practice makes imperfect

lest you think blog inactivity means i haven't been writing: rest assured, i have been. every day, for at least an hour, as planned. just not blog posts. (i actually did write a massive blog post the other day that i was going to post, but ultimately didn't, because it deals with a condo-board issue that i don't want to jinx. so, it's saved as a draft and will be published when the time is right... probably in a couple of weeks.)

anyway...

for the most part, my daily writing practice hasn't really been yielding anything of note. i've been jumping from project to project based on which one is calling to me on a given day. and, sometimes, i've been using the ideas in my idea notebook to just write something new for a while.

but this routine has made me feel weirdly noncommittal to everything on which i'm working. by hopping from story to story, i feel a bit like i'm just spinning my wheels, killing time, fulfilling a duty, and none of the stories are actually going anywhere or evolving.

so, yesterday, i posted a question to facebook (and emailed it to a couple of non-FB writer friends of mine) asking for tips, tricks and suggestions from my writer/creative friends on how to actually FINISH something.

because it's fine to have a stack of great ideas or half-finished pieces, but what's the point if none of them ever wind up completed?

i got some really amazing, thoughtful replies packed with clever strategies and practical advice. the gist of it all, though, was pretty simple: you just gotta write. sit down and write. write write write. good, bad, ugly, rambling, whatever. just write.

thinking about writing is fine, but without actually DOING it, the thing you're trying to create will never exist. dreaming of how your novel or screenplay or short story or play or poem will be received is fun but pointless -- one friend sent me a great quote by martha graham that basically says, "that's not your job. your job is just to get the thing finished." (i'm paraphrasing, of course.)

one of my biggest hurdles is overcoming the inclination to edit what i've written while it's still a work in progress, rather than forging ahead, for better or worse, to get to the end of a first draft and THEN go back and edit. my brain starts second-guessing what i've already written, or stalls trying to figure out the best way forward through a scene or a moment or a piece of dialogue. or i just start feeling like what i've been writing is lame and "why bother continuing? i should just scrap this..."

what i need to do is just move forward with something. a bad plot twist, or no twist at all. a wooden monologue or a scene without any dialogue. one supertsra designer friend put it best, saying the way through creative blocks is just to do all the "dumb ideas" first. write them, design them, whatever... but get them out of your system. this allows you to proceed (rather than waiting for lightning to strike) *and* gives your brain room to let in a good idea. or a great one. or the perfect one. or maybe none of those, but at least you'll be able to get to the proverbial finish line of whatever it is you're working on. and that's what matters.

i have a new bulletin board hung up next to my desk. i was going to use it as sort of a vision board, on which to pin inspirational/motivational images or quotes or self-help reminders.

back when i was working in an office, i had an 8x11" colour image of a beautiful swimming pool posted on my cubicle wall. on it, i wrote "JUST JUMP IN" as a reminder to just do it, just go, just take the risk, etc.

it came from a realization i'd had while in florida one year. every morning, i'd go down to the pool just before 9am to swim. although the pool was heated, the water temperature was always somewhat chilly first thing in the morning. and, every day, i'd s-l-o-w-l-y inch my way in via the steps in the shallow end. it was a very very very gradual process that didn't make starting my swim any easier. going slowly didn't magically warm up the water. eventually, i'd just quickly dunk myself under to get the shock to my body over with, then proceed to swim. and after no more than a minute or two, the water felt totally comfortable. no longer cold.

i soon learned that by dunking right away (instead of the slo-mo pool entry), i could gain a couple of minutes of enjoyment and spare myself the "agony" of the gradual submersion. "just jump in" and get it over with already so you can move on!

then i realized that approach could be applied to life beyond the pool deck. as a self-critical overthinker, how much of my life and my work was being hampered by a slow, methodical, ultimately unproductive process? what if i just jumped in whenever faced with doubt or fear or really cold water?

so, the first thing i've posted on my bulletin board is a post-it that says: JUST FINISH. and, hopefully, it can serve as a reminder of what to do whenever i'm sitting at my desk, struggling to write and pondering what should come next.

now, i just need to find another great photo of a pool to pin beside it.