What happens when writing doesn’t feel fun anymore? When it starts to feel heavy? Overwhelming? Uninspired? How do you make writing fun again?
In this episode, we’ll turn this around with 3 simple ideas. So you can get back to writing with more vigor, inspiration, and play.
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Episode at a glance:
[01:37] Too Much Focus On Outcome
This sounds like a good strategy. Set specific goals so that you finish your book and ultimately publish. But when you focus prematurely on outcome, it leads to binary thinking. And this is not good for creativity, or your story.
[04:19] Don’t Plate The Dish First
This is a chef metaphor I learned from my acting teacher, Benjamin Mathes. The idea is a chef first sources his ingredients, follows a recipe, cooks the meal, and only then plates the dish. When writers are results focused, they’re plating the dish without having learned essential techniques, or even finished their first draft.
[06:51] Success Isn’t A Singular Event
Many writers think they’re only successful if they publish. But there are hundreds of successes along the way. Rather than focus on what you need from the work, focus on what your work needs from you, and success will follow.
[09:36] Purpose
Your purpose for writing this story can’t just be to get published. It has to have meaning for you that sustains the time and work it takes to write something worth publishing. Why does this story matter to you? What are you trying to learn, discover, explore, or understand through writing this story?
[12:11] Presence
When you’re present in the work, you’re not worrying about whether it’s good or not. You’re not thinking about whether people will care to read it or not, whether it will ever get published or not. You’re not asking, Am I any good? All those are projections into the future. When you’re present, you’re delighting in your own discovery about what your story is about. You’re reveling in your own process. You’re slowing down.
[18:44] Practice
Writing is a lifetime practice. In the context of practice, there’s no right or wrong. You can’t make mistakes. You can’t move backwards, you can only move forward. In the spirit of play, you’re free to create without self judgement.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Lost In The City by Edward P. Jones
Crash Acting with Benjamin Mathes
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