by Jenna | Nov 30, 2011 | Writing Articles
I’ve been getting up at 6 a.m. lately to do something that feels remarkable.
Before you think I’m “just an early bird” let me tell you that up until recently: 1) my ideal sleep scenario involved NO alarm clocks and waking up naturally, usually between 8:30 and 9, and, 2) after a fairly recent and excruciating bout of sleep deprivation à la new baby turned into toddler, …
… if you had had the audacity to suggest that I would get up at 6 a.m. for ANYTHING I would have reacted with revulsion.
So.
That said, here I am, pretty much daily — even on weekends! — getting up at 6 a.m. to WRITE.
And I LOVE it.
Love it!
How insane is that?
My Fear of Writing Has Turned Into a Fear of Not Writing
Today a friend asked me to think back to what it was like before I was writing regularly, about what that was like. I almost cried. And a wave of fear went through my stomach.
See, the thing is, I’ve crossed a line.
It’s the invisible line between terror in the face of writing and terror at the thought of not writing.
How did that happen?
I mean, of course I know the answer (decision, commitment, regular and consistent action, accountability, passion, etc.) but How. Did. That. Happen?
It feels truly amazing.
Why Does Getting Up Early to Write Work So Well?
But why, you may be asking, why does it really matter if you get up at 6 a.m. to write? Why not write at 9 a.m.? Or 3 p.m.?
Here’s why it’s working for me:
- When I start writing before I’ve entirely woken up, my inner critic is a LOT quieter. In fact, I hardly hear from him at all. And that makes my life SO much easier.
- When I get up early to do my soul’s true work first, I feel a deep answer to the Powers That Be saying, “Here I am. I am doing my part.”
- When I put my Big Dream FIRST in my day, I feel calm for the rest of the day. And that calm is highly addictive.
- Because I’m showing myself, deep down, that I’ve reorganized my life around my passion for writing and I really, really mean it.
I don’t know if I’ll keep doing this — I think I will — but so far, it rocks as successful experiments go. I was inspired to try this by hearing about so many writers that get up so early to write. I figured they must know something I don’t.
Holy smokes, they were right.
by Jenna | Nov 17, 2011 | Writing Articles
A while ago I wrote a post about facing the dark creative void, which was received with slightly mixed reviews.
A few people noted (or responded privately) that for them creativity is about light and love and joyful expansion, not darkness, not ever. Many other people connected with what I was talked about.
I certainly can and do connect with the beauty of creativity at the high points along the creative path.
But there are also days when venturing into creativity feels like a terrifying journey through a dark forest laden with the most horrifying monsters I can image.
It’s no wonder why scrubbing the toilet can suddenly seem alarmingly important.
As I’ve been working on my current script I’ve been aware of a background conversation that runs something like this:
- What if it’s too dark?
- What if no one likes it and it’s too depressing?
- What will people think of me as a mother if I write this? (It’s a sci fi story about a mother.)
- What if they hate it?
- What if the ending is too bleak and horrible?
- What if it is too powerful emotionally and people judge me for it?
And today I noticed that all these questions have to do with my ego.
It’s my ego that cares what other people think.
But my spirit doesn’t.
My spirit says, This is a powerful, painful question you’ve been given to explore and to answer for this character. So don’t shy away from it, don’t hold back. This is a gift you’ve been given and you are giving, the power to explore this darkness. Don’t be afraid.
My ego died a little more today so that my story might live.
by Jenna | Oct 12, 2011 | Writing Articles
I've heard from many creatives that it takes too long to get in and out of the "creative zone" so they can't find the time to do their creative work, because they have to have big long chunks of time to get into the groove, actually do the work, and get back out of it.
I used to believe this too.
When I first set up my Sacred Writing Time on Fridays, I was trying to do some work on my coaching business and then do some writing, but I found it extremely difficult to do.
I figured it was because it was "too hard to shift gears" from one type of work to another.
What's true about this is that they ARE different kinds of work.
So I decided that Fridays would be ONLY for writing. And that helped for a while.
Creating Everyday Turns It Around
But then I started my writing community, and I made a commitment to writing every weekday.
I reorganized my schedule to include writing time at the beginning of each day, and while I've sometimes struggled to do it first, I've pretty much managed to write every single day I intended to.
I've also found that jumping right back into my writing is nowhere near as hard as it used to be.
Turns out that creating more frequently, even for lesser amounts of time, makes it easier to keep your work fresh in your mind (something I've talked about in my free tips series for writers), and therefore easier to dive back into.
