Author: Joel D Canfield

Support to Overcome Writer's Resistance

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Today, a special post about getting writing done rather than marketing your writing. To begin, tell me a little about yourself. As a writer, how many of these have you experienced in the past two years? You can use the checkboxes to keep track. They're not storing anything anywhere.

Never finding the time to write
Making the time but not writing
Dreaming of writing but never getting started
Starting but never finishing
Starting but never finishing that one particular piece
Thinking you can do it without help
Thinking you're beyond help
A love/hate relationship with your writing
Focusing on unhelpful negative feedback and ignoring positive feedback
Focusing on positive feedback and ignoring helpful negative feedback
Wanting to write deep but writing shallow
Writing for others instead of yourself
Writing for money but not treating it like a business
Reading about writing instead of writing
Seeking out feedback before you're ready
Seeking out the wrong level of feedback
Ongoing health challenges like
    Unexplained fatigue (physical or mental)
    Mysterious illness (a neverending or recurring cold or flu)
    Injuries (constant little accidents)
    Addiction of any kind (substance, activities, self-destructive habits)

How many did you check?

Is it more than zero? (If it's zero, I'd love to hear about that.)

Otherwise, that's Resistance.

In the past 11 years I've written 20 books and 200 songs. I checked 17 boxes. SEVENTEEN.

I'm facing Resistance.

You're facing Resistance.

Resistance? What's That?

According to Steven Pressfield in his seminal work The War of Art Resistance is the mental and emotional pushback we feel when we expose ourselves by creating something. It is our unconscious mind protecting us from the "danger" of emotional vulnerability. It manifests in all the ways in that checklist above, and more.

Resistance is a bully. It will stand in your way and stop you. It will knock you down and hurt you, emotionally, even physically.

Resistance strikes nonfiction and fiction authors alike. (Memoirists, are you hearing me?) Writing a business book is still a creative endeavor and will expose you to fear.

It will stop you from writing using the tools you checked off in that list above.

It's Not Just You & I

“I was ashamed. I have spent a good many years since—too many, I think—being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who as ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent.”

“. . . in my heart I stayed ashamed. I kept hearing Miss Hisler asking why I wanted to waste my talent, why I wanted to waste my time, why I wanted to write junk.”

Who was this loser?

Stephen King. Stephen 350 million books sold King.

This is a quote from his On Writing which, although not precisely instructional, is the most inspiring book I’ve read when it comes to staying the course as a writer.

This is the quote that gave me my writing life back. (Ask me about that story someday.)

Our innate desire to have our work accepted can lead to problems if we put what others believe about our "God-given talent" ahead of what we need to write. It's one of many ways Resistance twists natural feelings into quicksand.

What's a Writer to Do?

You cannot defeat Resistance once and move on. It's part of our mental and emotional makeup. You can, though, make it irrelevant. Note that I don’t say ignore it because you can’t ignore a bully. But if you defuse them, do things to take away their power, they are no longer a threat. Like the bully at school (or, frankly, in the office) they still show up every day. But we don't have to keep giving them our lunch money.

Being a writer is hard. You don’t have to do this alone.

Too many writers are facing the emotional struggle to write without the support they need. After years of writing about it, I’ve created a forum to help writers and artists deal with writer’s Resistance.

It’s not going to be a collective moan-fest or even chat-fest. Instead, it's a guided learning environment, a community of writers making a safe place for some “you’re not alone” emotional support. It will also cover practical and actionable tools and processes to get you writing and keep you writing.

Membership is $5 per month or only $25 for the whole year. Questions? Comments? Shout 'em out below and I'll answer every one.

What Ausoma Means (Video)

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Expanding Your Network 15 Minutes at a Time

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

This year Sue has been using an old-fashioned method to expand her social network. Because she's doing it right, it has not only delivered results but it's been fun.

Any time she comes across the social media profile of someone interesting (from a professional perspective) she spends a little time learning more about them, then invites them to have a 15-minute phone call to get to know each other. She calls them "Getting to Know Each Other" calls. (I'm the writer in the family but since she pays my bills I'll stay out of her business.)

Yes, that's right, it's the old "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" ploy, ruined by professional networkers a decade ago.

Here's how Sue does it right:

  1. She spent the time to develop a reputation for sincerity and generosity.
  2. She takes the time to get to know something about the other person, even interacting at their blog or other social media accounts, before she raises the idea of chatting on the phone.
  3. When she approaches them, she expresses a specific interest in something they do or offer.
  4. Wait, before that, she actually feels a genuine interest in something they do or offer. That's the whole point: they're professionally interesting.
  5. She uses a simple free tool called Calendly to allow them to schedule their call anytime she's free and which is convenient for them. No phone tag or endless scheduling emails.
  6. During the conversation, she actually listens to them, treats them with dignity and respect, and only shares what Ausoma does as something that might support their business. No sales pitch. Ever. (Did we get that part? That's what killed the "cup of coffee" gag, remember?)
  7. She keeps in touch, and when she finds something of value to them she shares it.

The theme there is generosity. People can tell when you're "having a chat" but it's all about you.

They can also tell, from a mile away, when you're a sincere and generous person who believes that the more you help others, the better your own business and life are.

How do you keep up with all the changes in social media algorithms?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Short answer: you don't.

For the long answer, watch this 1-minute video:

Trust, Loyalty, and Long-Term Commitments

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Did you know Ausoma doesn’t require long-term commitments from our clients? Our only contract is a service agreement stating the scope of work and cost, and an agreement to provide 30 days notice to cancel services. While we strongly recommend a 90 day commitment for new clients because it takes time to achieve results, no client is bound to us by a long-term contract. We take the risk, not the client.

Yet most stay long term.

If people stay when they don’t have to, spend their hard earned money with no contractual obligation forcing them, there must be something else keeping them.

If you'd like to find out what that is, just ask.