I'm here today to tell you about

I'm here today to tell you about anxiety. And clichés. We all know that "I'm here today to tell you about..." is a cliché. It's been said before. It will, most likely, be said again. But that's beside the point. Or behind the point, anyway. 

Let's talk about clichés. Clichés are our friends, right? Everybody knows what you are talking about when you say, "He rode off into the sunset." You get a mental picture in your head, usually involving the color orange and a large hat. So what better way to say it? He waltzed off into the sunset. (We can start substituting words one by one.) He jogged off into the sunset. He loped off into the sunset. Or how about "The man rode off into the sunset.", "The zygote rode off into the sunset." 

Change it up a bit. If it is an image not pictured here, it will make the brain work a little. And that's all we're asking for, a little brain workout. Nothing like Pilates, but a little more than hand to mouth.

Individual words, also, can be clichés. Take "the" for example. It's completely overused. "The brown fox jumped over the..." You know what I mean. Why not use a word like "ta"? Ta cake is in ta fridge, dear! Or "Ze." Add a smidge of Russian flare to your speech. Ze world is a global, don't ya know.

Anxiety. Let's talk about that now. Specifically, the anxiety of writing. If you are writing by hand, or picking like a hen (like it?) you have way too much time to think about what you are writing. The initial idea leaks out between thoughts of better phrasing, self-awareness, shame, and uncertainty. I say, just write it all! Why give yourself time to think and mess it up? Start writing, and don't stop until at least ten seconds have gone by (I mean minutes) and don't erae typos. Don't correct. Don't backspace your way out of your genius. We want it! We want to milk you dry!  Ok, that's a cliché. Don't correct them. Save, and put it away for a while. Congratulations! You've completed some writing. You're a writer. Yep, that's it. As an outstanding teacher in a great book once said: "A writer writes."