Oh, hello. Did you miss me?
I missed having a reason to write frequently, and the act of publishing writing frequently. Even if no one actually reads it, I know it helps me write since I did so (almost) every week last year, which is a tremendous accomplishment for me in keeping a creative practice consistent for so long.
I have been writing more. Over the summer, I had a nice morning routine going (oh, I already wrote about that) that sometimes included an hour of writing practice. An hour every day is still my goal, but I’m still building the habit and transitioning into what my winter morning routine is going to be. The key thing was identifying that what I need is writing practice. I need to focus less on completing projects, creating products, creating content and just write for the practice of writing. The only way I’m going to improve my writing is to write. The only way I’m going to complete any of those projects is to write. A lot. I’ve had this in my head, probably from years of pulling essays out of my ass the night before they’re due and still getting a good grade, that I should be able to just sit down, write an essay/article/piece, read it over and make a few edits, but basically it’s just done. But that’s not how writing works. Well, honestly, that’s how these weekly blog posts are going to work, but that’s what they are for. I know that to create a written piece, from an essay to a whole book, that I will have to write more than just the exact words I want to publish. It’s like when I take photos of myself. I can’t just get one photo of each look/pose I want and be done. I take dozens of photos and can pick out a few gems. If I write for an hour everyday, somewhere in there will be some words that are good for a piece I am working on. And creativity, inspiration, and motivation beget more of the same, so writing nonsense in my ‘Just Write’ doc may not directly contribute to the next article I want to write, but it gets words and thoughts flowing and then I feel inspired to work on something specific.
In October, I took this online class with life coach Michelle Akin. It was actually a reprisal of the same class she did five years ago, that I had also attended. It was for “inconsistent creatives” and we worked on identifying our excuses for not doing our creative work and ways to get around them. I identified that my big issue is just starting. Even though I know that once I get going on something, I will enjoy it and keep going, I have such resistance to just choose what to work on and just do it. You know, like how I rarely exercise because it seems like such a hassle to get set up even though I know I enjoy gettin’ sweaty to my Just Dance games. Or the choice paralysis of trying to choose a new movie to watch and not being able to decide what I’m in the mood for even though I know whichever movie I choose will determine the mood (and if I don’t like it, I can just stop watching). So, then Michelle started this free program/challenge called Break Up with Your Bullshit, also about busting through those bullshit excuses for not doing your creative thing. I had to choose one project, which of course was tough when I have so many things I want to do, but I decided on one that seemed the most fun, but lower stakes than some of my ideas. I’m going to start (and finish) writing some fairy tale stories. I’ve always liked fairy tales, love hearing the “original” versions with the gorey endings and weird details that Disney never shows. It’s been a couple years that I’ve been full-on into them, always reading tales from collections, reading about tales and collectors, and reading some amazing fairy tale retelling stories. I love reworking old stories, taking a story and some details that we’re all familiar with and creating my own version or adding a before and after. I guess it’s a lot like fan fiction, really. The world is built, but I’m adding to it, or telling it in a different way. I thought this would be fun for this challenge because, as I am discovering, writing fiction is actually just really fun. Just making up a story. I’ve never written fiction that much, but with these fairy tale stories, I can experiment with different styles of writing, not just a typical narrative like a novel. It doesn’t have to have dialogue, it can be first or third person, it can be as vague or detailed as I see fit, it can be more like a poem or a letter than a narrative story. I can write as many stories as I want, as long or short as I want, in whatever style I want. I guess my goal is to publish a book of them one day, but I can also share as I go, and get that feeling of accomplishment I need.
The motivation I’m getting from Michelle on this, and the program hasn’t even technically started yet, has been so contagious. It’s making me want to work on so many other of my started & stalled projects and start new projects. Which is great but also I know that I need to pace myself. I’ll get all excited for five new things and then pretty quickly find that I can’t keep up with them all, and I get disappointed and then that also spreads so pretty quickly I go from starting five things to stalling all the things. Good thing I also love organization and planning, and I’m sure Michelle’s program will help with that, so I will take some time to sort through all that I want to do, be realistic about how much I can do at once, how long things take, how many hours I have in a day, and make some plans to get things done without going too hard too fast and burning out.
You know, like writing over 1000 words for my first TwT post back, when my goal for these is just a minimum of 500 words.
See you next Tuesday, bullshitters!
Sharing is Caring: Michelle’s Break Up with Your Bullshit program is free, so no excuses! Even if you don’t have a project you want to work on, maybe you have some art supplies that you bought and used only once, or a camera you still haven’t learned how to properly use, or a musical instrument collecting dust… Do it! And follow Michelle on Instagram for daily motivation and inspiration on general personal development kinda stuff. Her feed is like that Shia LeBeouf video but less angry and a lot more fun. And singing!