"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."
– Rush
When I was in my teens, one of my relatives pointed out that my sister and I had been easy kids to babysit because we never wanted anything. Unlike a lot of kids, when we went to the store, we didn’t say "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee" as we went down the toy aisle. When asked what we wanted, our answer was almost always "nothing."
Depending on how you were raised, having an opinion may have been frowned upon. ("Children are seen and not heard.") If you’re a shy introvert, your quiet nature may contribute to that reticence to voice your opinion as well.
After all, if you never have an opinion on anything, you never have to worry about someone disapproving of it. I’ve met many writers, particularly women, who suffer from this problem. I was certainly one of them.
Writing a book is an unrealized dream for a lot of people. To make it happen, you have to make a choice. A book requires commitment. You have to pick a topic you’re willing to live with for quite a while, and immerse yourself in it. Then you have to honor the commitment by carving out the time from your busy life to actually write the book.
It’s easy to become mired in doubt. "Is my writing any good? Is anyone going to read the book when I’m done? Is it a huge waste of my time? Who am I to be writing this book anyway?"
When you stop and think about it, most of these nasty doubting voices in your head actually are from external sources. Put a "they" into the sentences and you start to see what I mean.
"Will they like my writing? Will they read this book? Do they think it’s a huge waste of my time? Do they think I’m not enough of an expert to write the book?"
Now stop right there and ask yourself who is this obnoxious "they" that you are so worried about? Many people are so worried about what other people think that they never follow their dreams. If you want to write a book, you should. Say to yourself, "I am a book author!"
Making a choice doesn’t have to be forever either. Writing a book takes a while, but not the rest of your life (I hope). Maybe you will discover that you hate writing and actually don’t want to be a book author, after all. It’s a relief to know, and you can stop worrying about it.
If you do make the choice to write the book, you won’t spend your life wondering and wishing for a book that never happened.
After all, you never know until you try. Make the choice.
Do You Want to Write a Book?
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