Should you write for the sake of writing?

Do you ever get writer's block because you have so many things you want to write about or say that you can't settle on any one topic?

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That definitely describes my current predicament. I've got no less than half a dozen topics I want to blog about and that doesn't even count the number of ideas I've had since I've been reading and commenting on the posts of other Steemians this afternoon.

After I've piddled around long enough - starting and erasing one post after another, I usually give up and go to something else. Then, I get frustrated with myself because I've just spent an hour trying to write to no avail. That's an hour I could have spent doing any number of things that would be more productive than writing nothing at all.

The question at which I most often arrive is whether or not writing for the sake of writing is better than writing nothing at all.

I'll go ahead and tell you my thoughts now. I wholeheartedly believe writing for the sake of writing is better than writing nothing at all. I just happen to be an incorrigible perfectionist, who has not written anything at all enough times to know better.

If you are a writer or if you want to be a writer, you should be writing for the sake of writing. You're not going to get better by simply staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank screen. Writing your thoughts on your neighbor's young daughter doing a very bad impression of a cat doesn't mean that what you've written is necessarily any good or that anyone on Steemit wants to read it. It does matter that you write it.

You won't share everything you write with the world because you shouldn't. Some pieces are personal - written only for you or a select pair of eyes. Some pieces you won't share with the public because you won't think they're good enough. Musicians bring more songs to the studio than what actually end up on the album because they only want to share their best songs with the world.

You will not like everything you write and neither will your readers but you must share. You can't be a writer if you don't at least offer up your work to be read. Remember that when you have writer's block and either can't think of anything to write or have thought of way too much to write.

I need to remember that too. I need to write more and share more too.

Here's to overcoming writer's block one word at a time!