Getting Over Why Writing Is Hard & Nike: Just Do It!

I have always thought about being a writer. As a kid, I wrote a poem when President John Kennedy was shot and still have it in my scrap book.

I saw myself as a writer but certainly didn’t know how to be one. As a kid, I just wrote. As an adult, I think about writing and then think about the reasons why I can’t.

That’s what has happened with my writing on and off. I did it, and then I didn’t. Why? I have theories: 1) No time due to my time spent on my job as a writing teacher; 2) Can't take time away from family;  3) No topics of interest  ; and, TRUTH: 4) Not good enough. Reasons 1-3 were smoke screens for the heart of the matter: I thought I wasn’t good at it.  

Notice the theme here: no, can't, not, nothing. This is all negative. STOP NEGATIVITY. The path to being a writer or anything else is simple:

In fact, in the case of writing, just do it and do it and do it, over and over and over, reading it out loud, until you hear that it’s good, and you think, “Wow, I kind of like this.”

Then ask someone to read it and LISTEN to what he or she thinks about what you’ve written.  Be ok with what someone tells you about your writing. When you’re in school, college, or a job, someone is going to read whatever you write. Get used to it. Be strong. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Someone suggests something to help you make your writing better. Wouldn’t that be great?

Decide to write first when you get up, before social media, emails, work, kids, even if for only 5-10 minutes. Why? Because you won’t write at all if you don’t do it. You’ll have nothing to share if you don’t do it. Finally, you will fail in your classes, work, and being a role model to people you care about, if you don’t do it.

Because getting over writing is hard, take this writing rescue tip: NIKE: JUST DO IT.