Breaking Out

To please our kindergarten teachers, we learned to color inside the lines. No longer could we have purple trees. To be the best, we knew we had to be like somebody else. “Stand in line, wait your turn, don’t interrupt,” we were told. Predictably, but so slowly we never noticed, our creativity faded.

Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, says, “By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.”

Today, more than ever before, we have to watch what we write. In this age of political correctness, picking up the wrong color or going outside the lines can get us fired. As we try to find the right words, fearing what our audience might think can tie both hands and condemn us to life without parole in the writer’s block.

We don’t want to lock ourselves up, but what can we do? It’s impossible to be open and honest and cautious and reserved at the same time.

When writing your first draft, pretend you’re writing in a journal that nobody will ever read. Say what you feel. Get it out there. Don’t worry about what others will think.

Later, after all your creativity has erupted onto the page, you can edit out the parts that might offend your audience. Then you’ll never have to worry about being locked up.