Well, look at me.
Summer’s already got her me in her fiery claws, enticing me to blow off writing blog posts and play. In fact on Summer Solstice–the longest day of the summer and the official herald of the season–I posted a warning about that very thing as I had pulled the Justice tarot card that day. It was a great reminder to keep seeking your truth, and using the energy of summer to motivate you instead of luring you into its cozy hammock of idleness.
Now of course summer is a time for play, and we all need that–but if you’re trying to get shite done, especially keeping that motivation up with your current project–you need to make sure that’s happening without keeping you from our work.
A great solution? START TALKING.
I mentioned last week that one of the ways you can write without writing is to take a walk and let that get your ideas flowing. Well now that you’re walking the walk, it’s time to talk the talk. (I realize that’s a bit of a switcheroo, but stay with me here…)
Sitting in your little room/at your kitchen table/in the office all by yourself and pouring your soul onto paper (real or digital) is what’s needed to write, no doubt. But to KEEP writing when the writing gets tough is to make sure EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU’RE WRITING A BOOK. (insert screenplay, blog, witty work manual, etc. here) Even if you haven’t quite started actually writing yet. Here’s how that works:
- When your friend texts you and asks how you are, you say, “Did I tell you that I’m working on writing a book?”
- When acquaintances ask you what you’ve been up to, you say, “Well, I’ve actually been working on a book…”
- When you meet new people and they ask what you do: “Hi, I’m Jo Blow, and I’m a writer.” (yes, you quite possibly are also an employee at some office or job place, but first and foremost, you’re a writer.)
Now if that last one immediately makes your inner "IMPOSTER!" Gollum voice rear it's ugly head, think about it this way:
If you are the manager of an underwear store, the CEO of a start-up, even a parent…that’s not what you are. It’s what you do. It’s the duties you take on and the role you play to fulfill your life in certain ways and get the job done.
Writing is releasing the inner YOU. Whenever you are putting thoughts and words on the page, they are your voice. Those thoughts and words make up who you are and how you choose to announce that the world.
Parenting is soul work, no doubt about it–but writing is all about YOU. So whether or not you make money at it, whether your work ever gets published, even if what you’ve written is never seen by another pair of eyes–if you regularly feel the need to get words out onto something in some way, shape or form…
YOU ARE A WRITER.
And the act of believing that, and saying it out loud to others, is going to make you write.
When you know deep down that writing is something your soul needs, it’s probably in your best interest to keep doing it regularly. Saying it out loud to others not only makes them ask you about it all the time, holding you accountable, but it also puts it out there into the universe.
Yeah, I know. Even though I’ve come to believe there’s something to that–because I’ve seen it in action more times than I could count– I still hate that phrase. But damn if it isn’t the truth.
There is something about saying who you are and what you want, out loud, and putting action behind it (that’s key!) that gets that energy churning.
Try it. Start talking about your craft and making it happen, and watch the synchronicities and opportunities roll in. Let me know what they are, I love that shit!
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