Welcome to day one of the challenge.
It is so important that we really truly feel and understand that we are
writers that we have a right to write.
And that we're on the right path and there is nothing quite as powerful for
that as this exercise, I'm going to take you through over the next few days.
After we finish these five days, you will have a really strong sense.
Of why you're writing.
Of what it is you should be writing.
What it is you shouldn't be writing.
Who your role models and mentors are and how to stay on track and
truly believe that you are a writer and you should be doing this work.
you also firmly believe that you have a purpose in your writing and you'll
know what it is so that you never get stuck or go off track again.
Let me tell you a story.
This may sound familiar to you: I wrote a quick first draft.
Had to go back and revise it.
I found myself not working on it.
I was procrastinating every time I thought about working on it.
I didn't know how to fix it.
I got totally stuck.
I didn't know what was going on.
Now, sometimes that is just a lack of skills.
Sometimes we haven't done the planning work to figure out what
was happening next in the story.
So we can get stuck.
Sometimes we really don't know how to do the thing that we're
trying to get on the page.
And maybe we do need to take a workshop on dialogue or plotting
or character development.
Maybe that's part of it.
But there's another thing that people don't really talk about, and that's what
we're going to be working on this week.
And it is.
The purpose of your piece.
And whether or not you should be writing it at all.
So in my case, this story I had written, it was written for a challenge.
Uh, for competition and they'd given me the parameters to work on.
And the story I wrote was informed by current events and I was kind
of in a snarky mood and the story itself was a little cynical.
And I couldn't figure out why I didn't want to work on it until I
went back and looked at the work I had done on what we're going to
work on in these next five days.
I had written myself a manifesto for my writing.
And I'm going to take you through the steps that I used to create this thing,
And they've taken a lot of other writers through and they have said things like.
I can't believe this was such a quick way to find out what
you care about in your writing.
I'm blown away.
"This was super enlightening".
" This is really, really beautiful".
and " I don't know why.
I didn't realize this before".
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about figuring out the strategy for your writing, the things
that matter to you, the sort of value statement for your writing.
One of the things I had absolutely promised myself I wouldn't do
in my writing was be cynical.
And the story I had written was cynical.
Understanding that one thing.
And how it diverged from everything I'd said that mattered to me and
written down in my manifesto, was life-changing for my writing.
It freed me up to let that story go.
Not waste anymore psychic energy on a story that didn't fit my
vision for myself as a writer.
And if you don't have a vision for yourself as a writer that might sound
all highfalutin and something that doesn't really matter, and shouldn't
we just be getting words on the page?
But I promise you if you stick with me,
through the next few days and we go through this exercise together, you will
have a roadmap for your writing future.
You will have a certainty that yes, you are a writer and you will have a
decision filter through which you can run any project, any scene, any problem
that you're having with your writing,
and figure out what's the underlying problem.
Is it that you're off track?
Is it that you're writing about stuff that you don't really care about?
Is it that you're writing in a way that doesn't inspire you?
You're going to find out what all those things are over the next few days, and
you are never going to have to worry again about whether you're on the right track,
how to make progress, and how to keep going forward.
It's something we really don't talk about enough understanding
who we are as writers.
What inspires us, what matters to us?
That's going to get you to your desk way more than making a chart, putting
appointments on your calendar and all the other things you've tried to get
yourself writing that haven't stuck.
What matters is the underlying story you're telling yourself.
And that's what we're going to work on in the next five days.
Starting right now.
So I want you to gather pen or a keyboard or however you're comfortable
writing you can do colored pencils, and however you want to do this.
I want you to be able to make some notes.
So here's what you need to do for part one.
Of writing your Writer's Manifesto and yes, I called it that with a grandiose
term of manifesto Writing takes courage, and I think we need to embrace that and
face up to that and not run away from it.
So I called it a manifesto because sometimes you just
need that little extra kick.
So anyway.
Part one of your manifesto.
I want you to think about who you really admire as a writer, as someone
who lives a creative life as an artist, anyone who, a musician, anyone
who embodies that kind of creativity that you want more of in your life.
These are going to be your fairy art parents.
These are the people who inspire you.
write down.
Their names.
And then go through and write down what it is that you admire about them.
Don't think too hard about this.
Just write a really quick set a timer for three minutes and write a
really quick list of these people.
And what did you admire about them?
We'll be back tomorrow to work on this deeper.
So don't go too deep today.
Just get this out on paper.
In my case, for example, I wrote down Amanda Palmer.
For her commitment to making the art that only she can make and for
finding ways to get paid for it.
outwith traditional structures.
And for her commitment to openness.
If you've ever watched her, you know what I'm talking about?
My next person was Mary Robinette Kowal science fiction, fantasy author,
who's pursuit of the craft of writing and storytelling is detailed and, um,
logical and, uh, for her willingness to share that with others and to
keep on turning out her own work and building an audience at the same time.
I also admire Nick Stevenson, who is someone in the self- publishing world.
Who's also teaching other people how to do self publishing.
And I admire him from what I called his calculated openheartedness, the way
that he communicates with his readers.
I wrote down Kim Stanley Robinson for his unique style and optimism.
Neil Gaiman for the same things.
And for the literary family tree that he grew out of.
I wrote down Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams for their quirky style,
their humor, their big ideas and for the fact that what I get from them.
I can only get from them.
So write down your list of people who inspire you, writers,
artists, creative types.
And then write down what it is that each of those people.
What you admire about them and the way that they do business.
Okay.
That's your assignment for today.
It's a tiny task.
It's laying the foundation for a really important,
bigger task that we're going through this week.
We'll be back tomorrow to take the next step with this
list that you're making today.
And it's going to be great.
I'll see you then.
Keep writing.