Branching out with my writing
Following yesterday’s suggestions, you cleaned up your physical workspace.
It only helped a little.
Time to clean up your inner workspace.
Here’s a great start, thanks to Todd Brison’s 195 Words to Keep You Going If You Feel Down.
Highlights:
Give it a shot.
Turns out you shouldn’t knock yourself for feeling listless…apathetic…phlegmatic. Well, you get the idea.
James Clear claims that, in many cases, our work environment influences our productivity more than our motivation.
Suggestions:
Now, if you lack motivation to sharpen up your work environment, well, that’s a topic for another day. Sympathy will not be forthcoming, however.
Granted, some listeners might require a little more encouragement than others.
And remember yesterday’s advice to ‘be interesting’?
You stand a really good chance with this demographic. Just give it a little time.
Yep, biscuits. So much more rewarding than wrangling over a first draft that points to the dwindling intellect of a ‘certain writer’.
They were the finale after the arugula pesto and the tofu spread.
Pretty sure I lost my two readers with those last two words, but stick with me here…
Solution to tofu that tastes [and behaves] like spackle: Heat the olive oil, bloom the spices in the oil, *then* add the tofu, the caramelized onions, the arugula, and whatever else won’t resist your purposeful grope into the fridge.
Essentially, you make a tofu scramble and pulverize it in the food processor. Now you actually have something with flavor that you can spread on bread, but without the sinfulness of cheese.
Back to the biscuits…today, I used the New York Times’ all-purpose biscuit recipe as my starting point. I had already sullied the food processor when I made the pesto, so I snagged a cube of butter from the freezer and grated it into the flour. [The photo below is telling me I should have also added parm to the mix.]
So, no cheese this time, but afternoon coffee and biscuits ensued.
Sitting in the backyard sun, feet up on another chair, two of my favorite foods, my truly favorite person, and the knowledge that the writing projects will still be there when I saunter back. Life’s good.
Okay, you embraced that willingness to be an awkward beginner.
Bravo!
Now that the inclination is there, let’s look to something you’ve not tried yet.
Like–don’t take this personally–‘being interesting’.
Check out list item #24 in Shaunta Grimes’ 25 Habits That Will Make You a Writer.
Go be interesting!
Willingness to flail.
Willingness to fail.
Jill Badonsky, in her book The Muse Is In , calls it a willingness to be an awkward beginner.
She would be on board with yesterday’s message: Lighten up.
And keep it simple.
Shrink your goals.
Finish something…other than those cinnamon rolls you pulled out of the freezer.
Willingness to fail?
Sure.
Just don’t fail yourself.
Your writing might change the world.
But that’s not for you to decide.
Don’t start with the world.
Start with your world.
And with each new written word, realization, reminiscence, character, or plot twist, your world will change.
Even if just a little bit.
Okay, so you’re past the guilt. You’ve conquered despair. [Frankly, you were a mess this week.]
It’s time to finish something.
Yes, to you, a foreign concept.
But today’s the day.
The TV is unplugged [yes, you’re that serious], the wi-fi will soon be off, fresh coffee awaits, and you dove into the freezer for those cinnamon rolls. [Cooking takes a back seat today.]
And you’ve reached a conclusion: You don’t work well under pressure.
So you’re going to: A) Start with the smallest unfinished project first. B) Work in 15-minute increments.
Joe Bunting from thewritepractice.com prescribes small deadlines. Sounds contrary to your not working well under pressure, but…
Cut to Jon Acuff in his book Finish–“Cut your goal in half.”
Jane Porter also chimes in with solid support in her Fast Company contribution.
Final word: Go!
You made it past yesterday’s guilt.
Time for another demon.
You want to give up. Words aren’t flowing. Ideas aren’t flowing. Tears, however, well, they might be another story.
Ben Angel in his contribution on Entrepreneur suggests two steps to win out:
Ali Luke’s guest post on Goinswriter.com teases out the issue even more extensively. Lots of good ideas here to think through, including ways to cope with:
And you could always subscribe to Copyblogger’s Brian Clark’s mantra: Keep going.
Greetings.
I’ve added four new components to the free prewriting course:
More details here: [The Teachable version will be available this weekend.]
https://wordinventions.blog/prewriting-course/
Word Inventions