Close the Laptop.

Maybe the reason the page is still blank is because you care too much about feeling like a ‘‘writer’’ than you care to ‘‘write’’.

Maybe the reason your words get stuck is because you worry too much about what you should sound like rather than what you actually wish to say.

I know. I said “say”, even though you don’t speak.

Your mind speaks; it speaks all day long.

But maybe, just maybe you struggle to express those words because all you think about is how your favourite writer would say your words.

OfCourse writing is not just about passion or imagination, it’s about discipline, willingness to learn and many other boring things that help you become what you would call a “good” writer.

I don’t think there are bad writers, I think there are multiple readers who read through different lenses and judge based on how they felt when reading what your mind says.

You forget that people are living different lives and are experiencing different emotions and experiences. These things affect how they see your piece. I got a book, and I had seen so many good reviews about this book, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all, because it didn’t feel like what I needed or wanted at that moment. If I read your post and hate it, and someone else reads the same post and loves it. None of us are lying. Two truths can exist at the same time.

Now back to what I was saying about the laptop that you have refused to close even though the page is blank.

Some people write on a laptop because it makes them feel like a “writer”. If it works for you, then there is nothing wrong with that, we all have preferences and that’s fine. But maybe just maybe your mind doesn’t want to speak to a two-fold machine that has a widespread keyboard. Maybe it wants to speak to a paper and with a pen. Maybe your mind wants to address an app you are all too familiar with. Maybe like a bee to a petal, your mind is drawn to your notes app and maybe like a dog with a bone, your mind is willing to leave its cage for it. Maybe you don’t need to feel like a “writer”, maybe you just need to get the words out.

If how “good” of a writer you are is determined by what you write with and not what you write itself then I would say that we have lost the plot.

And if you think that to be a writer, you need to sit in front of a blank page on a computer and pour out words when your mind clearly doesn’t want that structure then you should close the damn laptop.

CLOSE THE LAPTOP AND WRITE IN YOUR NOTES APP IF THAT IS WHERE YOUR MIND COMES ALIVE.

A little tip: I write on the Substack app on my phone then copy and paste to my laptop to publish because it’s easier for me to publish from my laptop. I started doing this two to three weeks ago and I have written more than ever before.