Writing, one step at a time

Our creative impulses sometimes arrive all at once, like a wave crashing on the shore.

It’s an exhilarating feeling when it happens. Like there’s a perfect, finished version of our book floating right there in front of us, just out of reach. All we have to do is write it down!

And then comes the writing it down part. 

What can I say but LOL, my friends! Right away we discover that we are not, in fact, “writing it down,” but assembling it in the dark out of rough materials we have to create ourselves.

We are inventing, experimenting, discovering, designing, building, choosing. We are wringing it out thin air, drop by drop.

Half (or more) of what we do will prove to be a dead end, and so we'll try again, but differently.

And then we get to revise all of that! 

Writing fiction is an incremental process. We don’t do it all in one go. We don’t “get it right” the first time.

And yet so many writers suffer needlessly because they expect it to be other than it is.

They expect the writing to go smoothly, at a predictable pace. 

They expect that most of what they write should be “good.”

They get discouraged—sometimes to the point of quitting—when they write pages that they later suspect might not belong in the book at all, or get a sudden idea for a plot development that feels right but means they have to toss out reams of writing they've already done.

To write well and sustainably, we have to cultivate an incremental mindset.

We do a little bit at a time. We take big satisfaction in small wins. We have zero attachment to yesterday’s output, as it’s just another step on the way to discovering today’s.

We trust the process.

Above all, we are patient. It takes time to build something that’s meant to last. 

There’s lots to say about how to navigate this fundamental truth of the writer’s path. That’s the topic of this livestream.

Watch it all at once, or step by step! Either way, I’d love to know what you think. Leave a comment below and share 

P.S. – And speaking of step-by-step: I created a whole book of writing prompts for you to download. It’s called BRAINSTORM YORU BOOK IN 30 DAYS. These prompts will help you focus on making up a little stuff today and a little more stuff tomorrow. Finish all thirty prompts and you’ll be amazed at how much material you’ve brainstormed. Get your copy by clicking THIS LINK.