December 2009

Write or Flight

Lately, I have been seeing writers in warrior helmets. The monolith that is National Novel Writing Month traded in their decade-old mascot of Man Running with Pencil for a horned Viking helmet this year. By the videocasts, I can safely say that NaNo founder Chris Baty spent most of month proudly wearing the official helmet, and sometimes, chain mail. YA novelist Libba Bray wore a gladiator helmet for an interview with fellow writer Maureen Johnson.
Random, right?

Not really.

Writers are fighters. To face your fears and imperfect pages day in and day out, draft after draft, you must be a warrior. The battle writers wage is not so much with words as it is with self-doubt. Also, procrastination and sleepiness. Most days, I am desperate for an out. I want to do anything but write. Laundry always looks good, as do dishes, phone calls, Facebook, Googling old friends and enemies, and sorting spare buttons by color, then shape, then size. Daily, hourly, I feel the push-pull of Write or Flight.

We can choose to run from the dragons. Or we can stay to slay them, and claim the treasure of our finished stories and dreams made real.

Writing is a daily fight, and sturdy helmets are helpful. They keep the dragon’s fiery breath from scorching your hair, and protect you from your internal and external critics. They keep you creatively safe, so you can venture out with your mightier-than-swords pen and slash away. While gladiator helmets are made of iron, writerly helmets are forged of hope. And self-confidence. And persistence, because your dragons return daily.

Tomorrow, will you flee? Or will you write your dragons to death?