I’m trying to write about something that is profound. Something that is going to make the reader stand up and say “Wow! This guy really knows what he is talking about!”
I am trying to write something that will go viral so I can get all sorts of “Likes”. People will be reaching out to me and telling me how brilliant I am. Hosts of popular podcasts and TV shows will be talking about me and buying my books and asking me to talk to them. I will start to see the zeros pile up in my bank account and I can finally afford all those fancy things that I have been thinking about my whole life.
In the meantime, I am writing this. It is my attempt to get out of the rut I have been in. I didn’t write for a few weeks because I was unable to come up with that fancy and compelling work that would stand the world on its head.
So instead of just working on anything, I worked on nothing. I don’t know if that is the way that it should have been done but that is how I did it.
The way that it should be done is to work on something every day. Even if I am just going through the motions, I am still making something happen. When things are not flowing that is when the mind is doing the most work. When I need to work hard at something and then see nothing happen, it builds grit.
I read about writer’s block and about what I am supposed to do when I have nothing to say. I now realize it is OK to have nothing to say. I also realize that when I have nothing to say I need to start looking around.
The universe has plenty to say to me and I need to be available to listen.
Yesterday I sat in the sunshine for 5 minutes and listened to the wind. I was sitting on a wall and turned so the sun was hitting my back instead of my face. It felt like I had moved to a different spot.
Later in the afternoon I again sat in the sunshine. This time I had a book in my hand and read for 20 minutes.
As darkness fell on the day, I stood on my back deck and listened to two barred owls arguing about who was going to cook for who.
I made two homemade pizzas. One was ham and cheese because I forgot the pepperoni at the store. The other was tomato and mozzarella because I like that combination on pizza. I received compliments from my family on the pizza.
Maybe this isn’t the article that goes viral and gets me on the hot podcast. Maybe this is just a boring story about me sitting in the sunshine. That is OK. It got me going and I feel relief at writing again.
コメント