I Quit Writing…

It’s 2021 and I’m sneaking in here to my blog to take a look around. My blog voice echoes against the edges of the website. This place has been empty for awhile.

I kind of quit writing.

Oh, I guess I can’t say that. Not really. I’m always writing—whether in my journal or in my trusty writing program on my computer—but I quit writing for others to read. 

Why did I quit writing?

Great question. 

I think the editor in my head got a little too domineering. 

“You aren’t a great writer, Jana.”

“You don’t know very many big or interesting words.”

“Can you get through a paragraph without a cliche?”

I’m trying to put that inner editor back where she belongs (which is in a chair with the tag “You don’t get to be the boss of me until my first draft is complete.”) And, as you can tell by this post, she’s probably not even sitting in the chair at all. Maybe on the floor by the chair. Or maybe outside peering in the window with sad puppy-dog eyes saying, “Let me in and I’ll help you write the perfect blog post.” 

Later I’ll let her back in, once I’ve hit “publish” on this post and there’s no turning back.

Better posts to come.

So the next post should be a little more coherent since my inner editor will be allowed to look over the post before I publish (but AFTER my first draft). (Do you see that period there? I just sat here for a few minutes contemplating whether it should go in the parenthesis or out of the parenthesis. I then thought about an article I read recently that said British people put it outside but Americans put it inside. Or was it the other way around? Then I wondered if I should stop and look it up. Then I realized I must have let the inner editor open the window and yell at me. I am shutting the window now and plugging my ears. And just for good measure, I’m putting a period on BOTH sides of this parenthesis.). Take that!

As you can see, for this first blog post in two years… I’m setting the bar low.

I started this blog, with its new address and fresh look, on January 30, 2017. So it’s fitting for me to get going again on the same date, 4 years later. It’s exciting. But also, it’s humbling. And scary. 

What about you?

Is there something you’ve quit that you’d like to start again? Are you nervous like me?