Why you can't write - Part 2

Writing, like any other thing we do in life takes a certain amount of self-confidence before you can even start. If you don't have faith in yourself you will not get very far. You may get a page or two written and then suddenly think "I can't do this.", "This is crap." or even "I'm too stupid to do this."
If it is a project you must complete you probably end up writing something that is mediocre at best.

Never forget you are not alone when you think this way. Every day thousands of people pick up a pen and paper or sit at their computer and either write nothing or a few words which are quickly deleted or thrown in the trash. Why does this happen?

Believe it or not the main reason is: the way we were raised. Were you encouraged as a child to write stories, or the value writing could possibly have on your future life? I know I was never given any encouragement by my family or even school for that matter.
If anything I was told to quit wasting my time writing stupid stories.

As we progressed through life we may have been told we were too stupid to write, or our grades in school were not good enough to know how to write. I remember English class talking more about dangling participles and gerunds and other weird stuff.

We never did much writing or if we did write I would write an excellent story but I would receive a "D" or "F" because of all the "weird stuff" errors. So even though I was excellent story teller I was knocked down, which left me feeling like an idiot. The thought of writing was soon put to death by a dangling gerund or something equally weird.

Don't get me wrong, we do need to know most of the weird stuff in order to be effective writers, but don't shoot yourself down because you don't understand all the rules of writing. You can and will learn the rules as you progress.

The most important thing is that you write. Why not start by writing about all the times you were told you were useless, or that you could not write. Read whatever you come up with and learn to laugh at how wrong everyone was about you. Laughter is saying "Screw you! I am perfectly capable of writing, and I will!".

Have a great day/night everyone!

PS I have not quite figured out my posting schedule yet -- 3 , 5, or 7 days per week. Please bear with me :)