A disastrous jaunt through the world on online shopping has me thinking about writing. Well, we are talking about me, here – just about everything has me thinking about writing in one way, shape, or form.
I love a book so much that when it became a movie, I wanted a memento. So, I travel online to find said…thing. Hours later, I find the perfect pajama set. Perfect. I can obsess in private, and I anxiously wait for my package to arrive with the perfect fitted t-shirt and flannel plaid pants. I think I actually squealed when it arrived, then promptly wanted to go on a hunger strike.
Why? The perfectly fitted women’s shirt was fitted so well that I wouldn’t even wear it to sleep. Yet, apparently I am the kind of person who must be hit more than once to learn a lesson because I order something else from the same online shopping boutique thinking, maybe it was manufacturing issue, and again am excited when this time a fitted hoodie arrives. And I am now completely dedicated to a new workout program because I refuse to buy the next size larger.
*munches on a handful of potato chips*
So what does all this have to do with writing? Everything.
Once size does not fit all – an apparently, the same size doesn’t fit anyone. We have all found those perfect ideas that glow brightly in the middle of the night – or after a few glasses of wine – or in the checkout line at the store.
Yet are they really the right fit? If they are like my t-shirt – not so much.
I tried to be a plotser though I am totally a pantser.
I tried to create an outline though I am still working the first round of edits.
I tried to create a visual plot board to help me find the holes though I can’t draw.
Once I stopped trying what worked for everyone else and focused on what was working for me, my writing flowed easier. It’s like that shirt – a beautiful idea that wasn’t the right fit, no matter how much I try to stretch or bend the material. Wearing it will be confining, restricting, and uncomfortable – much like my writing if I try to force it to behave.
Instead, I must hang on and enjoy the ride, stop trying to fit into a mold I’ve already broken, and enjoy another chip.
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