You love to write, right?
Except when you don’t.
What’s a writer to do on those days when your inner writer is being a cranky toddler, plumping it’s big fat bottom down on the floor, screwing up its face and wailing,
“I dun wanna wri-i-ite!”
Today I bring some tough parenting love for your inner child-writer. Next week: seven practical strategies to jump-start your writing on the days when even The Mommy Voice won’t cut it.
Tough It Out
D’ya think the dairy farmer always leaps out of bed before dawn, whistling and praising the winter wind that whips away his breath on the way to the byre? Nope, but you need milk for your coffee, so he drags himself out of bed.
Readers, no, the world needs your stories, so get your fingers on the keyboard.
But Julie, you say, writing is a creative pursuit! How can I be expected to turn out something wonderful if writing feels like work?
In answer I say: how will you turn out something wonderful if you aren’t sitting down every day and learning how to get through the reluctance, the fear, the slog? You don’t have to write something wonderful every. You do, however, have to write. Whether you feel like it or not.
Do whatever it takes to get yourself past the reluctance and into that happy place where the words flow. Stay in your chair until you are happy to be there. Your readers will thank you.
Rewards
If you are not writing for a steady paycheck and legions of crazed fans, you need another reward structure.
It IS hard to start and finish a story. It IS hard to face the revision process. You DO deserve a reward for putting in the effort – beyond the satisfaction of knowing you did it.
So, set up some incentives for yourself. Be generous, but canny. Your rewards should enhance your creativity rather than take the edge off.
Examples of creativity-enhancing rewards:
- -a call to a like-minded friend,
- -a new notebook,
- -some guilt-free time contemplating a thing of beauty,
- -a walk in the woods
Stodgy, counterproductive “rewards”:
- -a half-pint of ice cream,
- -two hours flipping through the channels,
- -a free-flowing bitch-session about how hard it is to be a writer.
Goals
Yes, goals. Set regular goals and meet them.
Any or all of the following – especially when you pair them with the accountability of telling a more-bossy friend about them – can help you break through the barriers on a day when you just don’t want to write:
-a daily word count or ’scene goal’. Commit to write X number of words or complete scenes every day. You will progress, even if you end up revising heavily later.
-a weekly goal can make the whole ’goal’ thing less stressful than a daily goal. Struggling on Tuesday? Make up for it on Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday.
-write down mid-term and long-term goals: “finish three stories this month”, “revise and submit stories to ten markets by October”, “self-publish a story collection in 2013”.
Refer to your list as you sit down to work. Remind yourself it’s not just about the slog or the word-count: you have goals for your writing.
And if one of your goals is “support myself through my writing, full-time” then it’s even more important that you figure out, now, how to write even when you don’t feel like it.
Next week: seven specific techniques for getting yourself in the mood to write even when your inner child-writer is saying “I dun wanna!”.
Then, let me bust your writing excuses. No more excuses!
So tell me, what do YOU do when you don’t feel like writing?
