The Pen Doesn't Do the Deciding

I used to think I needed to know what I was going to say before I let myself write it down. Like the sentence was supposed to arrive already finished, and my job was just to copy it onto the page. So I'd sit there, waiting for it to show up. It rarely did.

Turns out that's backwards. The clarity doesn't come before the writing. It comes because of it. I don't actually know what I think about a day, a decision, a mess of a week, until I'm partway through a sentence about it and the real thing slips out sideways. The pen isn't just holding what I already decided. It's how I get to the decision in the first place.

Which sounds like good news, and it is, mostly. Here's the part that isn't. None of that happens if you don't write. Thinking about writing doesn't count. Carrying the notebook around in your bag for six weeks doesn't count. Opening it, staring at the blank page, and closing it again definitely doesn't count. The pen can absolutely help you figure it out. It just won't do it without you. It doesn't write itself, and it never will. That's the whole catch.

So the fix isn't waiting until you know what to write. It's starting before you're ready. "Today feels off" is a completely fine first sentence. So is "I don't actually know what I want this week." You don't need the real answer to start. You need any true sentence, and then the next one, and somewhere around the third one, the actual thing shows up. But only if you wrote the first one.

This is part of why I send a prompt every week in The Open Day 🖊️. Not a finished thought to nod along to. A place to put your own first sentence, so you're not staring at a blank page waiting for the real one to show up on its own.

If you've been meaning to sit down and actually write instead of just meaning to, sign up for the newsletter and let next week's prompt be the reason you finally do.

every day. on purpose. 🖊️

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