Oct 10, 2022
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
― Steven Pressfield
Dear Writers,
Who is the writer you want to be?
Are you feeling any joy in your writing?
How are you dealing with resistance?
How are you dealing with the voice inside your head that is telling you your idea is too ambitious, too difficult, not for you? How are you responding to the impulse to put your dreams on hold for something practical?
How are you managing your deepest fears about your goals?
We all have strategies.
But sometimes, we forget them.
Or sometimes, they stop working. We need to find new ones.
Here’s a new approach that I’m trying: I’m letting resistance remind me that what I am attempting to do IS big. I’m reminding myself that failure IS going to happen–over and over again. And I’m looking back and showing myself that when I have been mindful of resistance, when I have used it as a cue to dig deeper, to take bigger risks, not smaller, I have been rewarded over and over again.
I have also stopped asking myself to be a writer I can’t be. I’m never going to be fast. I’m never going to finish things without help. I am never going to be the writer I am SURE everyone else is.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun. And write with joy. And be delighted/surprised/emotionally engaged in every single step. THIS is my goal. The HOW, not the what. The NOW not the someday. The story that is calling my name has found ME for a reason.
And, resistance in hand, I am going to attempt, every single day, to solve its riddle.
Are you ready to stretch? Reach? Groan? Embrace the power of play?
(that’s me in High School! Back then, I had no idea I’d ever be able to call myself a writer!)
When I am in the zone, writing with joy, everything is great. But when I hit a place in the story that I’m not sure of? Hello Resistance.
So, this week, this is what I’m employing:
The FIVE SECOND rule.
This week, if I have an epiphany with my story, I’m going to act on it–pronto. No thinking. No hesitating. No waiting for a better, more convenient moment. I am going to write it down.
Let’s try this, even if we don’t want to. ESPECIALLY if we don’t want to. Let’s see if the five second rule can help us start the process of finding those complicated scenes and chapters and emotions.
It still won’t be easy.
We’ll still have to deal with fears.
But when we discover something that we don’t want to do because if seems absolutely too big, too scary, too above our abilities, let’s see what happens if we count backwards and GO.
Have a great writing week!
Sarah