Advice to Self

I will write this as if I am writing it to someone else.

As if I am a wise writer that has a series of credits and published works and all the awesome things that the real grinders do.

At a writer's conference these past few days I got to hear poet and thinker Diana Goetsch repeat the same things that Pressfield wrote about in the War of Art.  Now, that does not mean she copied the ideas, certainly not.  Her presentations were fantastic and certainly well received by the audience.  But the idea that a writer is supposed to write is often not mentioned enough at these conferences.  I think many show up wanting a magic pill to pop that will suddenly motivate them to write more.  She stated the obvious... writers need to write. 

It seems the pill is to sit down in a chair (I am on couch) and write.  But there are so many reasons to stop.  The dog needs love, kids need to talk, food needs cooked, work needs done... so many reasons not to write.

I tried to find the the post on the NaNoWriMo page, but so many people post on there it has been buried in ancient history now...  But a lot post as if it is not fair that some people have time to write.  How many stories do we need to hear from writers when they first started about where and how they had to squeeze in writing moments?  But so many say they want to write yet don't.

Do not think me bashing on them.  I am often one of them.

Comic Sans

NaNo has started.

I wrote my allotted amount.  Will add more later today.

But I like to write in comic sans.

It reminds me most everything I write is silly and that is fine.... I can fix it up later and put it in something more professional.

Comic Sans

"Confidence is the willingness to try"
                  Mel Robbins

I love Mel Robbins.  What a superstar she is.  I first discovered her on Tom Bilyeu's podcast and have since read her book and avidly follow her YouTube presence.

What a great writing statement that is.

My writing is bad.  I know it.  I think I do anyway.

Is it because I lack confidence?  "Pshaw to that", claims Ms Robbins... in words she did not actually say but I paraphrased quite... generously.

Just get out there and try, ya noob.

How many writers stare at words and think... there is no point to this?  Who am I to write?  Do I dare disturb the universe?  Is it a disturbance of the universe if no one ever sees it?  My writing is no good...  What pretense have I to believe my words have any purpose whatsoever?

No matter.

Just write.

The world may not need my writing...  But I do.

More NaNo Thoughts

There is no magic pill.

I am not lecturing anyone, I am lecturing myself.

The one good thing about NaNoWriMo for me is that it forces me to be accountable to others while I am doing it. 

I have sent out about ten messages on the NaNo page to people but very few reply.  Some of them will be weirded out by a random message perhaps, even if they did indicate they were looking for one...Too bad.  But worse is that many of them are never read at all.

Some pop on the NaNo page and discuss how excited they are to get writing and ... well... they never check in again.  Too bad. Again.

There is a lot of potential out there... a lot of writers that just need a habit to come back to.  That is the perk of the NaNo page. 

I tell them in my message that I am certainly no expert.  NaNo is the thing that had me writing at all for a while.  And coming back to that site to check in was a good habit to get started on.  But alas, perhaps they know a hypocrite when they see one :)

But back to the magic pill.

Sports, school, life?  It is all the same.  There is a lot of suffering and a lot of misery out there.  A good bunch of it we create ourselves.  I sure have created a lot of my own angst: almost all of it from writing and not writing enough.  But most of the aspiring writers want to be told that there is a magic method. There isn't one.  Unless sitting your rear in a chair and clicking keys counts.  Then there is the magic pill.

Who am I telling this to?  Myself mostly. :)

NaNo... Check it out...

https://nanowrimo.org/

And It Begins Again

A perfect lead in to NaNo,

Podcaster Lewis Howes interviewed James Clear about the power of habit, how to set habits, and what habits really are.  It was a fantastic interview, and I will link it here as best I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRse5I_p7tA

James stated that habits are the compound interest of self improvement:  How amazing is that?  

He stated that the effects of your habits magnify over time.  He was talking about everything, but doughnuts were mentioned several times.  

The immediate impact of a delicious doughnut is the delicious doughnut…  But in the long term, that doughnut sets up a habit that can lead to weight gain.

He also did mention writing a few times.  

When you write every single day you reinforce the habit of writing but also reinforce the image of you as a writer - which is what appealed to my occasional writer brain.  When you write daily you become a person that knows they write daily.  When you write daily, well, need I say… you might be able to call yourself a writer.  How amazing would that be?

NaNoWri Mo is incoming.  

I have seen all kinds of posts there about people worried about being able to write that much.  

Well, sounds like James Clear has a suggestion.

Change your habits… change your identity… then NaNo is going to be easy.

Thanks James.

And thanks Lewis Howes for having a great chat about habits. 

And in a few days, the write a novel in a month mess will begin, and I hope to be write there in the middle of things, causing chaos as I can and writing what I usually cannot.

I had a cappuccino with three small pulls of coffee in it.  We will see where this takes me in life.  Coffee is held up as such a huge writing tool, but it has not been my thing yet.

But I am wide awake at the moment, and posting to this blog for the first time in a long while.  Yup, joining a writing group was a good idea.  

Networking. (or NOTworking?)

So, writers need to network. 

They need to get out there and connect with other writers, maybe have a cadre of friends they work with and while not quite collaborate, they have allies in the effort.

So, I am reluctant to try that
- I do not want to bother anyone.
- the writers I do know are getting it done, not wanting to break that up
- what if I never write - I wasted their time
- what if I never write - I wasted our time
- what if I am worse than I thought?
- what if I get distracted by other things like I did when writing this blog?


and I am sure there are other reasons as well, but that is my update for the moment.