I’m like that too, I’ll typically research something until I’m blue in the face before I feel comfortable trying it. But, yeah, I agree, writing more, and just diving in, has opened me up to some other cool stuff as well.

It has pried me from my cage, per se. (ha)

Well, David, it looks like your new habit of, “just diving in,” is working quite well for you; I’ve really been enjoying your posts over at Raptitude.

Cheers! And thanks for stopping by.
P.S. My spider bites have pretty much healed. I saw another spider this morning and just left her be this time.

I have a history of trying to ‘read up’ on everything a little too much. I sometimes try to get to a point where I know what to do before I have to do it.

But it usually doesn’t work that way, like you say. With writing I’ve really adopted the new habit of just diving in, and getting some words down, good or bad. It seems to be working so far, and I’ve been able to bring that same controlled recklessness to other areas were I was being timid.

What you’re saying makes a lot of sense. And I think you’ve hit upon something: if I can intuit when someone is writing from their heart, it makes a lot of sense to do this, myself, as a rule.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nadia, You are wonderful.

I love the picture that you used. It is so beautiful, I could just look at it for hours.

The one question I get asked more than anything else is about my writing. I have been working on it for nineteen years and I am a firm believer that there is no way a person can learn how to write. You just learn by doing it and listening to your heart. I think when you listen to your heart, you are guided in the right direction.

Also, like Jay mentioned, practice is key. The more you work at it and the more you follow your heart, the more likely the pieces fall into place and a person finds their voice as a writer. It truly does boil down to passion. People can sense when someone has written something from their head or from their heart.

I think a lot of what I was writing about reminded me of learning to play the piano. It was really hard at the beginning because there was so much to learn. But I remember loving the smallest of accomplishments, like learning where to find Middle C, what the spaces between the lines meant, and so forth. Practicing was so much fun Mom never had to hassle me about. I just did it because I loved it.

Hmmm, I’ve heard the 10,000 hrs thing somewhere, too. Maybe I should start clocking myself? ha

I’m glad you liked this post. Thanks for being my icing today.

I know what you mean about bringing passion to our writing. Sometimes when I’m writing, and I know I am writing about something I really care about, my heart starts pounding I need to take a break! Thanks for all of your warm comments, consider that I’m just a mirror and what you see is really you. Because, that is true; your writing is wonderful.

Alison:
You’re right on the money–practice makes perfect. And sure, I’ll keep you updated on my journey with writing. Its been a wild ride thus far, but then again, I am preaching to the converted, per se. Maybe I’m just wrote this for me? Er, uh, oh yeah, of course I wrote it for me. I’m just glad you enjoyed it, too! Thanks Ali!! You rock!

Lisis:
Only you could fit such style and grace into a comment! I love what you have to say, comments, blogs posts, tweets, everything.

You and Ali have been awesome mentors and I’ve really enjoyed following Q4B. I like how you used water to describe your feelings about writing. Obviously, I feel the same way. The ocean does that for me. Sometimes a huge wave catches me by surprise and I get a mouthful of salt water. I hope blogging doesn’t give me too many of those.

And, I’m glad you like this theme. I was surprised how long it took me to settle on something. I kept feeling like I was wearing someone else’s clothes. The little black dress comment is great, now I have a little black dress to go with my perfect skirt length (referring to your post yesterday). How fun is that??

Thanks, Lisis, for stopping by!

Of course you know how I feel about this, because it’s taken me more than 100 posts to start feeling like I might be a writer or a blogger. When I got started I really didn’t know what I wanted to blog about, so I copied some journal entries and published them.

Then a few real-time, natural thoughts started flowing and, the more I interacted with readers and other bloggers, the more I felt like a was finally headed in a direction.

It’s like, when I got started, I was paddling around in a little stagnant lake. Then one day I discovered a stream that headed off in one direction, and I decided to follow it… slowly, cautiously. The stream turned into a small river and started picking up speed, my thoughts started flowing in one direction, I could hear my voice (faintly) in the sound of the water rushing over the rocks.

It got a little scary, ’cause it was faster than I was comfortable with, but I let myself go with it. Now I’m in a nice pace, I’ve found a rhythm, moving ever forward… not too fast, not too slow, guided by that “voice”.

I really don’t know what’s around the bend. Could be a small drop into another stagnant lake, or it could be Niagara Falls. Not sure what I’ll do with either one; I’m just enjoying the ride for now.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble out a whole post about rivers and blogging… it just is what came to me, and I’ve learned not to question that voice.

Another thing I read recently said that to become an expert in any skill, you need to put in 10,000 hours of practice. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be damn good at anything that you practice for 10,000 hours! Writing is a skill like any other. It can be developed, and perfected with practice. And just as you’ve pointed out, the only way to practice writing is by writing.

Loved this post!