‘Courage is the absence of fear.’
Sandy Mitchell, Innocence Proves Nothing
It takes courage to tackle that writing project. To schedule time; to avoid distractions; to keep writing when you’re unconfident with your ideas or characters or where they’re going. To tell people you are working on a story. To tell them it’s going well and you’re enthusiastic about it and you have great plans for it - regardless of whether you had to force yourself to write that day, or every spare minute is spent writing or thinking about your story.
It takes courage to sacrifice other parts of your life for your writing. To get up an hour earlier to write. To give up your web surfing or relaxing in front of the TV time to brainstorm. To lock yourself in a room and ask your partner not to disturb you while you get down that idea before it disappears (write it down; you won’t remember it after ‘just one conversation’). To tell your friends every Sunday afternoon is blocked out so you can force yourself to write that part you keep getting stuck on.
It’s great to set goals but you have to actually do the work to achieve them. It takes enthusiasm to set goals. It takes courage to do the work.
