January 25, 2018 in Dag

I’m not indecisive – I’m a writer

Decisions, decisions. Life seems to be full of them. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you need to make decisions.

Where will I live? Who will I live with? What sort of work should I do? Do I want children? How many children do I want? What am I supposed to do with all these children?

I’m terrible with decisions. I just want to close my eyes and hope they go away. Maybe that’s why I tend to let things be as much as I can, rather than taking decisive action. So what if my house is falling down around me. That’s easier than having to make decisions like ‘Should we renovate or rebuild?’ or ‘How much money should we spend?’ or ‘Where should we live while the work is going on?’ And I’ve spend an awfully long time in jobs that I didn’t care for at all, because that’s still a lot easier than ‘Should I quit?’ or ‘What sort of job should I look for?’

I’m like that when I listen to arguments as well. When I hear one side, my first reaction is to think, “Hmm, they must be right.’ But when I listen to the other side, I start to think, ‘Hmm, they’ve definitely got a point.’ In the end, I find myself somewhere in the middle, never knowing what to believe.

So you see, I can easily be characterised as some sort of decision-phobic. Someone who is far too indecisive to ever make their mind up. But there’s one piece of evidence that immediately falsifies that claim. I am a writer.

You may not be completely sure how the fact that I’m a writer negates the substantial evidence that I’m an utterly indecisive person. Let me try to explain.

As a writer, I’m forced to make decisions all the time. Firstly, there are the big picture sorts of decisions when you’re just starting off. What is the theme of the story? What is the genre (or genres)? What is the setting? How long should it be? Who are the characters? Who is the audience?

Then, as you get into the nitty gritty of writing, there are a heap of other decisions to be made. When and how do you incorporate particular plot points? What are the roles of specific characters at specific points in the plot? How do the characters interact? How do they speak? Are their actions consistent? Does the whole thing fit together, going forward?

As you can see, lots of decisions. And I do it. I make them. I’ve managed to complete a bunch of books of different lengths and in different genres. Which means that’s an awful lot of decisions I’ve successfully made.

So you see, as a writer, I’m a thoroughly decisive person. Sometimes it can take a bit of time (or several attempts) to make the right decision, but I’ve always managed it in the end. So if I find that many real-life decisions leave me floundering, I still don’t believe that refutes the basic fact.

I’m not indecisive. Because I’m a writer.

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