Natural Writing Forces-how to write to your strengths
Are you writing to your strengths? Are you looking for a way to boost your writing productivity? Do you struggle with time management or low creative energy? Are you unable to meet your deadlines or goals? Do you struggle to cross off tasks from your checklists?
Writing productivity can feel elusive or difficult to attain, but it doesn’t have to be.
In today’s blog post I discuss how you can write to your strengths so you can increase your productivity and reach your writing goals.
Let’s hop to it!
NATURAL WRITING FORCES
Natural writing forces is a term I came up with ages ago when I was trying to figure out why I struggled so much in my writing life despite the fact I was deeply passionate about the craft.
I was following productivity strategies outlined by some of my favorite authors, thinking (stupidly) there was a one-size-fits-all approach.
No. No, there isn’t.
When I finally crawled out of that hole I’d dug myself, I took some time to work on ME. What wasn’t I understanding about writing processes? What was I missing?
That’s when I realized I wasn’t being true to myself. I wasn’t writing to my strengths. I was ignoring how I work best, dismissing the conditions I needed for consistent output and joyful creativity.
Natural writing forces is a complex system of internal and external energies that directly impact your writing life. Everyone has their own system, unique as their own fingerprint. And therein lies the beauty—this means we have the power to use it to in any way that feels good to us.
These energies are always at work, whether you know what they’re up to or not. They determine what time of day you prefer to write. If you finish your projects. Whether you turn to Facebook when the writing isn’t going well. If you let fear stand in your way.
Each writer brings their own habits, lifestyle, personality traits, moods, values, beliefs, and goals to their work every day. But many of these aspects aren’t the exact same from day to day. And some of them evolve as the writer evolves.
As a writer, you must figure out how to manage your personal system of writing forces for optimal productivity.
For example, internal writing forces could include:
Motivated by classical music
Short attention span
Increased energy midday
Inspiration from writers’ group
Overly self-critical
External writing forces could include:
9-5 job
Family responsibilities
Social life
Writing environment
Physical health
These forces all influence your work, but of course every writer will have their own profile of forces. It’s your job to learn how to manage your personal system so each individual trait, mood, and belief serves you. Productivity rises when you tap into the beneficial forces because those are your strengths.
Negative patterns could emerge if you don’t tame unruly traits such as short attention span or disorganization. However, what serves as an unruly trait for one writer may not hold back another writer. Take disorganization as an example. Not everyone needs to be organized to be productive. Some people thrive in chaos and disorder. Is that you? How do you know? If so, are you using it to its fullest impact on getting stuff done?
Making your productivity personal will help you build a writing practice that serves you rather than holds you back. The most productive writers are the ones who learn which forces actually benefit them and which forces need to be modified or tamed in some way. Never forget that even habits and traits that are stereotypically negative or limiting may actually aid in your productivity.
Only you know what works best for you.
Examine your personality traits, lifestyle, work ethic, beliefs, triggers, moods, values, and habits. If you’re just beginning this exploration, then it helps to simply observe and make notes. Try not to judge anything at this early stage.
I recommend journaling this stuff for a few weeks so you can collect data over various situations.
ASSESSING YOUR NATURAL WRITING FORCES
After you get an idea of your personal system of natural writing forces, it’s time to make some assessments on how they impact your creative life.
Gauge your level of productivity now and ask yourself what you’d like to see change. What isn’t working? What would you like to maintain?
Which forces support your creative endeavors, and which ones present obstacles?
Which forces can be easily changed, and which ones will require hard work to change?
What forces do you not have that you’d like to add to your system? What would you like to cut out entirely?
Who or what can help you as you refine your system? Do you have a writing partner or a coach? Can you enroll in writing workshops or start a blog?
Part of this assessment includes knowing what your ultimate destination is. What is your Dream Goal? It’s fine if you’re still in testing mode, trying things out, enjoying the adventure and you’re not quite sure what you want out of this journey. But once you start homing in on a goal, try to get super-clear on what that goal entails. This clarity will help you figure out what you need to do to accomplish it, which of your forces need to be front and center for this work.
Highlight the forces that serve you—these are your strengths. Make a point of putting them to use every time you’re working on your writing.
WHY DO I WANT TO REACH “POINT X”?
Point X is any goal you’re trying to accomplish, any landmark you’re trying to reach. It’s labeled as X until you can describe the goal/landmark in very specific detail.
Knowing your WHY, your purpose, will help you find the motivation to reach Point X. If you aren’t clear on why that particular goal is important, or how it’ll make a difference in your journey, then it’s going to be difficult to reach.
HOW CAN I BE MORE PRODUCTIVE SO I CAN REACH “POINT X”?
You’re now at a point where you can design a writing practice comprised of natural writing forces that support your writing journey. Which of your natural writing forces boost your productivity? Which ones spur your imagination and creativity? Which ones encourage you to show up and do the work, even if it’s difficult?
Designing your writing practice will take some trial and error, so be prepared for some attempts that don’t work out. It helps to keep notes of your progress so that you can spot trends or patterns.
TESTING YOUR PRACTICE
We measure writing productivity by what we can concretely see happening with our projects. How many words we write per day or if we meet our deadlines. This tempts us into focusing on the result (or lack of) our process. If all is running smoothly, then that’s marvelous. You’re consistently hitting the range of productivity.
But if things aren’t running smoothly, then you need to test a variety of your natural writing forces to see which ones are getting in your way. It’s important to not jump to conclusions without running some kind of analysis.
For example, it’s generally easier to change an external force (changing the time of day you write, or skipping weekends because they’re too busy) instead of changing an internal energy/behavior such as procrastination or low confidence. However, it’s often the internal energy or behavior that’s the true culprit, and it manifests as an external obstacle. This is why keeping a journal of your progress is so helpful in spotting triggers or patterns.
Start by assessing a single writing session. Pick an average day where you plan to do some writing. The more true to life a day it is the better, because the data you collect won’t be skewed. In other words, don’t go to a café for this self-assessment if you don’t normally write in a café.
Run this self-assessment over a period of seven-ten days and look for trends, triggers, or patterns. Some questions to ask yourself (and add your own as they come up):
Which habits motivate you to write? Which ones hold you back?
When you’re in the midst of a writing session, what’s your predominant feeling? Are you engaged in your story’s world or distracted? Are you feeling joyful and relaxed, or edgy?
How long is a typical writing session? How do you feel about the duration?
How often do you write within a week? How do you feel about the frequency?
Is it easy for you to make time for writing, or do you find yourself doing “one more chore” first?
When you think about finishing your project, what is the feeling that comes to mind? Excitement? Nervousness? Self-doubt? Pride?
Who is on your support team? Are you using them to the fullest advantage? How can you use them to keep you accountable?
Once you discover the forces that propel you forward, you can begin setting goals, looking for an accountability partner, scheduling writing sessions—because now you’ll have a solid idea of how you work best.
Remember that your forces fluctuate and evolve! So, keep a finger on that pulse (journaling is my go-to recommendation). That way, if things start to flounder you can make necessary corrections before too much time passes.