I spoke recently with an old friend of mine; a longtime music person who has, among other things, written and produced a hit record or two.

After he’d written and produced for quite a while he got into another field, music-related, so it’s been some time since he’s written songs and made albums. Now he’s preparing to take time off and do just that.

This time he doesn’t have a goal in mind  other than to please himself. Naturally he has some trepidation; not only about how it will turn out, but about what his new songs and music will be like.

He wondered to me about what direction he should take – should he make this kind of music… write that kind of song? (The guy has a lot of skills, therefore a lot of options.) As he aired his concern about which ‘option’ to take, it hit me… I’ve done it, I’ve seen many writers doing it… now he’s doing it.

What is it? It’s this – trying to figure out what you’re going to do before you do it. Not always a bad idea. But it’s a really bad idea when it stops you from writing.

Our minds are always coming up with all kinds of reasons, some of them very convincing, to not write.

Trying to see the future is a fool’s errand, especially when it comes to writing. You can have a plan, yes. You can have an outline, yes. But you just have to go from here to there, one note and one word at a time. There’s no crystal ball that will tell any of us how it’ll all work out or even if it’ll all work out.

All we can do is take action – that is, write. Move forward. See what comes up. Then make the best of what we come up with.

So when my brain is trying to figure out what the result will be before I’ve even begun, I say beware. Usually it’s just another of the many strategies my mind has to get me to Not Write.

The only antidote is… go ahead… Write!

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