How Not to Be a Writer

I started journaling when I was 8 years old. I have kept journals ever since. Many, many filled notebooks. But I am new to blogging.

In her book, God Never Blinks, Regina Brett wrote, “How not to be a writer: Spend hours pondering over using longhand or shorthand, computer or legal pad, pen or pencil, blue ink or black, Mac or PC…Analyze every idea before you write the first sentence, strive for perfection.” This is exactly what I have done. This is exactly why I haven’t started a blog.

So now I am going to take Regina’s advice on how to be a writer: “If you want to be a writer, write.”

Another wise girl, Stephanie over at The Lipstick Gospel gives this advice:

“Writing doesn’t need to be good and chances are that right at first, it wont be. But what it needs to be is honest. Our writing needs to tell the truth, the best way we can see it.

Perfection is overrated and unnecessary. The important thing is that we show up, that we sit down at our computer and write – that we stay there especially when it’s uncomfortable.”

That doesn’t sound easy. But it sounds real. It sounds authentic. And that is what I desire.