To write...or not to write…?

I start to write…I check myself…and I start again…and I check again…and start again…

Too many false starts! I tell myself “Just write already!”

…I’ll check at the end…

Miraculously I finish…The check begins…

The basics like grammar and spelling are ok, definitely not flawless, but whatever errors are there are intentional, parts of the writing style, you could say…

But the content…

Is it critical enough, or too critical? Is it funny? It is? Too funny the message is smothered by the humour? Or is it too serious, boring even? Is my dialogue too heated? Am I too cold? How much ME is out there on those pages? Have I, in my struggle to pen the perfect piece, stripped myself naked of all the protective layers? Laid myself bare for all? Is there enough fact, or too much? Is it too fictitious? Have I quoted enough scripture, or too much? Have I used too many big words, or too few? Stepped on a few toes or trod too carefully? Would my mother read this and wince? Would my father read this and smile? Would my subordinates read this and still respect me? Would my club friends throw me out? Would my church friends still welcome me? Would I, on another day, read this and think “Who IS that person?”?

I start to write to express myself, I start to write to understand and be understood…but when I finish, I wonder…

Would it not have been better not to write at all?