And I’m plugging along

Funny how most stock images about writing involve a Macbook.

I like writing every day. You wouldn’t know it if you had met me personally, though. I often complained about how painful it is to write, how I have to put in so much effort to get my sentences and paragraphs to a level of coherence, only to fail at it.

So even though I like to write every day, I tend to psyche myself out of actually writing.

I’ve mentioned how my perfectionism held me back from my potential before. My relationship to writing is a good example of how it has hindered me.

Most writers will tell you that perfectionism is about control; that writing is actually about giving up control. It’s taken me a while to let go, to let the words come as they are — unencumbered by my idea of what good writing should look like.

It seems so basic. So much so that I would feel dumb about not realizing this until now. Except, I have come to this realization before. I have learned this lesson many times, actually. But I build off of each repetition, seeing a slightly different angle to this solution. And that is a marker for improvement.

It’s a constant cycle of growth through iteration. Much like writing itself.