When I have the urge to write, it can be really tempting to wait until the idea is fully formed and perfect in my head before I put pen to paper.
My inner critic tells me that I don’t have time to work on it right now, or that I need to think about it more.
It also worries that it won’t be as good on the page as it is in my head, so there’s no point even trying.
For a long time, this meant I didn’t write anything, and all the ideas that bubbled up in me didn’t have anywhere to go. They stayed stuck inside - trapped by overthinking and under doing.
Now I give myself permission to create a messy first draft, because if the idea only exists in my head I’ll never know whether any of those worries are true.
And sometimes they are!
Sometimes it’s just not right.
Sometimes I know something is there but I can’t quite get the shape of it.
Sometimes I realise I want to say something else entirely.
Sometimes it turns out really well.
Very occasionally, it flows out with ease.
But, in all cases, it’s better for it to be out of my head and onto the page, because a messy first draft is pretty much always better than a blank sheet of paper - in life as well as writing.
Unless we give it a go, we won’t know.
So, if you’re stuck in over thinking, try letting what’s inside your head make contact with the world outside it.
It may surprise, disappoint, frustrate or energise you, but you’ll know more than you did before you started.
And then you can start the editing process.
Wishing you all a week of giving your ideas a life outside your head,
