what are we afraid of…

Posted by Daniela Elza on Feb 09 2008

I enjoyed reding How to be a Famous Writer Before you are Dead.

It has three good pieces of advice that I needed to hear again. Most of us know them. Yet, we forget:

  • make a fool of yourself
  • write for strangers
  • start small

All three could plague a writer at any time. Embrace your uniqueness and move on, embrace your smallness and allow yourself to grow. Otherwise, you could be condemned to join, and pay membership into the writer’s block.

We are plagued by so many expectations of ourselves, and others, that, if you think of it, very few authentic moments are allowed to emerge. We have rehearsed so many of the situations we happen to fall into. TV is a bad one. Was your first kiss really your first kiss, or some kiss you saw on TV?

How would we ever know what our true and honest reaction will be?
Accidents will do it. We cannot plan how we will respond in an accident. Likely, there will be our true and authentic reaction. But why wait for accidents?

I believe writing is one way of getting yourself out of this trap. It allows you to surprise yourself. And what does that mean? You couldn’t have planned where you ended up. Well, keep going. . .

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