Jump

The purpose of college, in part at least, seems to be to beat the desire to read or write from fun out of us. It saps all our mental energy and suddenly we discover how much energy it takes to read or write.

I'm as much a victim for reading but not for writing. Let's say this: I have acquired and immunity to it. I write during the semester regardless of what my classes try to do about it. Not because I am blessed with special powers but because I never stopped writing. I think once college consumed us, lots of people stopped writing for fun because it was suddenly so much work. Whatever skill you had, suddenly your internal editor got turned on and that snooty McFarland-esque voice made you feel terrible for even attempting to write something.

Your internal editor is a mean-spirited bitch. Don't listen to her/him.

No, it's not easy. If you sit down to write with the intention of ignoring, you won't be able to do it right away. Every sentence will be excruciating. Every sentence will make you question why you're even bothering to waste the ink. 

Keep going. The mean-spirited bitch wants you to give up. So keep going.

You don't have to write something beautiful. You don't have to write something tragic. You don't have to write something worth sharing. You don't even have to finish it. You just have to start. 

You have to climb to the top of that cliff, which can be a feat in and of itself, because that cliff is made of all your self-doubt, your intimate knowledge of how much your writing sucks, and of your fear. So climb it. When you get to the top, you'll still be afraid.

Just jump. Trust that the water will be there. Trust that you are brave enough to do it. Trust that your writing, good, bad or ugly, is still worth writing.