Friday, April 01, 2011

A place for rough drafts

This post is just a draft. The kind of post draft that I compose almost daily in my head and (as you can see) rarely post.

I have an idea, an experience to share or just a question. But it comes while I'm driving to work or running an errand or any of the "supposed tos" in life.

And when I am online, mostly at night or very early in the morning, I can't remember it. Or I remember it, but think it's not worthwhile or no one is reading this blog anyway, so what's the point?

If I make it past those minor hurdles I wonder if I can write it in a way that is useful, meaningful or even interesting.

I decide that I can't. Maybe if I had more time or focus or [fill-in-the-blank quality].

And I post nothing.

I'm too tied to not putting my rough drafts out in the world. Sometimes that means I never float a draft -story, blog post, business idea. Later I try to remember what it was that seemed like such a decent idea when I was thinking about it. But there's not even a rough draft to go back to.

And I'm stuck with nothing.

There's always something missing - something that isn't quite ready in my life. So that's one of my excuses for not doing. A lame excuse.

This post is rough and I don't think I can even close the circle of the idea. It's a rough draft. But I wanted to do something other than nothing tonight.

Walking away from even casual writing and opportunities in general because things aren't perfectly in place is one of my weaknesses [edit: opportunities for growth :)]. Everybody needs  rough drafts. Nothing is finished without a draft, a first attempt.

[Of course Anne Lamott writes about this so well. I need to re-read Bird by Bird.]

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