Are you sick of people telling you what you should be doing? (I know I am!)

There are so many things a writer ‘could’ be doing (social media, courses, mentorships, retreats, conferences, residencies…)

And only one thing a writer must do: write.

It’s easy to be distracted by the former, to the detriment of the latter.

So Much Noise

After the New Year lull, we’re hading into a season where it seems everyone is inviting you to attend a writers’ conference, a course, a retreat, a summit…and you’re going to have to tune most of it out—along with the FOMO—if you want to do any writing.

In my experience, the best way to stay focused and keep making progress is to limit your options: find one group where you belong, one teacher or annual conference that works for you, and then tune out the rest…for now.

Signal vs Noise

How do you identify the places that work for you?

There’s some trial and error, but here are some questions you can use while you’re evaluating different options:

• Does showing up for these events make me more productive or just aspire to be more productive?
• Do I come away from these events exhausted or exhilarated?
• Does belonging to this group fill me with a restless energy to create, or do I feel like showing up at the event/class/conference ticks the creativity box and I can do nothing until the next scheduled event?
• Am I inspired to write more, by the people around me?
• Do I often learn something new that I can put into practice in my own writing right now, or is the teaching at the wrong level/stage for me?

If the answers to these questions are ‘yes’, stick with those groups, conferences or teachers until you start to answer ‘no’ more often than not.

The Most Valuable Question

That last question (“Do I learn something that I can put into practice in my writing right now”) is the really important one.

You might like the people or the teacher, but find that being with them doesn’t make you more productive. This can happen if:

• They’re operating at a different level of ambition than yours
• They’re working at a different skill level from yours (either far behind where you are or so far ahead that it’s not inspiring, it’s discouraging.)

It’s Not A Race

There’s so much to learn…but only so much you need to know right now.

Find the spaces that solve the challenges you are facing today.

Make progress on the challenges that face you today. Pause to celebrate and really FEEL that progress.

The rest can wait.

The Superstars Advantage
The fastest way to get better at writing stories is to write more stories — and reflect on them with other writers. That’s what the StoryADay Superstars group was built for.
You could do it alone, but why make it harder than it needs to be?
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