WRITING IS HARD. PROCRASTINTING – THAT’S EASY!

The calendar reads “JULY 2014.” I double-check. Yes, July, all right. My last blog entry was… December 2013. Over the first five years of “I’m Just Saying” I faithfully wrote 15 blogs per year! In fact, I used it as a goal to prod me into the very act of writing. Clearly, something has not been quite effective in prodding me this calendar year.

What changed? I’ve given it some thought… and really cannot put my finger on any one thing. I’ve been busy. I’ve been tired. I’ve been working on my documentary film. But, that’s the same as the year before, and the year before that… It can only be one thing: I have nothing to say.

Wait a minute… now, that’s not true. In fact, I have a working file (as any writer does) full of ideas, bits and pieces of plot, dialogue, and even a list of blog-specific topics to explore. For instance, one of my blog-notes reads: “Tales of writing. Time and effort. Heaven and Hell. Great stuff and crapola.” Hmmm…

As any writer knows, it can be very difficult to sit still and fearlessly stare at the blank page. So, we procrastinate. I procrastinate. I pay bills, I do laundry, I wash the car, I check Facebook, and then… it’s too late to sit and write. Writing is simultaneous hard and easy, painful and pleasurable, free flowing and backed-up. So what should I do? How shall I get myself out of this oh-so-comfortable rut of idyllic procrastination?

Simple. Write. Write anything. Write this blog. The very act of writing will do the trick. You see, sometimes, I suspect, the real reason I won’t write is not that I have nothing to say, but that I dread that the words I choose to express myself will not be worthy of your time to read. In fact, I am feeling that right now, at the very moment I am writing these words! But, life is not about being perfect, or even achieving perfection. Life is about living and, for the writer in me, that part of living is expressing myself through these words. Their worth is relative, but their source is genuine.

I think that I will close this toe-dipping blog now. You see, I am now inspired to write the blog that I have been putting off ever since I experienced a certain moment in January 2014…

Okay, I think I just figured out why the blogs stopped. Stay tuned. I’ll do my very best to explain next time.

I’m just saying…