Fear And Self-Judgment In BK

As a birthday gift, Mari gave me Bonni Goldberg's Room to Write, a little book filled with BIG inspirational messages and prompts that any writer can appreciate. While sitting under the dryer at Mami's house I was already moved to write this post just from an item I read in the book's introduction:

The only obstacle to writing creatively is a lack of faith that appears as fear and self-judgment.

"That passage right there, ni**a, that passage right there?!?!"

Listen, I've already explained about my faux-confidence, so no need to dwell on it. Let us instead dwell on the fact that I will not be able to meet my own goal of being published by 2011 if I allow this fear and self-judgment take over my entire life. Not to be conceited, but we've already established that I'm a great writer. Sure my pieces need work but the stories are engaging and captivating. THIS is what I need to remind myself every time I chicken out of submitting my work to a literary magazine, every time I go before an audience to read, every time I send pieces to be workshopped- this needs to be my mantra.

Otherwise I'll just become a victim of what my mom so affectionately called "wasted talent" and I don't want that to happen.

I have a story (or two) to tell. I need to get off my ass and tell them.

And because I know many of YOU have a story to tell, too, I'm going to share one of the writing prompts with you every month.

Room To Write Activity #1: Diving In

TODAY dive into writing by choosing any of the following words that have more than one meaning: bear, cleave, lie, sewer, tear or desert. Start by copying the word and quickly, without stopping for any reason, continue writing until you reach the end of the page...

Now go write your ass off... dedicate your first piece to me & Mari!

*smooches...anxiously plotting my rise to literary greatness*
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Oh it's GOING TO HAPPEN, and when it does you can't even imagine the party I'm going to throw...