Blogging Anxiety

Lately I've found myself feeling uneasy about the prospect of posting here.  The reason is:  I've gotten pretty irregular about it, have lost the rhythm, and have to get myself cranked up anew each time.   Sorta like going back to writing after some time away:  it's always harder to re-start than it is to just keep going. 

There are other factors in my hesitation:  I started alerting Facebook friends about many of the blog posts, a seemingly increased visibility which somehow makes me feel I have to meet a higher standard, say something more substantive than I otherwise would.  Not a lot of logic to that, but still it inhibits me. If I have to meet a higher standard, then maybe I should wait until I'm up to it: that's how the rationalizing goes.

So, my approach is to ease back in by stating the problem.  I've found that this is a good approach when I'm writing and start feeling all-in-a-tangle.  Once, many years ago I had an assignment to write a travel story for The Washington Post about North Carolina.  

Well, I've lived here all my life.  Therefore, I approached the typwriter (that's how long ago) without a notebook full of recent notes to supply and limit my knowledge of the place. Instead of  a conveniently finite resource,  my entire life was the notebook.  

I was stymied.

So I took out a sheet of paper to state in handwriting what the problem seemed to be.  I jotted down:  "This is a travel story about home and that is not an easy assignment."  That became the lede of my story.  Rarely does stating the problem work out as neatly as that, but it's usually helpful.   Simply beginning something tends to take the fear of it away.  Even the slightest initial action — like stating the problem –helps.   It's a good technique for anxiety relief.  

So now I've gotten myself started blogging again by stating the problem and letting that take me in an unexpected direction, back to the writing about home and doing work for The Post.  Wasn't so hard.  Now that I'm back at the dashboard, I'll be back here again more regularly. 

 

Categories: enhancing creativity

Tags: higher standard, inhibit, only begin, take action