Last week I wrote about protecting ourselves from our dreams.

I want to continue the conversation around the notion of doing things just for the joy of them, even if they don’t “happen” the way we want them too.

This is a tough one for me.

I love to dream big and see the possibilities that can be available to us — to imagine things reaching the outcome I want them to have.

And yet, like we talked about last week, what if we don’t get those outcomes? Does that mean we’ve failed? Or that our dreams weren’t worth pursuing?

I don’t think so, though I have to admit I would be disappointed if I never sold a book or a screenplay.

But.

But, but, but.

What if I loved writing so much that I wanted to do it anyway, no matter what the outcome?

We’re always told that we should focus on the things we love so much that we’d do them for free, right?

I think there is powerful truth in that, but I have to confess that I’ve never really believed it up until now. And even today, on a day when writing has been much harder for me than I would like, I can tell you that I love it. And I would do it for free, without guarantee of outcome or success.

That’s a huge step for me. To acknowledge the joy of doing something so much that it doesn’t matter what happens with it.

Doesn’t mean I won’t try.

Doesn’t mean I won’t feel disappointed if it doesn’t “happen” the way I imagine.

But it does mean that I intend to enjoy it every step of the way.

Your Turn

What about you? What do love to do just for the joy of it? What have you been secretly longing to try that you suspect you might find that kind of joy in?

Tell us about it.

Warmly,

~> March 19th, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session. Registration CLOSES TOMORROW, Thursday, February 16th. Sign up here.

~> March 29th, 2012. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough Group. Details coming soon! One spot is already taken so if you’d like to nab one, email us now.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was recently named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip. They’re offering a free class called, “21 Steps to a Professional Rewrite” this Sunday if you’re interested. Details. It’s a great class that provides a ton of value for screenwriters and may be helpful for novelists too.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Still haven’t watched Super Eight but squeezed in Cowboys & Aliens over the weekend. It wasn’t QUITE what I was hoping for but still fun to see.

You may also be interested in:

• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to find your true stories
• How to spot the smokescreens that stop you from writing

To celebrate the start of the next session of my Writer’s Circle this coming Monday, I’m sharing a free series on “How to Find the Courage to Tell the Stories You Are Longing To Tell.”

Today’s fourth and final post completes the series with thoughts on “How to Make Writing A Whole Lot Easier.”

• To read the first post in the series, “Why It Requires Courage to Write”, click here.
• The second post, “How to Spot the Stealthy Smokescreens that Stop You From Writing”, is here.
• Yesterday’s post, “How to Find Your True Stories”, is here.

How to make writing a whole lot easier

It can sound like the easiest thing in the world to write. But when it comes to sitting down and facing the blank page, writing can be downright terrifying. Perhaps surprisingly to some, it takes a lot of courage to overcome all the fear, self-doubt, stories, and resistance to making it happen.


What I’ve seen is that when you take action to do the following things for yourself, writing becomes much much harder NOT to do. And that makes it SO much easier.

1. Find peer support.

   Connect with other writers. Be part of a community. Live and breathe writing and talk about it with other people who are actively engaged in writing and are firmly committed to their writing, come hell or high water.

   Personally, I’m part of several writing communities, including my online Writer’s Circle, my screenwriting class, and the online Scriptchat community. I make it a priority to hang out with writers who are writing regularly — and not just talking about it.

2. Create social accountability.

   Give yourself public deadlines and set public goals to use the tool of social accountability. When other people know you are promising and intending to do finish your writing project by a certain date and you know they are watching, it’s a LOT harder not to do it.

3. Create solid writing habits.

   Make yourself a writing schedule, use a timer to write in sprints, start early in the morning or write late at night — what matters is that you write and that you write regularly. And by the way, regularly means as close to daily as you can muster (my preference is 6 to 7 days per week).

   Writing regularly, and sticking to it, surprisingly makes writing much, much easier. Back in the days when I used to write my newsletter on a monthly basis, it felt like scraping my fingernails over a dry chalkboard just to get myself going. But now that I’m blogging on a weekly basis and screenwriting on a daily basis, I find that I’m always running article ideas and story lines through my mind, which makes it oh-so-much easier to jump into when the writing clock chimes at 6 a.m. (actually it’s 5:45 a.m. these days, but who’s counting?).

4. Have a willing spirit of adventure.

   Enjoy the ride — have a willing spirit of adventure. Writing is an up and down journey. I LOVE it, AND, there are days when I feel like being run over by a truck might be a little bit easier. Thank goodness I have my writing communities to cheer me up on those days. Ride the highs and surf the lows, knowing you’ll make it to the other side.

5. Be deeply honest with yourself.

   You want to write, right? Be honest with yourself about that and what it will cost you if you don’t write. Also be honest with yourself about how scared you are to do it and about how you are creating obstacles to your writing. Only then can you face and overcome them.

6. Make a commitment to write.

   Decide, right now, that you are going to write, no matter what. Then do it.

   Make a “Life Decision” about this, as Dr. Phil calls it, to follow your dream of writing. Once you’ve made that decision, there’s no turning back. Stop dipping your foot in the pond of your dream and start making it a reality. There’s no way to do it but one step at a time, even if it’s two steps forward and one step back for a while.

7. Have the courage to write regularly.

   Having the courage to write means doing it without fail, even in the face of fear, self-doubt, and those savage attacks by your inner critic telling you that you won’t succeed.

