Think of yourself as incandescent power, illuminated perhaps and forever talked to by God and his messengers. Remember how wonderful you are, what a miracle! — Barbara Ueland
Can you imagine what would happen if we all blazed onto the page . . . not holding back, not being fearful, not making excuses, not being timid or fake or dishonest? Can you imagine what kinds of work we’d produce – all singeing with light and fire? That would be glorious.
Too much, though, we are afraid – I am afraid – of what others will think, of whether something will be published, if someone else will “like” what I wrote. I get bogged down in readership or comments or not wanting to sound offensive or wrong or stupid. I get so caught up in the “structure” of my book or the “end product” of something that my writing gets all limp and dull – like that “film” from the Swiffer commercial . . . slick and creepy. . .
Instead, what if I just blazed with all the energy and power that God has poured into me. What if you did? What would that look like?
I see pages and pages of text – more pages than you ever produce. . . and in those pages, I see the three best lines you’ve ever written – so true, so powerful that you can’t even believe they came from you. But they did, and they are yours . . . yours to give away on the page. . . yours to know came from you . . . the gift you remember giving for years . . . the gift that glows in you for the rest of your life. . . the gift that lights you up so you can write pages and pages and find four or maybe two lines this time. . . . the gift that comes back to you again and again because you didn’t smother it in yourself.
So what if we wrote, what if I wrote like I knew those few lines would flame up from the pages when I was done . . . what if I trusted that and put aside readers and structures and goals . . . what if I let myself blaze with language . . . would I burn myself out? Nah, I’d just burn brighter. . .
What holds you back in your writing? What keeps you from blazing forth on the page?