Learn how to go directly to your work. When your work bell tolls at the appointed hour, answer it. Stop waiting! Start writing!
Years of frustration from trying to “fit” writing into my day have taught me that the writing must be first—not simply in priority, but in actual butt-in-the-chair work. My writing must be the very first thing I do in my day, or sadly, it does not get done. My writing bell tolls with my morning alarm. I rise and pour the morning’s beverage of choice—either my favorite Lucky Goat coffee or a hot cup of yerba mate tea. Then I walk straight to my desk and grab my notebook and pencil (yes, I prefer pencils to pens . . . or a keyboard).
I do not stop to pick up my cell phone from where I left it on the side table by my chair the night before. I do not turn on my computer to check email. I do not read. I allow myself three “morning pages” (if you aren’t familiar with morning pages, check out Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way) and fifteen minutes of meditation. Then I begin on my novel. I usually can spend only an hour on it. Not much time, I know. Still, I resolve to do this at least five days a week.
In the past, I might have said—did say—if I can only work one hour, what’s the point? It’s terribly slow going. I get discouraged and, honestly, there are mornings when I would rather do anything else . . . because . . . well, because . . .
- “Who would want to read this drivel?”
- “I’m no writer!”
- “Who am I to think I can write something readers will want?”
- “My words are shallow and meaningless.”
- “Who am I fooling? I am no writer!”
Sound familiar? Rather like torture?
With self-doubt so strong and only one hour to write five days a week, what is the point?
Because that is the only way the book gets done.
John Steinbeck said it best in the journal he kept while writing The Grapes of Wrath:
It’s that simple. Set one day in front of the last—no matter how long your writing day is—and the book gets done.
To read more about Steinbeck’s journal Working Days, read “How Steinbeck Used the Diary as a Tool of Discipline, a Hedge Against Self-Doubt, and a Pacemaker for the Heartbeat of Creative Work” on brainpickings. It is long but well worth your time.
Thanks to author Melody A. Scout for sharing the Steinbeck article with us. Thanks and acknowledgments also to Dr. Eric Maisel for his inspiration and his permission to adopt and adapt The 97 Best Creativity Tips Ever! (2011) for use on this blog.
Gina Edwards is a retreat leader, a certified creativity coach, and a book editor. She is also a writer, so she’s intimately familiar with the challenges and elation that come with being one.
She supports all writers—published and aspiring—who want to write as an act of courageous and necessary self-expression.
Walking the writer’s path hand-in-hand with her clients and students, she helps them establish a writing practice and define a creative life on their own terms.
I like this a lot. The discipline is tough, but the results are worth it. I have done my best work when I’ve managed to do the daily hour. My hour is in late afternoon….and sometimes I stretch to two if I got on a roll. And sometimes I have long dry spells when I fail to make the time and lose the habit. When that happens I try to forgive myself and try again.
Discipline, yes. That’s another whole subject. I rather like the idea of reframing “discipline” as “devotion”. Then the daily routine doesn’t seem as gruelling somehow. Always on this writer’s journey, it is imperative to be gentle with ourselves, forgiving and kind, while balancing those with an inner toughness that upholds self-honesty, integrity, and commitment to our creative voice. The balance is tenuous, sometimes delicate.
My trick for my morning writing session is to go to my private loft with my pajamas still on. Dressed that way I won’t stop to do household chores and my husband can’t call me outside to help with his project of the day. Even my neighbor and the UPS man know I will not answer the door because I am not dressed. Modesty is a powerful motivator to stay hidden and staying hidden insures writing time.
OOOhhh, I love this…both the pajama idea and the private loft! You obviously have drawn very healthy boundaries around your writing time and are fortunate to have people around you who honor and respect it and you. Those are key ingredients to getting the work done regularly.