Hi There, and welcome to the Daring Writer.
We’ve all seen the memes right? We’ve probably even shared them. The pie chart for the writing process that puts 55% of writing time as checking social media, 20% is getting up and getting more coffee, 15% is starting at the screen pulling your hair out. The “what people think I do vs. what I actually do”. Or the ones that simply complain about how hard it is to write.
It’s like we pride ourselves on our struggles, our isolation, our inability to be creative. And I get it.
Talking about how much we suffer and how much pain we are willing to endure, is worn like a badge of honor. There are the co-workers who are always telling us about the extra long hours they put in, or that they never miss a day of work even when they’ve got West Nile Virus and are nearly dying. Athletes are praised for being ‘tough’ by competing even when they’re injured.
While visibly enduring and persevering gets us noticed and wins us admirers, it is really doing us, and everyone else, more harm than good.
If you’re sick, stay home from work. Not only are you not allowing your body to heal, but you’re spreading your disease. If you’re injured and you keep competing, you’re only doing more damage to yourself. (I know I’m simplifying here). Your extra long hours of work are exhausting you, they aren’t making you any more productive at your job.
The same thing goes for writers. We talk about how hard it is to sit down and write, how we’re lacking motivation, our muse is silent, to win sympathy and understanding. But what it is doing, is cementing in your belief system, that writing is hard, that it is impossible, that you are crazy for trying it so just quit.
The truly successful authors, aren’t the ones sharing those memes. They aren’t the ones bragging about their procrastination methods. They can say they wrote a thousand or three thousand words a day, because they stopped believing in the myth that suffering is honorable.
What are you supposed to believe instead?
If your social media feed is peppered with memes about the agony of writing to the point you internalize that agony, what if it weren’t? What if instead of seeing apocalyptic scenes with the caption ‘me editing’, you saw, I don’t know, the cutest, happiest kid, riding a unicorn through a library filled with books and sparkly fairies, with a caption that says, ‘me editing’ or ‘me writing’. Ok, that would be a great example for me, pick a happy magical image for yourself.
What if you internalized that happiness instead? That sense of wonder and joy, of being in a position to create and tell stories?
What if, even though you spent the past two hours staring at your screen and all you have accomplished is inserting a comma and then taking it out, instead of thinking about how hard it is to write and dreading your next writing session, you thought ‘not my best day, but that’s ok. At least I got to spend two hours on my computer.’
What if, instead of thinking that writing is hard and dreading your next writing session, you thought ‘I have to write a challenging scene, I’m not sure I can do it, but I’m going to try. If I fail at first, that’s OK, I can fix it later. And I’ll learn something in the process. Because I can do hard things.’
What if you were to schedule regular writing time and you knew that some days were going to be more productive than others and that’s OK because you have more writing days ahead, and that is just how the writing process goes.
What would change for you? Would you find it easier to sit down to write?
If you want to stop believing the myth that suffering is honorable, I invite you to join me for my FREE online Masterclass: Mastering Your Writing Habits in 2019 and Beyond
In this Masterclass, I will share:
The Major Mindset Shift that all successful writers need in 2019 and beyond.
The Biggest Reason Writers Fail that the publishing industry would prefer we didn’t talk about.
The Simple Strategy for Building a Writing Career that cuts down on time, overwhelm, and procrastination.
The Single MOST Effective Way to Achieve Your Writing Goals and why you MUST know this right out of the gate to stay motivated through your entire writing journey.
I’m offering four time-slots over the next two weeks so pick the Masterclass that best fits your Schedule! I will also be having a Live Q and A after the webinar is over.
Go to www.thedaringwriter.com/masterclass. That’s www.thedaringwriter.com/masterclass. I will not be offering the masterclass again until September or October, so reserve your seat today.
Until next week!
Happy Writing!
