It Should Be Easy, Shouldn’t It?

Writing should be easy, right? We’re not talking brain surgery or rocket science, unless you have to write an article on either of those subjects.

Today I was trying to bang out an article on cheese. Yes, cheese. When I took the assignment, I thought, “What could be so difficult about cheese?” I like cheese; I eat the stuff every day in some form or another. I’ve seen enough Discovery Channel and Food Network programs on how to make cheese. So why on earth did I feel like I was pulling teeth to write this article?I told James I need some physical activity, so I was going to wash my bike. Working with my hands seems to free my brain from the intensity of putting words together. Of course, while I washed and shined, I thought of writing.

I wanted to know why this sudden bout of writer’s block decided to crop up. Only a day or two before, I had a head of steam going on. I took advantage of it, wrote like mad, and was a little bit ahead of schedule. I had no real worries, the bills were paid, the house was clean, the fridge was stocked… not a distraction in sight, yet I felt like I had to find one. Anything to avoid writing about cheese.It came down to a simple case of procrastination. When I have too much or too little to do, I tend to procrastinate more. I have a huge list of articles to write in less than two weeks. Each time I look at it, I wonder how I’m going to get all the articles done. I also know that if I avoid writing them, I’ll only run out of time. Then I’ll really be screwed. I also probably have more time to accomplish the job than I think I do.When a situation like this happens, my mantra becomes, “Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves”.

All I had to do was finish one article, and the article on cheese was nearly halfway done. That would be one crossed off the list. With the bike all clean and the chrome gleaming, I finished up outside and went back to my desk. Just five minutes, I thought. I’d write for five minutes.

Five minutes turned into thirty, and I was 20 words away from the finish line. Sometimes all it takes is playing some head games with yourself. Nothing had really changed between the time I went outside and when I came back except perhaps a shift in perspective.And look, I even managed a blog out of it.

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