For some reason, the ideas that flow when you chat and share them over coffee suddenly go when you sit in front of the computer or pick up a pen to write.

I mean literally, disappear. Nothing comes. Your brain feels empty.

OR

The opposite happens and ideas bubble up and you can’t decide which one is best. You find it impossible to choose.

How can you tell your fellow macrocentrics (Deb and Susie) that you seem incapable of thinking, let alone making a decision?

That old friend “self-doubt” visits regularly and sometimes stays too long. The agreed deadline, which originally seemed to be so far into the future, now looms over you. Your idea suddenly seems lame and not “worthy” of sending to your fellow macrocentrics for review, let alone publishing to the blog!

Then, when you believe you are finally in the frame of mind to WRITE – life happens. You are SO BUSY… apparently. Every job that you have been putting off is urgent, every piece of assignment marking is pressing. The oven, goodness, when did it get so dirty? And, every person you know, at work and home, is asking you a question…

Internally, you feel you are letting your colleagues down, after all, you promised. Finally, you can’t stand the guilt any longer and send them a text to say “sorry…. I promise to send the complete blog post soon”…

Of course, they are incredibly supportive and helpful, which makes you feel worse.

THEN, finally, you write.

You are not sure if you are happy with the whole piece or not… but you decide to send the words to your fellow macrocentrics “for feedback” anyway.

Wonderful, they like it!

Your spirits lift. Perhaps it will be OK after all, and you remember why you wanted to do this blog thing in the first place.

Ahh, there is no stopping you now. You have their feedback. You feel energized. You find some time and organise pictures and headings for the article.

The next thing you know – after all that angst – you have a live blog post!

Then you see people are reading and liking it…

Oh wow, you feel good!

The writing pain is forgotten (well, forgiven). You are (secretly) proud of yourself, but at the same time, overwhelmingly grateful (and relieved) that you have Deb and Susie to share this blog writing journey with.

Now, you have SO many ideas for the next post! You are sure the next one will be much easier; you just need to start it earlier. The procrastination must have been because you were tired… …you vow to be more disciplined…

OR…perhaps all that is needed is to remember the following words of  Mark Twain:

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection!

To all our families, friends and those of you who we don’t know, near and far, we wish you a safe and happy transition to 2017. We look forward to sharing our blog with you for many more posts!

Yours in design,
Janet