On Writing

The writing process is funny. Sometimes I sit down knowing what I want to say, and it all flows out very smoothly. Sometimes I sit with no idea what I want to say, and somehow something comes out that makes perfect sense. Sometimes I know what I want to say, and it comes out, but in the middle of what I had planned to write are some thoughts I hadn't known I had. But sometimes, I sit down to write, knowing exactly what I want to express, but it just won't come. I sit like a stump for a while, then go for a drink. Sit down again and type out a few lines, only to delete them less than a minute later. Stare at the screen for a while longer. Then eventually I manage to get something written that more or less expresses what I had in mind and decide that has to be good enough.

That last scenario is what happened with my last post. I first had the idea to try writing it over two years ago, but couldn't get it right. Then I decided to try again last Tuesday and spent a week trying to figure out how to go about writing it and how to best express my experiences. And now, what I have will have to be good enough, even though it isn't quite what I wanted it to be.

For this post, however, I decided what to say, sat down, and said it.