Do you have a secret method for being able to write so much/often? I'm a little jealous XD
I’ve debated how to answer this over the last few days. I know it’s being asked tongue-in-cheek, but it’s something I struggle with continually, so I wanted to give a bit of a more serious answer.
I wish I could offer a killer secret strategy, some kind of perfect formula, that unleashes our creativity and unlocks our motivation to write. But the truth is nothing like that. So here are the things I have learned in many years of practicing this particular art:
1. It gets easier. The more you do it, the easier words come. It’s better to lure the muse in with your work than wait for her to decide to show up.
2. But every day, the battle starts again. I can write every evening for a month straight and it’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to make myself write tomorrow.
3. See also: habit is a lie. I am psychologically incapable of habit. All there is a fresh start, every time.
4. You will fail in this goal a thousand times. And you will have to pick yourself up and try again a thousand times. Then you’ll fail once more. If you can’t find a way to stop guilting and shaming yourself for it, you’ll waste 90% of your energy fighting the negativity you’ve associated with sitting down to write, and you need that energy to motivate and encourage yourself, because…
5. There will always be ten million reasons not to do it. Choosing to write anyway is a decision you have to make more than once.
6. Falling in love with the sound of your own writing helps. A lot. Nobody can love your babies like you.
7. But being read by other people is an out-of-this-world high, and it’s ok to let that power you, as long as you don’t let it own you.
8. Practical advice: It’s easier to write today if I wrote yesterday. And it’s easier to write today if I wrote two days ago than if I last wrote a week ago. When the not-writing gets to be around a month, it’s very hard and requires a proper plan to ease back in.
9. Writing doesn’t have to be writing writing. Just touching the document, editing, outlining, taking some kind of tangible action to advance the work, can reset that timer and get you to another day. Likewise you don’t need to write two thousand words; even ten can work just fine.
10. Sometimes the writing has to come before the laundry. If you don’t make the things that feed your soul at least an occasional priority over the things that take care of the rest of you, they start to shrivel up.
Lastly: If writing is something you need to do with your life, you know it. And if it is, it’s worth it.