Resistance Is Oh-So-Obvious
Plus I'm finding that when I really do put my writing first, my resistance is much more obvious.
And therefore much easier to bust.
Case in point: Yesterday morning when I came home to write after dropping off my son at school, I found my fear coming up big time.
See, I'm at a key transition point in my writing where I'm moving into new territory, and my fearful self thinks I won't be able to come up with anything new.
Luckily, due to the daily writing community question I answer, "What negative self-statements did you notice?" I'm more clear about what I'm telling myself than I used to be.
So I was able to say to myself, "Okay, this is fear coming up. I'm going to do the best I can to face it and do this anyway. What will help me?"
And I had the insight almost instantaneously to use mind-mapping to help me get unstuck.
So I did.
And it did! I came up with a great new spin on one of my concepts that I'm very happy with.
To Sum Up
- We have lots of excuses for not doing our creative work.
- Resistance is more obvious and solvable when you face it every day.
- Writing (or creating, depending on your "thing") daily helps keep your work fresh in your mind.
- Time to get out of "all or nothing" thinking.
- Fear is only fear. Nothing more, nothing less. It takes courage to face it, but it's worth it.
by Jenna | Sep 14, 2011 | Writing Articles
Lately I've been talking a lot with my very right-brained, creative, multi-passionate, multi-talented clients and cohorts about the "D"-word.
Yeah, that's right.
Discipline.
It's enough to make an artist cower in terror behind legions of excuses and doubts or pipe up with even a little disdain.
(I'm an artist, I like to go with the flow / wait for the right mood to strike / follow the energy / be divinely inspired.)
(Not that there's really anything wrong with that. As an intuitive, an empath, and an Enneagram Four, I can relate to ALL of that, and I don't even think it's "wrong" per se.)
But the thing is, when it comes to getting our creative work out into the world, we often go to sleep on ourselves instead of doing the work to make it happen.
We go to sleep on those deeper-yet-oh-so-slippery truths that tell us what we need to do our best work.
We forget.
We get busy with other things.
We wait for something that never comes.
Is Discipline Really the Enemy?
It never ceases to astonish me how little actual discipline is practiced when it comes to doing the hard work of creating our stuff.
And by hard, I don't mean Hard. I mean HARD.
The kind of hard that keeps you massively resisting showing up to your writing or your canvas or your practice development, even when you don't even realize it (we'll save the other D-word conversation for another day).
You think you're too busy, you need to make more money first, or your kids need too much of your attention.
Ha!
The truth is, you need to make a commitment to get your Butt In Your Seat and show up to the creative Big Dream you know you are here to fulfill.
There is simply No Other Way it is going to happen.
One thing we do know is that the artists who take regular action to see their work through to completion are the ones who quietly make it happen.
Here's the funny thing about all of this.
You don't need to force yourself to make big, giant, rigid commitments of time and energy to make your work happen.
It's much simpler than that.
Make discipline your friend and ally.
Just commit to taking regular, consistent, and small steps and you'll move forward in a sustainable way to seeing your dream become a reality.
Inspiration From Seth Godin:
“While you and I have been busy running down dead ends and wasting our effort, scientists have been busy trying to figure out what actually works. And they know how:
- Small steps work.
- Consistent effort works.
- Group support works.
That’s it. Three things. Set a goal, and in small, consistent steps, work to reach it. Get support from your peers when you start flagging. Repeat.
You will change.”
by Jenna | Jul 27, 2011 | Writing Articles
Is it necessary to be “creatively inspired” before pursuing creative projects, or is waiting for creative inspiration a pitfall that trips us up?
Another way of saying this is: Do you have to be in the ‘right mood’ or ‘right energy’ in order to be creative?
Steven Pressfield would call this “resistance,” and say instead that what we need to do is show up and “do the work” no matter what pain, doubt, terror, or mood we might encounter in the process.
My experience is that often when I think I “can’t” create, and I do it anyway, the act of engaging with my art puts me in a whole new energy state, usually one that is more uplifted and inspired.
Other times, when I’m really stuck in my thinking or in a bad mood (yes, me too), I can jolt myself out of it by wondering about creative solutions, which puts me in a more resourceful creative state.
It seems like if I ask the right question, like, “I wonder how I could make my character more convincing as a tough, surly broad?” :) or “I wonder how I could make contact with sci-fi filmmakers?” all kinds of new answers start flowing to me.
