Decisions

I was complaining the other day to Impostor J that I am terrible at making decisions. Not just big ones, which are hard for everyone, but even banal and inconsequential little ones: what to wear, what to eat, should I go to the library before work or after. My waffling seems to be getting worse. I hate it.

Then Impostor J said that she had recently had a conversation about Writers' Indecisiveness with Impostor A! Impostor A's take on it was that as writers, we are always having to make decisons: about our characters, about lines, about images, about which words to use, which to cut, what order to put them in, and not just words - whole stanzas, entire paragraphs sometimes! - and infinitely so on. Writers make enough decisions. Decisions, decisions, decisions - that is writing.

It's no wonder we are burnt out of decision-making! In Our Real Lives, we can hardly muster up another decision. We cannot control Real Life. We didn't make it.

Well, I don't know if that was Impostors A & J's conversation exactly, but that is what I think it meant. Writers aren't indecisive people; there are just only so many decisions we want to make in a day!

I don't agonize over writing decisions. They are not as difficult; sometimes I know instinctively, sometimes intuitively, what needs to be done and I do it. Move this, cut this, don't say this, say this. Done! Next!

It's Real Life - what to do with that - that is tough.

Thanks, Impostors J & A.