The word ‘pretend’ has a bad press. We worry about doctors who aren’t doctors, builders who can’t build, teachers who aren’t qualified to teach. But the word ‘pretend’ comes from the Latin “praetendo” meaning to stretch forth, reach out, extend. Pretending allows us to believe we can do something new and different.
Pretending allows us to stretch ourselves beyond our reality into our imagination. If we didn’t pretend, would we dare to go after our dreams? So, let’s just pretend that we are good writers, and that we know what we are doing. Then all we have to do is get on with the work.