Getting out of my own way

Hello, and welcome! This isn't my first blog, but it's my first blog as a writer trying to get serious about the whole business of writing - which is what this post is about. If you're a writer, too (and let's face it, most bloggers either are writers, or should be writers!), maybe you can relate. I think I'm getting too serious here. Overthinking the entire process until all I can think to write about is - well, nothing really. Because when I do consider an idea, a sneery voice winds down my ear canal and echoes in my head, "Bor-ring!". I'm finished before I begin. When I first started writing bits and pieces, squeezed in around the rest of my life, I never stopped to consider if my stories were good or not. I just tapped them out. They were pretty bad in general, but they had some kernels of good in them, and I loved the feeling of expressing myself. Slowly I began to learn about writing, took some classes, learnt to edit. I realised I had some ability, and began to believe in myself. So I've cleared space in my life for writing, with a big shake-up of my work hours, and I'm ready to give writing my all. Yet here I sit, staring at the cursor, fighting a rising sense of panic that I'll never write another short story. A friend gave me a book of Buddhist quotes, and one attributed to Buddha reads 'The mind is everything. What we think, we become.' I understand how powerful our thoughts can be, and I know that to work well, to succeed, to achieve anything in life, the right mindset is essential. I need to calm down, remember the joy of writing just for the story. I need to get out of my own way. So, here I go ...