Here’s a simple exercise to get rid of the negativity and cement some positive writing goals. It’s painless. It’s motivating. It will work. (I owe this to Andrew T. Caddick, who presented this exercise at the Blushing Sky Word In-Word Out Conference.)
Take a piece of paper, fold it in half, and on the left half, write a list of what stalls you when it comes to writing. For myself, I wrote:
- Avoidance- I put off even getting started
- I get started but end up doing online “research” (i.e. Facebooking)
- When a scene becomes difficult, I give up
- The hubris of the real world keeps me from concentrating
- I tell myself ten or fifteen minutes isn’t enough time so why bother?
- I’m afraid what I’m writing is crap.
Now, open the paper and list the counter to each of your points. My counters are:
- Sit down every morning and write.
- Put the laptop away so you have to focus.
- Plow headfirst through the difficult scenes.
- Tune everything else out for the time you allotted yourself.
- Take advantage of every bit of free time, even a half-hour
- Write for pleasure. Write for yourself.
Lastly, write these counter statements out as positive goals. The hardest part can be writing this in all positive statements, but when you do, they have more power to motivate:
I look forward to getting started on my writing. I will set a timer, even if it’s for a half-hour, as a time that I will ignore all distractions, and focus solely on my work-in-progress. Difficult scenes are a challenge that I can and will rise to. I’m excited about using my writing time as a time to tune out the bullshit in my daily life. I’m excited to use this time to forget about the real world. I will take advantage of every moment. I will remind myself that I need only to write for myself. In fact, I love it when I write for myself. My writing time will be a gift I give myself.
Doesn’t that sound delicious? I had never looked at writing quite this way before. If you try this, let me know how it works for you.
