3 Tips to Get Off Your Butt and Write the Story in Your Heart
Hey there. How’s that story coming along? You know, the one you’ve been talking about writing for the past few months or years or even decades? Yeah, that story you daydream about when you’re doing the dishes or weeding the garden or driving…
Oh! You have started writing? That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you..wait, what? You started…but then you stopped...then you started but you got sidetracked…then you kind of just … put it in a drawer?
OK. Gig’s up. We gotta talk, writer.
First off, this is pretty much normal. I see this all the time in the writing community. It’s something that is super common among my Team Writer members. Many writers have complained that one of the bad habits they long to break is “procrastination.” They’re stuck in an energy of “I want to…but…” and they just don’t take action.
If you’re struggling to say yes to your Muse and show up and make that commitment — even if you really want to — I’ve got 3 awesome tips to help you learn how to rise out of your funk and take action on your writing life.
TIP #1: LET THE JOY FLOW IN
If you aren’t writing with joy, first and foremost, you’re going to be vulnerable to more setbacks and hang-ups and obstacles than the norm. This is because joy is a natural stimulant and it has the power to overcome fear, anxiety, worry, and limiting beliefs. If we don’t bring joy along for the ride, then we’ve set on a journey without our mightiest weapon. It’s like Frodo Baggins journeying to Mordor without Samwise Gamgee. He would never be so foolish.
Every time you’re thinking about writing, ask yourself what about writing makes you happy. Is it character development? Plotting? Writing scenes? Research? Copying down conversations you eavesdrop on in the coffee shop (admit it; we all do it)? Whatever it is about the craft that brings you joy, focus on that for a few moments. Just sit in quiet stillness and allow those good feelings to flow through you.
When you allow that joy to fill you up, start writing. It doesn’t matter what you actually begin to work on, if it’s a chapter-in-progress, Discovery notes on a character, research, or exchange of dialogue—go where the joy flows and indulge yourself for fifteen minutes, minimum. Bliss out on simply writing for the joy of it.
TIP #2: REMOVE YOUR EXPECTATION
Often, writers set themselves up for a big destination before they’re prepared for the journey. They think about the end product—being published, hitting the bestsellers’ lists, getting interviewed on podcasts, ranking in the top 10 on Amazon—which is absolutely necessary to help us stay true to our vision. However, we tend to neglect paying such close attention to the steps we need to take to reach that destination.
We get hung up on our expectation of the end result, and when that happens, we can easily get overwhelmed and intimidated.
Rather than thinking about your big expectations, go back to Tip #1 and think about the joy you feel when you’re writing. Remind yourself that, in this moment, all that is important is to write because you love it so much, because your story people make you happy, because you must figure out what will happen next. Give yourself permission to write for the sake of writing, and nothing more than that.
TIP #3: MAKE ONE CREATIVE GOAL EVERY DAY
I am a believer in the power of creativity every day. Now, before you get anxious about that level of commitment, hear me out.
Creativity takes shape in dozens of forms. Writers don’t have to write every day in order to make progress on their writing. In fact, writers tend to be more successful when they seek out multiple avenues of creativity in which they can indulge. That’s because story is so much more than written words.
Story is a watched sunset. Conversations in a coffee shop (told ya). Blood on a hillside. A phone call from an estranged relative. Danger sign on a playground. A garden that needs weeding. A shuttered house whose porch light always shines.
Creativity is a muscle that needs regular nutrition, exercise, and TLC. When we procrastinate, we are neglecting a part of ourselves. Just like soccer players need to hit the gym, run, eat and sleep well, stay hydrated in addition to practicing drills on the field, writers need to feed and nurture their creative selves through a variety of activities.
List thirty of your favorite creative pursuits (don’t include writing). This can include the obvious such as painting, singing, and drawing. But don’t forget that baking, gardening, reading, photography, and woodworking are also creative-based.
Now add in “writing” fifteen times. This is the start of your pledge to yourself. For every session of writing you engage in, you can engage in an alternative creative pursuit. Basically, this works out to mean that you’d technically write fifteen times in a month, pretty much every other day. If this feels like too much commitment, then double the alternative creative pursuits so that you’re only committing to approximately 7 or 8 times a month.
Each night, I want you to journal about the creative experience you chose. How did it make you feel? How are you feeling about your writing project? What is your intention for tomorrow?
Why journal? Because journaling is an awesome way to hold yourself accountable and to keep a historic record of your progress. When you look through three months’ of journal entries to see you haven’t written a single day, it’ll get you to stop and think…Is writing really what I want to pursue? And if so, why am I sabotaging myself? It’s much more difficult to defend your actions when you see it playing out in your journal.
The idea here isn’t to make you feel guilty that you didn’t write, but rather to understand that the act and engagement of writing is largely a mental game. Given the chance, we will talk ourselves out of doing something difficult—and writing can be difficult. Very difficult.
So rather than giving up a session of writing for something that doesn’t actually develop your creative life (like scrolling through Facebook posts), choose something that will get those creative gears spinning.
And rather than ignoring the fact you’re not honoring your Muse, journal through your thoughts and emotions so that you can start to gain clarity on what might be blocking you, what limiting beliefs might be holding you back, what negative stories are you still listening to.
And then choose again tomorrow.
The more you write, the more you write.
If you want to post that blog, then post that blog and don’t expect anybody to read it. Just post it and trust and feel the joy of you having achieved a creative goal.
If you want to write that novel, then write that novel with no expectation of trying to sell it, no expectation of trying to give people some reason to buy it. Simply trust and feel the joy in the process of writing that novel.
This doesn’t mean that people won’t ever read the blog. Nor does it mean you’ll never sell your novel. That’s not what you’re ready for anyway—you need to get messy in the journey before you can bask in your desired destination. If you don’t prepare for and indulge in the journey and all its crazy theatrics, then your destination will take on a different meaning for you.
The destination will be less about accomplishment and more about “imposter syndrome.”
The destination will be less about fulfillment and more about overwhelm.
The destination will be less about your personal vision and more about comparison.
You need to get messy in the journey before you can bask in your desired destination.
So stop procrastinating and start taking action on your creative life. Just do it, with no expectation, and enjoy it! Once you take away the expectation and engage in your creativity, the experience and the expression of the creating will flow you into the energy of wanting to create again.
DO YOU PROCRASTINATE?
HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY OVERCOME THIS BAD HABIT?
HAVE A WRITERLY DAY!