Post #8 of 40
Giving Up Rewriting and Editing and Overthinking
I decided to challenge myself to write 40 blog posts during Lent with the theme of Giving Up because I am interested in the topic and how it has danced through my life. I didn’t have a plan laid out. I didn’t have a spreadsheet with topics color coded in columns according to years or stages of life or themes. I didn’t even consider which ones should come first or last.
I dove right in.
I did think about how, with time, I might get more comfortable sharing, and how I might end up writing with more vulnerability, transparency, and insights as I went along, so I predicted that the ones toward the end might be different from the ones written while the remnants of ashes were still on my forehead.
I have written seven out of 40 now, and, I still haven’t listed and organized the topics. I hope I have it in me to complete this challenge.
John Irving said, “More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting.”
This challenge doesn’t allow me to take it to a writers’ group to get notes.
This challenge does not allow for days or months or years of rewriting.
I have about a day to think, write, rewrite, create graphics, choose photos, and publish. The posts, so far, have taken about 3 hours, and I didn’t even know I had three hours I could devote to writing.
The minute the post is published, I begin wondering what the next post will be.
I send links to each post to our three children, their partners, our “almost” daughter, my husband, and my sister. I haven’t pushed the posts on anyone else. The imperfect posts along with their lack of editing and rewriting scare me.
Someone at church recently said to me, “I like how you really like to get things right, and you work hard and have high standards, but you’re also not afraid of trying something new, taking a chance.” She didn’t even know about my Lenten challenge.
So, I will continue to write and edit as much as I can in the three or four hours that I can spare each day.
Giving up rewriting and editing is also a challenge for me.
However, I will not allow perfection to prevent completion.
