The Windows and Doors

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine

Sylvia Plath, an American poet, novelist and short story writer said, “Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

She was right. The enemy of our creativity is self-doubt. Writers must be alert to many things.  Self-doubt is high up on the list. The one thing we need to watch for is the stench of the air when that horrible creature of self-doubt slinks into the room. Hurriedly open the doors and windows and shove it out before it settles down into a pool around your head.

You can write. You can finish the page, you can finish the chapter and you can finish the book. Remember you are the one who is creating this story. It is to be told from your perspective. It is what your mind imagined. Just put your thoughts down on the paper. One word, then two, then three and before long you will see sentence after sentence delivered onto the page.

Plath was also right about everything, literally, everything in life can be written about. It is there within our grasp. We only have to reach out and begin the transformation to paper. Whether we see it, hear it, smell it, touch it, think it–it is ours for the taking to use to create that next short story, poem or novel.

So when you sit down tomorrow morning to begin your day of writing, remember, open your windows and doors and stay alert.