For Those Questioning if They’re Really a Writer or Not
Writing is much more than being able to put words on a page.
I don’t believe in Writer’s Block.
Giving a name to my struggles with crafting a story or a blog post gives it power over me; it becomes an intimidating and unstoppable force that plagues my mind to the point that I am crippled with fear and low motivation.
So, I simply choose to believe that it doesn’t exist.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t still have problems with writing sometimes; every single writer of any kind will encounter moments when their brain shuts down and their native language suddenly becomes completely foreign to them.
I recently found myself in one of those situations. I was sitting at my workspace, staring at a project notebook in front of me with a pencil in my hand just… waiting.
I attempted to go straight to my computer instead of working out my ideas on paper. Surprise! That didn’t work either.
Usually I’ll consult the notes section of my phone for things I jotted down throughout the week that I wanted to use as a topic at some point. Sadly, reading through those ideas didn’t help me figure out why English seemed to be evading me at the keyboard.
Frustrated, I got up and went outside for a breath of fresh air. I sat in the grass and stared at the sky as if I figured it would magically be filled with text that I could copy down and turn into a post. No such luck.
I began to question if I was wrong about good ole’ Writer’s Block. It certainly seemed like it was very real and very powerful right then.
This spell lasted for days. Every single time I sat down to write, I couldn’t get myself to think straight. I tried over and over again. None of my usual methods were working.
When this happens to us, it’s easy to believe that we are not really cut out to be writers. Doubt creeps in and sinks its claws into our minds and our self-esteem. I kept thinking to myself during this time, “Am I really even a writer?”
I finally decided that I was going to get out my journal and update what was going on in my life just so that I was writing something. As I wrote, I began to feel the words come crashing out of me, as if a dam had been broken and a giant river of words rushed forth.
I vented about certain things that I was going through and how difficult they were for me. I gushed about a fun road trip I took with friends that I hadn’t gotten around to writing about in my journal yet. I described a beautiful wildflower that I had seen during a reflective walk.
After I was done, I realized that I written 8 full pages in my journal. Was it totally cohesive? Eh, not really. But it made me understand what my problem had been for the past week.
I was so focused on stringing a bunch of words together on the page that I wasn’t thinking about what those words actually meant.
What makes a writer a writer?
A small, three sentence poem or a 600 page novel; a paragraph on a blog, or small initials carved into a tree inside of a little heart left behind so that someone at some point will know that whoever these people are, they absolutely love each other. Every single one of them was created by a writer.
It’s not the words that are written, or how long they are. Each of these people created something that evokes emotion; that creates a story behind the letters. Some told the details of the story; others left it for the interpretation and imagination of those that would someday read it.
History is being written as we live through it. Our story is being written through hundreds of pictures, journal entries, Facebook posts, and many other ways. In a way, we are all writers and storytellers.
No matter how insignificant you think your little essay is, or when you are struggling with figuring out what words you can offer the word, remember that you ARE a writer and there is always a story to tell:
Yours.
