Planting a literary forest

Are you having trouble launching into writing? Having trouble working up the confidence to put pen to paper or let your fingers glide across the laptop keyboard?

Many people write daily to Facebook or Twitter. The three-line comment is de riguer for today’s social media. Easy enough to key in two lines. But what about writing poetry or short stories, blogs, plays, novels or novellas? What is it that’s stopping you from taking the plunge and letting your creative genius rip?

Recently, I was introduced to Seth Godin’s blogs. Godin is an American author and former dot com business executive with a well-earned reputation for being succinct, motivational and inspiring. In 2018 he was inducted into the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Hall of Fame.

Godin is the author of many books and his most recent blog titled ‘Write Something’ really got me thinking. The blog is only 12 lines, yet it says everything there is to say when it comes to taking the plunge and putting words on paper or keying them into a laptop. For according to Godin, there’s no such thing as writer’s block, just a fear of bad writing.

It doesn’t take self-confidence to write just for yourself, but it can take a lot of confidence to believe that someone might like to read what you’ve written. Been there, believed that. But the minute you commit to writing something – anything – you’re on the path to creating, learning, researching, improving, clarifying and affirming who you are through the words you have to offer. As Seth says, ‘do enough bad writing and some good writing is bound to show up’.

So this week, take that plunge. Just key in the seeds and let your words germinate. You might be surprised at how quickly your literary forest grows.