great new books to read.

My bookshelves "need" tidying and sorting; the categories have gotten mingled.

The shelf of books about promoting and marketing writing makes me squirrelly and impatient, reminding me that I don't have a book to promote and market.

Colson Whitehead, whose Twitter feed often makes me laugh out loud, has a great no-excuses article about distractions.

Anne Lamott weighs in, too.

I love both their articles and the fact that if you want to write, just do it. We are all good enough, right here, right now, to write.