Tina Haapala, Excuse Editor

We're all works under construction “Live fearlessly!” Sounds great, doesn’t it? Until you actually try living that way. Your common sense gets in the way— Well, I must be scared of some things, like driving too fast or stray dogs, right? Or you basically fear what living fearlessly might LOOK like: What will they think of me if I shake my ass in Zumba? These kinds of debates have been playing themselves out in my head for the past year, as I’ve been working on my memoir. Can I "Write Fearlessly?" I felt great in the beginning. I’d discovered a way to work, a type of flexible outlining Brook Warner calls “ scaffolding ” that seemed to set me out in the right direction—yes, direction! I suddenly had one. Great! On to writing. I knew the story. I mapped out the scenes. But, I suppose it is similar to the Cheryl Strayed’s Wild journey—we both knew we were a bit out of our element, but until we run splat into obstacles, we didn’t know how scary it would be.

If you work on deadlines, either from your employer, client, or self-imposed, you have probably figured out your “racing” style. You may be best writing under pressure, forced to open up the creative muse with mere minutes left to submit your work. You may have learned that kind of pressure puts you at a complete standstill. Writer SK Walker said on my Facebook page recently, “This is creativity, not boxing chocolates on a conveyor belt”. So instead of the pressuring procrastination, you keep a slow and steady pace, arriving at your deadline rested and on-time. I'm not here to say what is best, I'm here to remind you to discover what works best for you. I recently finished up a “bootcamp” program at my local YMCA. It involved some running , in the almost brutal North Texas heat. The last day was the big hoo-rah, as we were scheduled to take a 4 mile run. I think about 100 people had signed up for the class 6 weeks prior; there were 10 of us for that final run. ...

Last time , I began to share the lessons I learned from George Carlin's " Last Words ". Some of the more concrete advice, such as "know what your accountants are doing with your money" and "don't fry your brains with drugs and alcohol", while important, did not move me as much as the ideas he had about comedy and writing as an art. So today, I will continue...  "All I really need to know (about writing) I learned from George Carlin." Express Yourself Writing is one thing, but writing to express your own truth is another. Last time, I had mentioned the idea of "paying your dues" in order to get to the where want to be with your work. That may include ghost writing for blogs or books that don't really interest you that much, or editing loads of other people's copy instead of writing your own. While this is true, if you are the type who strives to do a good job no matter the task at hand, you may become successful...