Book Project

I am working on a book project.

It’s not the same book project as the last 5 book projects that never got off the ground.

It’s a brand new book project that started taking root in my mind when I was interviewed on the podcast, I Wish I Knew EDU.

I have written several pages in my notebook for this new book project.

I have been going strong.

I have written a lot because I am passionate about what I’m writing.

My energy level is high every time I sit down to write.

And, yet…

Just the other day…I started to doubt myself.

I started to feel like an imposter.

Who am I to write anything that anybody would even consider reading?

What do I have to say that someone else hasn’t already said, and better?

I know. I know.

This is my fight or flight brain doing its job.

This is its way of protecting me.

If I never try, I will never fail. Right?

So, what do I do?

I do the only thing I can do: I keep writing.

I write one word at a time.

I write one sentence and then another one.

I write what I’m itching to say because I must.

I read and reread what I write.

I revise so my ideas are communicated in an interesting and coherent manner.

I repeat to myself what published authors always say, like my own personal mantra: the real act of writing starts during the revision process.

Yes, I know. A writing process isn’t linear. We revise as we write, but the first draft is often just written in stream of consciousness. A dumping of ideas and images on the page. A continuous cacophony of words until there is nothing left to say.

Then, it’s time to do the hard work of re-visioning what was written in a frenzy.

I cringe at the poorly structured sentences, the ordinary words, the lack of clarity and logic in my writing.

I revise – add, take away, substitute, rearrange – trying to get the message just right, or as right as I am able to get it given my current understandings and limitations as a writer.

I keep writing.

I revise in the moment.

I revise later.

I share my writing with other trusted writers.

I wait impatiently for their feedback. Check my email a dozen times in an hour. Check my messages on my phone. Troll on social media. Look at the clock. Tick, tock.

I consider the feedback I get.

I make changes that make sense to me.

I keep writing.

I keep writing.

I keep writing.

Cross posted to The Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge.