Most times we know what to write, if we allow ourselves the time and the confidence
“It is not a great idea, also incomplete. Here is how it goes.”
Then she moves on to read her yet-to-be-completed writing and then shares her stream of ideas and thoughts to show us what the completed writeup will be like. She is a Paperian, a member of The Folded Paper (TFP), Writing Community and was attending TFP’s Writing and Creativity Jam meeting.
Her idea for the writeup was awesome. It was complete and had power. If the writeup had been completed, it would have made many readers ponder over it and also connect with the writer and her experiences.
But it wasn’t complete. Not a crime, really.
At the same time, knowing why we couldn’t or didn’t complete a writing piece, can be useful information to find ways to write better and more. Many times, whenever an idea isn’t taken to completion, there are three major reasons:
- Lack of time. We don’t have the time to complete it
- Lack of confidence. We don’t think the idea is good enough
- Lack of time and confidence. We think all the ideas we get aren’t good enough, keep rejecting them, approach the deadline, and then there is hardly any time to write
If we talk about the first reason — the Paperian couldn’t complete the writeup because she just had 10 minutes in the meeting to write (now we have made it 15). We give such a ‘strict timeline’ to ensure everyone literally write together and also share their writeups with each other. Also it proves to us time and again that we can think of ideas and put it to paper within 15 minutes. If someone isn’t able to complete their writing, we ask them to take out ‘time’ and complete it later on after the meeting.
Along with the issue of time, the internal and external dialog that we have about our writing and our ideas also play a critical role in taking the writing to completion. Most of us lack confidence in our own ideas — even the best of us.
The ideas and the writing that come up in my writing community, TFP’s meetings are marvelous, to say the least. But the participants often start reading their writeups with — “I don’t think I have a lot to share”, “It is not as good like others”, “It might be silly”, and so on. These don’t justify the beauty of their writing and thinking.
Only if we freed our minds of these thoughts and listened to the idea take shape and verbalized it, we will have more passionate and real writing to read.
The process isn’t easy, but who said writing is easy? It is tough, there are thorns. We must wear our shoes on.
There is a lot of writing in the world, but none is like yours or mine. Let us give ourselves the time and the nod to go ahead and write out that idea.
Developing a strong voice is a critical step in writing. Do it along with the adventurous and creative Paperians at The Folded Paper, a Writing Community. Become a Paperian today.
