my view,  writing,  writing life

The 2nd Guess

January 20, 2011 /

How much time have you spent second guessing yourself? Well I don’t know about you but as for myself I’ve spent way too much time doing it.

 

Especially in my writing. I don’t know if it comes from doubt in myself, a lack of confidence in my work, or from the nature of the work and the fact that the fate of it is ultimately in someone else’s hands. I do know this though… second guessing is a terrible waste of time and in the end all it does is send you in circles usually back to the beginning where there was your true authentic self. The place you should have stayed when there was the first spark of excitement and your sprit was full of “I CAN do this!” and your mind had not yet been invaded with the evil critters of doubt and fear.

So my point today and I guess this is mainly for me as all these rants are: is to stay in the mindset of the starting gate. The “I CAN do this!” moment and don’t second guess. Time is way too precious. Happy Thursday!

Best,

Kwana

Image from here

6 Comments

  • Laurie at mizwrite

    January 20, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    Very nice post, Kwana! I think I needed to read this today. As a fellow writer, I second-guess myself ALL. THE. TIME. …

    The strangest thing, though, is that I realized (sort of recently) that it comes and goes in waves. Long waves, like a week or two at a time. (Hormonal, maybe???) So I’m realizing that my “I can NOT do this!” moments will, too, pass (which is a good thing to know!). But I’m also realizing my positive “Sure I can do this!” moments also come and go in waves, so I’m learning to seize them when I have them. I write like crazy during those waves, always a little nervous that they’re going to go away, but also kind of reassured that they’ll definitely roll around again.