It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish. – J.R.R. Tolkein
I have had all of the demons and gremlins come to visit me this week. I’ve had ‘who are you?’ and ‘who do you think you are?’ and they brought reinforcements. Lots of them. I’m writing, you see, and when I am really writing, they all come out to play with my head. But one gremlin is suspic
iously absent this time.
I was reading a fabulous bit of advice in a letter from Brenda at Forest North this morning. In it she writes about the hardness of writing, and what that means. It’s a great bit of advice, and it got me thinking about that gremlin who hasn’t shown up: ‘what’s the point, you aren’t really a writer.’
The last time I wrote a book, that gremlin showed up on a regular basis. No matter how many blog posts I wrote, or chapters I finished, his little voice was there in my head. I’ve heard the same crap come out of the mouths of artists, musicians, dancers, poets, all of them: I’m not really a(n)…
But I did it. I finished the book. And I even let myself be proud of it.
This time, I’m not hearing it or even hearing myself say it. And it’s not because I published something, and it’s not because I am somehow more evolved or easier on myself, it’s because the last time I sat down to write a book, I finished it.
I proved to myself that I was a writer by writing something.
So now every time I sit down to write, I don’t have to listen to that particular gremlin anymore. Because it isn’t true. I am a writer: I have proof.
And that means that there is a lot more room for actual writing.
So advice from the trenches? Finish something. Complete something. Just get one done. Prove to yourself that you are a: (insert favourite label here). Because if you have made art, you are an artist. If you have written, you are a writer.
Own it. Liberate yourself from that particular gremlin. Make room so that you can get on with making more.
Just get one done.
xo
