Stop Making Excuses and Write That Book
It’s time to make this s*** happen
You have a folder on your hard drive, cloud storage, or — if you’re old-school — literally on your desk. It’s full of fragments of book ideas you’ve been noodling for months. Years. Maybe you’ve even bragged about being an author with all these great ideas.
They aren’t finished. Some of them are probably a page, page and a half of random babbling that sounded like this fantastic idea in your head, but stupid on paper.
Procrastination is whipping your ass. Fear of failure is sitting on your chest and suffocating your creativity. Feelings of inadequacy have made you their bitch.
Get up. Stretch. Shake it off. Clear your calendar. Empty your head of all the excuses. Throw your PlayStation in the dumpster down the street. Put your phone in airplane mode.
It’s time to get out of your malaise and make this happen. It’s time to be a writer.
“But, you don’t get it,” you might say. “I have writer’s block!”
Do you know what writer’s block really is? It’s you not being intentional. Don’t believe me? Then explain that folder we all know you have (because so do we) that is full of ideas you haven’t bothered to flesh out.
Don’t get me wrong, friends. Not all of those ideas are good ones. Some may be downright turd-worthy. We all have those, too.
Write them out anyway. Do it. See them through, no matter how bad you feel like they are going to be when you’re done.
“But why should I waste my time on crap?” you might ask.
Well, I’ll tell you. There is a surprisingly little-known secret to ultimate success and breakthrough, and it really isn’t complicated.
Finish what you start.
Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey (1948–2016) once told of how he struggled early in his career with the songwriting process. He asked Bob Seger one day what to do if his songs were bad.
“Well, they’re gonna be bad,” Seger said. “Keep writing. Eventually, you’ll write something that’s good.”
Glenn kept at it. He teamed with Don Henley in his efforts, and together they ended up selling more than 200 million albums.
If you truly want to be a published author, then stop procrastinating. Go to a coffee shop, sit under a tree at a park, designate a workspace in your home. If you’re old like me, go to a library (I promise, those still exist).
Write. Write when it feels and sounds good. Write when it feels and sounds stupid. Just. Write.
If it’s bad at first, so what? That’s what editing and revision are for.
It’s time to be what you’re claiming you already are. It’s time to make it happen.
