The Delicious Agony of Writing

Writing is definitely more agony than ecstasy. Having written is the delicious part, but you can't get there without first going through the agony of writing. And what holds you back from that (besides the usual procrastination) is that you taste that agony in advance.

 

You stand staring at the bathroom mirror, imagining the day ahead of you. Do you want to put yourself at a table with a notebook and pen and then force yourself to write? Do you want to feel the pain of not finding a topic? Or finding a topic and not finding the words with which to expand it? Do you want to sit for hours running through possibilities and then give up, "failure" carved on your forehead (in reverse writing, so you see it properly when you look in that mirror)? Is that what you will put on your to-do list for the day?

 

Forcing yourself past that image of certain failure requires true commitment, for the image is much stronger (because more immediate and more likely) than any thought of the delicious feeling that will obtain once you have written.

 

And now the heavy-duty argument steps forward. Does the world really need yet another writer? Oh, I won't deny my belief that it is our responsibility to exercise our birthright of creativity. But maybe the world would be better served if my creativity were to take the form of making a few greeting cards or throwing together an impromptu company meal rather than sitting in a funk while I implore the Muse to move my pen.

 

Agony or ecstasy? Let's see, which is more appealing? H'm-m. Don't disturb me. I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

 

 

Copyright 2012 Ann Tudor

www.anntudor.ca
http://www.scenesfromthejourney.blogspot.com