Any time we try to create, we face Resistance. The memory of past failures, ridicule, pain, stored in our unconscious, rise up to protect us from being hurt again. If you’ve ever tried to will yourself to stop being hungry or tired, you know your conscious mind doesn’t hold a candle to the power of the unconscious.
Rather than a frontal assault, Resistance requires circumvention. Make the bully irrelevant.
Here are six tools my clients and friends have found effective in combating writer’s block, fear, Resistance, the lizard brain; whatever you like to call it.
- Environment—Make the place you create your art a place you enjoy being.
- Schedule—Habit and ritual give you power when courting the Muse.
- Timer—You can do anything for 5 minutes.
- Prewriting—Starting comes before finishing.
- SMART Goals—You know what they are, but you don’t use them in your writing—yet.
- Finding Why—Knowing your true motivation for writing and keeping it top of mind is like having motivation on tap.
Let’s discuss each of these in detail over the next 6 days, eh?
Yes, let’s discuss this! Is #4 the part where I figure out exactly WHAT I’m going to write? Because hammering out where the plot is going is usually my biggest hurdle!
Not exactly. Pre-writing is about letting go of perfection.
There are a number of processes and psychological tools to create a good plot. My favorite is Lisa Cron’s Story Genius.
Always happy to discuss something specific like that with you. Send me an email with some specifics about where you’re getting stuck and we’ll chat, eh?