Seth Godin says that there’s no such thing as writer’s block. You can type. You can write. So type and write. What writers call “writer’s block” is their unwillingness to deal with their dreck – the wretched writing that must be done to find the true gems.
Dealing with your dreck teaches you where and who you really are – what you really want.
My first novel is dreck. It’s so bad that I worked on it only once in five years. I want to trash it, but I know I can’t no matter how bad it is. I need to battle the dreck, only so that I can type the words “The End” and be done with it. Heck, this post feels like dreck to me right now. I started it on Tuesday morning, and I’m grinding through it now while sitting on kitchen floor at 6am.
My first company was dreck. After blowing through $150k in investment capital, my only significant project required me to shepherd a low-level Kazakhstani government bureaucrat around California and Canada to tour wheat research institutes.
My workouts lately have been dreck. I’ve been fighting a hamstring injury and joint stiffness since mid-January. This past week, I’ve started to feel recovered, kicking up my running regimen and restarting my Cross-Fit workouts. Dreck. My breath is shallow and labored. My legs are heavy. My muscles ache.
This week I decided to go Keto for the month. I found myself pining for a banana and a chocolate square in the first three hours. Last night was dreck – home late from the Farmers Market and hungry for second dinner. Steamed lentils at 9pm aren’t as appetizing as they sound. Dreck.
All of it dreck, and all of it necessary to come out the other side better and stronger.