Writers can be superstitious about their process. Hemingway used to sharpen twenty to thirty pencils before he sat down to write. That may be simple procrastination technique. It strikes me as a bit superstitious, too. I bet many writers cling to certain behaviours or activities hoping to bring back the muse, fearing the ominous writer's block or just desperately trying to get closer to being a real writer.
We all want to be real writers. Nobody wants to be called a wannabe, even though we want to be something. The term wannabe implies an underlying reality that the person doesn't have the talent or what it takes to really be it or really make it. They just want it, hoping it will come. People who are actually out there doing it actually know you've got to more than want it.
When I was in high school, I played competitive basketball. I remember one direction I got from the coach a few times that stayed with me:
"You have to want the ball."
It was peculiar to me.
Well, of course I want the ball.
So does she and she and she...who doesn't want the ball.
I would just say okay, yeah, but deep down it was strange to me.
But now that I think back to that, she was right. You have to want the ball.
She meant, you have to really want it; you have to want it so bad that you will pass out before you stop running; you have to be willing to dive for it, take hits for it and reach farther than you ever thought you were capable of reaching.
If you're superstitious, you won't make it. It's as simple as that.
If you have hang ups that prevent you from diving for it, then you will remain in the wannabe category and never reach the really-want-it stage of success.
So I guess I need to get busy wanting it and writing.
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