
Over at Out of the Blog and Into the Light, Catherine Franz has a great blog post about writing with your computer screen turned off (or, if you have a laptop, with your eyes closed). The idea is that you can just let the writing flow, without getting caught up in the editing and polishing process.
It never really occurred to me, but seeing the written version of what I’m writing is probably my writing’s biggest enemy. When I can see it in front of me, I get caught up in the product, and that makes it harder to write.
I'm trying that idea with this post. As I write this, I'm staring out the window and letting the words flow. I’m definitely going to have to do more writing this way.
That whole idea gets me thinking about how this idea applies to life in general. We get so caught up in the product of what we're doing that we don’t let it actually unfold.
In her post Catherine suggests typing “xxx” if there's something you need to rewrite. So if you start a sentence and want to say it differently, rather than deleting it and starting over, just write xxx and keep going. It's a sign to come back and polish when you look at what you've written.
How cool would it be if we did this in our lives as well? It's like approaching everything in a two-stage approach. 1) Create and 2) polish.
Creating lets you step out of your comfort zone and try new things. It uncorks the bottle and lets the juices flow. Polishing then goes back and tidy up what you've created.
What are the possibilities for “writing with your eyes closed” in your life? What do you want to do /create/achieve that an urge to have it "perfect" is getting in the way of?
What could your life look like if you took a two-step approach to it and really let it flow?
Pretty amazing, I'm guessin'.
(OK, now it's time to go back and polish what I've written so you can make sense of all of this.)

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM