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Welcome to Day 7 of the Write the Story! writing challenge! We've made it through the first week so let's take a moment and celebrate what you've done. Don't short change yourself on the effort you've made so far. As we reminded ourselves yesterday, some beats none.
But, if you're wanting to step up your game this next week, read on for some encouragement from Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist.
“In this age of information abundance and overload, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s really important to them. Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities. The idea that you can do anything is absolutely terrifying.
The way to get over creative block is to simply place some constraints on yourself. It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom. Write a song on your lunch break. Paint a painting with only one color. Start a business without any start-up capital. Shoot a movie with your iPhone and a few of your friends. Build a machine out of spare parts. Don’t make excuses for not working—make things with the time, space, and materials you have, right now.”
A few years ago I worked with an amazing life coach who helped me shift my perspectives on some important things, including my writing. As I was working to rebuild my writing habit, she suggested what seemed like an almost overly simple approach--before diving into a chore-related task, she told me to take 10 minutes to write. That's it. Ten minutes.
Honestly, that seems insignificant, doesn't it? I mean what can anyone write in 10 minutes?
Of course it wasn't about the 10 minutes. It was about giving myself permission for a couple of things. First, I was giving myself permission to prioritize writing. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I was giving myself permission to take baby steps. I was allowing myself to make progress at a slow and steady pace.
There are plenty of writers who went through times where they wrote in small amounts of time or had low daily word counts.
But for me, that's less of the point. For me, it's about that mind shift and allowing me to respect myself as a writer as much as I do as a homeschooling mama, a wife, a mother, a friend. And I know quite well how much writing I can do in short bursts (I'll cover a couple of ideas around this in future posts).
I hope you'll take Austin Kleon's words to heart and not make excuses for not working—make things with the time, space, and materials you have, right now.
You've got this, my friend!
Remember: drop your daily word count in the comments so we can track your daily word count and provide you a final total when we hit November 30.
