(January 23, 2018) Lord, I received a much-needed reminder that busyness isn’t the same thing as productiveness. Nor is working for you the same thing as working with you. Once again, I have caught myself running myself in circles and wearying myself out. Thank you for reminding me that you are the source of my inspiration and the wellspring…
Category: Creativity
I’ve discovered that—like many of the stories we read—our core doubt or fear is often in direct opposition to our core desire or dream.
The beautiful thing about being a writer is that you can begin at any time in life. And you can pretty much do it anywhere. The difficult thing about being a writer is learning to get past the idea that great writing comes naturally. That you’re either born with the gift, or you’re not.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes. It doesn’t matter how many times you need to start over. Each time you sit down with pen and paper, laptop and coffee, or book and highlighter, you’re adding to the foundation and the framework on which all your future storytelling will be built.
As an editor, I learned early on that there is a lot more to what we do than looking for typos, awkward or unclear sentences, and characters who are wearing pants in one sentence and skirts in the next. We also have to learn to hear the author’s voice. Your voice. Not just on the page, but in life.
We tend to put way too much pressure on ourselves, especially as writers. When the itch to write hits us and the story idea comes to us, we want that perfect story on paper—right now. And then we get bogged down by all the details when we remember how much work it is to write, edit, publish, and get that book into the hands of our readers.
Given the right mindset and motivation, obstinance can be transformed into perseverance. The strong won’t can become the strong will. But it will take some time and some effort to re-train how you look at a challenge, obstacle, or hang-up.
It’s easy to say we want to be a writer. It’s easy to dream of having multiple books published and earning awards for our stories. But if we want any of that to happen, we have to take action! Like our characters, we too will have conflicts to resolve and antagonists to face before we reach our goals.
What is something you believe you’re gifted at when it comes to your writing? Something that, no matter what else you try, you keep finding yourself coming back to?
Do you look for examples of perseverance at work in your writing? It could be the result of something as simple as reading something in a book on writing setting off an “aha” that you immediately put to use in your current WIP. Maybe it’s finally finishing a scene you’ve been wrestling with for a month (or longer).