1. Stop Comparing YourselfThere will always be a younger/better/more attractive/more successful writer than you. Always. The moment you start comparing yourself to others is the moment you sacrifice your creativity. I've heard fellow authors say that "Comparison is the death of creativity," and they're right. The comparison rabbit hole leads you down the path of needing to do something completely new (newsflash: everything has been done already) and not being able to write anything because "it isn't good enough." Put away the social media. Understand that published books have had more than one afternoon of writing put into them to get them as polished as they are. Quit delaying writing because you're stuck in the comparison pit. 2. Quit Self-Editing While you WriteYou need to just let the ideas flow at first! Nothing anyone writes the first time is perfect. Nothing is gold. You're like a prospector. You know there's gold in all that dirt and you'll find a few nuggets, but it takes a lot of hard work and digging to find enough gold to make it rich! Self-editing slows you down and gets in the way of progress. You can't move forward if you keep moving back. Honestly, this is the "stop" step that freed my writing. After I stopped looking backward and gave myself permission to have inconsistencies and make mistakes (knowing that I could fix them later), I couldn't stop writing! I just kept going and going and ended up with a 130k book in three and a half months! That's the power of just letting yourself write. There'll be obvious errors, blatant mix-ups, and terrible grammar, but that's okay. Editing comes later. 3. Stop making excusesBy far the most common excuse I hear is "I don't have time."
I hate that one. You do have time. I guarantee your social media activity, TV show bingeing, and partying with friends shows that you have time. It's all about your priorities. Instead of watching Netflix or scrolling through Facebook, spend a night writing. Instead of going out for drinks with friends, have a night in with your computer and a glass of wine. Instead of taking your work home with you, set it aside one night a week and write instead. There are so many little things we do that consume big portions of our lives that we don't even realize. Making time for writing was one of the best things I ever did. And keeping that consistency of writing every day (just like training for a marathon) helped me to make incredible progress. And it made my writing better! But shelve the excuses. If you really want something, you'll do it. Instead of finding excuses, find ways to make writing happen!
2 Comments
MicheleWriter
12/27/2020 12:41:20 pm
This is always an excellent topic to blog on. I don't say I don't have time, because I know I do. Television is my biggest time suck. Binge watch? Oh yeah. Of this article, the one item that hit me best was sifting through the dirt to get to the gold. I sit and wait for the perfect idea before writing a word. I need to start using your prompts or my two books with prompts and just write 250 words a day. About whatever. As long as I am writing. Right?
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M. M. Kastanek
1/4/2021 07:04:29 pm
Hi Michele!!
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