Tuesday, July 3, 2012

What Keeps You From Writing?


For years now I’ve been tell myself, and anyone who would listen, that I couldn’t write because I didn’t have enough time. Well, I’ve been unemployed now for four months however nothing has changed. There’s plenty of time to write yet my butt-in-the-chair time has not increased. I went to breakfast recently with an aspiring writer friend of mine, who is still working, and told her that. I watched her face fall.

Perhaps for her it will be different, but I highly doubt it. The real reason I haven’t written more than I have in these 120 days is that I still have to shift my thinking from the mundane to enter the imaginary. That has always been difficult for me and probably more so than for others because I literally have a split personality when it comes to left brain versus right brain. I’ve functioned well in business due to organizational and marketing skills, which isn’t exactly the traditional artist’s way.

When my late husband was still with me, he’d steer me into my writing office, which he helped me create, the minute I walked through the door at the end of the work day, urging me to type a page or two before I started on the evening chores. That was an incredible gift. During a period of about two years, I wrote nine screenplays.

Now that it’s just me in my little RV, I must find that loving voice within and guide my writing spirit into a creative space on a more regular basis and before I jump into the day’s chores. I’m working on it. That’s what I did this morning. Writing this post came before anything else.

So, if you’re having trouble escaping into the world in which you write, I urge you to delve into why this is happening and then try to develop a trigger mechanism, something that will propel you to your writing space as urgently as life seems to want to pull you away. 

It’s a battle we can win.

7 comments:

  1. Great post, Kathy! Many people who want to write have a fear of doing it. I'm sure it's a fear all writers have. The one thing I've read says: Your brain is a muscle. By writing-- anything-- makes that muscle stronger and you get better all the time. Start small or start big but try to write, even if only for a few minutes a day-- but write and you get better!

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  2. Thank you for sharing this. I find I have this trouble as well. I used to write all the time, pumping out novels. Then I had to move onto the road, and--while I am back into a tiny apartment with my partner--that switch over from mundane world to imaginary world is suuuuch a strain. I hope we can both find it more often! :D

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  3. If you take each one of your fears that keep your seat out of the chair and hold them up like a dead rat, they look silly and harmless, but if they get together in a crowd, they suddenly look real again. Just part of the challenge that makes it so rewarding in the end. Love your honesty,Kathy.

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  4. Routine has been the only thing that's allowed me to get words on the page. It makes me do what I've carved time out to do. But, I let go of the routine if there's a chance to do something exciting :-)

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  5. I feel you. I've been writing this book for a year, and it's not even close to being done. Maybe I will try the Routine that Angela recommends and try and find a trigger to help me turn on the creative and turn off the business at hand.

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  6. Great post. I think you have captured the fears and mindset of most of us. It seems madness that we all want to be writers but that we procrastinate so much. I think it is the fear of failure, the fear of letting go what is in our imagination. The real world doesn't actively encourage a strong imagination. I too will try to find a trigger. Thank you for sharing.

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  7. Thanks Kathy! I needed to read this. I find myself doing the same thing; although, I still have a full-time job and have two young kids (9 & 11) AND a husband. So, finding the time to be by myself (without guilt) is a hard thing to come by. BUT, I need to stop making excuses and find that certain something that will "Propel" me into the writing groove. Thanks again for the post!
    Oh, and wanted to tell you that I finished Red Mojo Mama. I Loved it!!! Can't wait to read "Tell them you're fabulous" and "Her Heart". Take care!

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