Reflections on Writing

Ordinarily I write my postings for this blog several weeks, or at least days, in advance. I do this because I suppose I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my attempts at communicating via the written word. I want to read the entire article over before it goes public, making sure I’ve checked my grammar and spelling, that the main thrust of the article is both clear and adhered to within the writing, that any logic I’m using to make my argument is solid and understandable — things like that, you know?

For perhaps the first time, however, I tried writing an article somewhat on the fly. It was my Firestarter titled What is the Heroine’s Journey? Admittedly, I did this because “real life” trampled enthusiastically over me and I got caught holding the bag with a deadline looming — to horridly mix my metaphors. So I took a deep breath, wrote an apology for being a few days late on one of the postings (then removed it when the next bit of article was ready for posting)… and took the plunge. For the first time, and with great trepidation, I wrote my postings only a few days ahead of their actual post date.

I’ve just finished reading the entire Firestarter on the Heroine’s Journey in one sitting. I wanted to see how it turned out overall, especially considering it’s one of the longest Firestarters I’ve written to date. Did it ramble too much? Was it annoyingly repetitive? Was the logic tight, or did it just make no sense? Did it suck, or what?

I’m relieved to say, now I’ve had a chance to look at it critically, that overall I’m pretty pleased with it! Oh, sure, it could have been shortened — there’s at least one personally interesting but unnecessary side exploration taken, and I noticed two bits where I think I repeated something that had been already mentioned previously — but on the whole I’m pretty pleased with it! A bit startled, since I’d expected to be much more down on my writing off the cuff, but also pleased and relieved. In short: don’t think it sucked! ;)

I’m going to try to take this as a learning experience: sometimes, when it’s necessary or of some critical importance, it’s okay for me to just DO it — whatever “it” is. I don’t always have to groom and polish and stress over my work efforts until I think they’re perfect. Sometimes spontaneous and off the cuff works just fine.

Whew. ;)