March was a whirlwind month of writing for me. I had two articles due by the end of the month and, though I had already done a lot of research and writing, I found myself confronting an overwhelming discomfort with the writing process. Whether you’re writing an article, a blog post, a memo, an email, or anything at all you’ve likely encountered this discomfort. The blank page is scary. Opening a new Word document can be terrifying. The blinking text cursor silently screams “write, write, write.” Even when you fill that blank page, reading what you wrote might make you question all your life choices. You might realize, upon reading what you wrote, that your arguments and analysis aren’t as complete as you thought they were or that you haven’t expressed yourself clearly.
Fortunately, as I was confronting the discomfort of writing I came across Pat Thomson’s post on patter, “Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable.” Thomson’s post helped me reframe my approach to writing. Rather than fear the discomfort, I needed to embrace it and see discomfort as part of the productive struggle of thinking, formulating arguments, and expressing my thoughts in the written word.