And lately, they’ve been going a lot faster than they’ve been coming. (Well, that wasn’t an awkward moment, was it?!?) What I mean, is that when it comes to blogging and writing, I’m my own worst critic. I get an idea, I mull it around for a bit, and I typically just decide that it’s stupid. Dumb. Something that nobody cares to read about. Whatever. Pretty negative right? The thing is, I’m not negative when it comes to my writing. I feel like I’m halfway decent at it. I’ve been told I’m good with words. I’ve read some of my own writings, and been impressed. I’ve even been commended by my amazing peers. So what gives?!?
Seriously, bro?
I honestly don’t know Jackie, but I’m aware of it, and I’m going to attack it head on. This little space of the internet is my own little playground. For my ideas to come, go, flourish, fall flat on their face, or whatever else happens to ideas when they’re subjected to being converted into words and put together to form this crazy thing we call a blog. All those things that I say, “I’m going to blog about that!” will inevitably turn into a post. I’m not going to reject any ideas that come to mind, and I’m going to force myself to break out of my little box. Whether it’s something I’m comfortable writing about, uncomfortable talking about, or super confident in discussing, I plan to just ‘let it fly.’
This is today’s topic that came to mind, and I almost bailed on. But, keeping that little promise I made to myself, I went ahead and wrote about it. Step #1, Achieved.
Put ‘er there!
Ever have that feeling about your own writing? Ever second guess yourself? How do you deal with it? Just let it fly, ask for advice, write it out and then throw it out? What’s your way of dealing with the dreaded, feared, and never appreciated writer’s block?
Dad, It's ok! 
I’m having that problem right now!! I have to working stories, both could be short or full length books. One has three chapters so far and has to be re written (I spilled something all over the notebook) and the other only has two segments written. I have writers block and I feel like I’m repeating myself. So I write what’s in my head on paper first, read it, tweak it, and then post it or ask someone else to read it. That way I get someone else’s opinion as well as my own (:
Thanks for sharing the way you work… I definitely think that reading, writing, tweaking, and then asking for an opinion is a good idea. It’s just so hard sometimes!!! But you do a great job, keep up the good work!!
I’m comfortable with the fact that I’m a jackass, so I just write a story around an incident as best I can. I think if you read something you wrote and like it, then go ahead and publish it. I have many posts that I’ve started that are sitting in my drafts folder still because I’m not pleased with them. If a post doesn’t come to me in one sitting right away, then I send it away to the draft folder! A good, well not good, but I guess a publishable post generally just comes to me as I’m sitting there and I can hammer it out pretty quickly. I just feel them being good enough to publish, if that makes sense. I can’t force my writing, even if it’s about poop or being fat or whatever serious topic I’m addressing.
I’m the same way!! I can’t force it. And my best posts (IMO) seem to be the ones where I just write and don’t think twice about it. I think the idea of sending them to sit in the draft’s folder is a good one, and I will probably do that moving forward. Thanks for sharing!
My friend, once you shift your mindset from writing for others to writing for yourself, everything changes. As Steve Jobs once said, customers don’t know what the fuck they want, you have to tell them what they want! 🙂
GREAT quote! That’s probably going to be the hardest thing for me to learn, but I think you’re 100% right. I’ve always been one to take others into consideration a bit tooooo much, and I really should break that to be able to write from the heart without worry of what others may think of it. Thanks!
Every single post idea will appear in my dashboard. Many of them defined as drafts. But they are all a work in progress. As I am posting once a day, five days a week, I post irrespective of who might like it. I do it for me and my kids. Don’t write for anyone else.
Thanks for sharing. I think this is the path I’m going to start going down. I also would love to post once a day, 5 times a week, that’s a wonderful goal and I should be able to do so as long as I don’t hold myself back. I appreciate the comment and will definitely be utilizing my drafts more moving forward!
I have DEFINITELY second-guessed myself and my writing. I’m my own worst critic and am constantly beating myself up about whether “everyone else” will like my latest post – which is kind of ironic, considering the fact that for me, blogging is the best form of personal therapy. It’s weird… I blog for myself, but I’m worried about what everyone else will think. Hmm…
We’re definitely similar in that sense. I may blog for myself and the therapy I get from blabbing to no one in particular, but I worry about what others think about my blog constantly, and always worry that the reader may not appreciate it. But I guess it’s like Jogging Dad said, we should probably just blog for ourselves, and let everything else fall in line.
I can tell you though; between you, Don, Arden, and a couple others I now read religiously, I’ve really learned a lot and know that I take a little something for myself every time I read a post by one of you. I love the style and ability to take every day occurrence’s and make them so interesting for anyone to read!! Something I really hope to work on.
You’re so nice to say that!!
That’s one of the things I’ve learned from reading the Big Dogs’ posts… Even something as simple as grocery shopping can become a good post!
I started my blog planning to talk about my funny kid stories, but I learned along the way that there are so many other things that can be talked about, too!
I, personally, think your posts are great and that you’re doing just fine!!
Thanks, I appreciate that!!! The more I read, the more I learn. I love how wordpress makes it easy to not only maintain a blog, but also to keep you engulfed in others blogs and how it promotes the social side of blogging.
Think of your favorite author of all time. He or she also struggled with their writing. We are all our own worst critics. The trick is to keep at it. Don’t worry about writing for others. Write for yourself and the audience will find you. Keep at it.
Thanks so much for the supportive comment, I really appreciate it. You’re so correct, just write, and the audience will find you… love it, thanks!
It is always hard on a public forum to NOT second guess yourself and be your own worst critic, but at the end of the day, we all created our blogs for ourselves and we are allowed to post what ever we like! 🙂 I always second guess myself and re-read what I have written so many times to make sure it is ok, I think we all do it 🙂 The thing I struggled with for a while was self confidence in my writing, I blogged for a good 6 months straight, then randomly stopped for ages because I couldn’t get over my writers block, and now I am back a bit more relaxed 🙂 the biggest thing I learnt from it was while its a good idea to blog often, it is also completely ok to take a break too 🙂 Do things on your own terms and not others 😀
Really great advice! Thanks so much for sharing, and letting me know what worked for you. I think that taking a break is always a good thing. This is actually probably my 4th or 5th blog. I’ve tried to cover all types of topics, but I think I finally found a good place with this newest iteration. I blog as the feeling to do so comes over me, and just go with the flow. I think relaxed is best for writers, as we can just let the words flow from our minds to our hands and the page. Thanks again for commenting!