Put Down the Pencil
Do we make rules only to see them broken?
Do we say things only to wish they were unspoken?
My writer’s advice last week was to pick up the pencil and write whenever you can for five minutes. That rule was questioned in a way I never imagined. Yesterday, I admonished myself to do the exact opposite; to put down the pencil. As I heard the words in my head, the irony pealed like a church bell; not the electronic kind, but a real metal-on-metal sound.
Working on an ink drawing under a deadline, I needed to speed up the process. Going straight to ink made me nervous at first, thinking too much about making mistakes. I worried over what I would do with this errant line or that misguided curve. All I needed was to trust myself and use what was there, not the idea of what I wanted to be there. Freedom reigned thereafter and I completed the drawing with time to spare.
Trust yourself. Put down the pencil.