To Impress or To Express

And the blog post editing page opens now. I begin to write. I realise as the words flow, that I haven’t actually decided what to write about. It’s a blog post that will come from this almost automatic writing. And that feels somewhat scary.

The inner critic is listening and watching as I write. Saying to me, you know that thing you do where you start sentences with “And”, it’s an annoying tic that you should stop doing. And I say that I can’t!

To overcome the voice, I listen deeply for the quieter voice that is further down. This voice tells me what I should be doing, no, that is not right. It’s not about telling or should. Instead, this voice quietly and gently reminds me what I am here for. What it is that I should be doing.

It reminds me that I have several books in the writing stage at the moment, and three that are in the process of being published. It also reminds me that having a busy life, means that there are plenty of things to write about and to share with others. And that is what a blog is, a sharing of the passing of life, of the troughs and peaks in the day, the week, the month. Sometimes I try too hard.

Sometimes I am more concerned to impress than to express.

That serves little purpose. Better to express what is going on, to open up and share in the vein of working out loud.

Sometimes I get trapped in the idea that writing is something that we do when we inspired. Instead we should realise that writing is something we should practise daily, and then we will find ourselves inspired during the act. We so often get this the wrong way round!

Also published on Medium.