   One day when I came home from dropping off my son at school, I realized that I was terrified to work on the next scene in my script, and I felt like I was frogmarching myself to the guillotine as I approached my computer. I said to myself, “I see you, fear, and you cannot stop me. I can at least write out the scene heading. I can at least chose the characters for the scene. I can at least brainstorm what I’d like to see happen.”

And with a little coaxing and a lot of courage, I was off and writing.

This concludes our series on “How to Find the Courage to Tell the Stories You Are Longing To Tell.” If you enjoyed the series, I’d love to hear from you in the comments on my blog. Thanks for reading!

About the Writer’s Circle

I inspire writers to find the courage to share the stories they are secretly longing to tell but are afraid won’t be heard or welcomed. If you’d like company on your writer’s journey, I want to invite you to join the next session of my “Just Do The Writing” Accountability Circle, which starts this coming Monday, February 20th. In the Writer’s Circle, you’ll find all the peer support and accountability you need to have the courage to write regularly.

Registration closes TODAY, February 16th.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com.

“I’m now working on a manuscript that has haunted me for 5 years…and there’s nary a chain rattle anymore.”

“This Writer’s Circle is such a wonderful experience, and it’s changed the way I look at writing…in a GOOD way! I’m now working on a manuscript that has haunted me for 5 years…and there’s nary a chain rattle anymore. I’m finally putting myself and my writing on the priority list. I’m also excited and inspired by the sense of community with other writers that was wholly lacking from the rest of my life. If you’re looking for help with your writing, join the Writer’s Circle now!”

~ Terri Fedonczak, Certified Martha Beck Life Coach, www.alifeinbalance.com

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to find your true stories
• How to spot the smokescreens that stop you from writing

To celebrate the start of the next session of my Writer’s Circle this coming Monday, I’m sharing a free series on “How to Find the Courage to Tell the Stories You Are Longing To Tell.”

Today’s third post in the series continues today with thoughts on “How to Find Your True Stories.”

• To read the first post in the series, “Why It Requires Courage to Write”, click here.
• To read yesterday’s post, “How to Spot the Stealthy Smokescreens that Stop You From Writing”, click here.

How to find your true stories

While I’ve said that it’s more important to write ANYTHING than not to write at all, it’s also important to be writing the words and telling the stories YOU are here to share. Yet often we aren’t clear on what we want to write about.

Sometimes this is fear masquerading as creative apathy and confusion, as we discussed in the previous post.

It also has to do with not giving ourselves permission to explore what it is we truly love and want to write about.

Permission

Very often the stories we are secretly longing to write are stories we’ve told ourselves that we can’t write for some reason (see the first post in this series for more on this subject). We need to shift into allowing ourselves to discover them.

Here are some ideas about how to get clear on the stories you are secretly longing to tell:

1. Remember.

   One of my favorite tools for helping people rediscover themselves is to have them look back at their childhoods. So often the things we loved as children are lifelong loves, passions that we invariably give up and forget as life goes on. What did you love as a child? What sparked your imagination and curiosity? What games did you play? What kinds of stories did you love? What were you naturally drawn to engage in?

   It took me a long, long time to finally give myself permission to write science fiction stories, but it’s a constant love of my lifetime — and it was right there waiting for me all along.

2. Brainstorm.

   If you have the seed of an idea — even just the tiniest, littlest, glimmer of an idea — brainstorm about it. How many different ways could you tell that story? What genre would you love to express it in? What could you combine it with to make it even more interesting? Don’t take anything out of the mix too soon — let yourself freely create.

3. Engage, LIVE, Look, Explore.

   Be engaged with the world. Get out into life and see what’s happening. What catches your eye? What are you intrigued by? What do you always come back to? What pisses you off? Write about it. Brainstorm about it. See what happens. Where does it take you?

4. Read, Watch, Listen.

   Notice what you are feeding your mind. Have you mixed it up a bit lately, read, listened to, or watched something you don’t usually explore? When you give yourself a chance to break out of your shell, you may see something you haven’t considered before. The sparks of ideas are just waiting to be discovered.

5. Daydream, Fantasize.

   When it comes to discovering story ideas, one of my favorite questions of all time is, “What if?” What if you combine two seemingly different elements? What if it happened a different way?

   Also, give yourself a chance to just BE. In our busy world, we need time to just stop, daydream, and mull over what we’re experiencing. Even if the big ideas don’t “pop” in those exact moments, the act of allowing yourself space will make room for those notions to appear at just the right time, usually when you’re not even expecting them.

6. Pray, Ask for Guidance.

   When I wanted to start writing my sci fi screenplay, I had no idea what to write about. I knew I wanted a strong, female lead, unlike anyone I’d quite seen on the screen before, but I didn’t know what to do with her. So I started asking for guidance. I said to the Powers That Be, “Please help! I could use a really good idea here.” And one arrived.

7. Experiment.

   One discovery I’ve made time and again about writing is that very often I figure out what I want to write by doing it. I know my writing voice has strengthened simply through the act of writing regularly. Write to figure out what you want to say and how you want to say it — you’ll discover so much you didn’t know!

Your turn

What does this spark for you? Share your responses in the comments.

And stay tuned for the last post in this series coming your way tomorrow, “How to Make Writing A Whole Lot Easier.” Watch for it on the blog or subscribe here.

About the Writer’s Circle

I inspire writers to find the courage to share the stories they are secretly longing to tell but are afraid won’t be heard or welcomed. If you’d like company on your writer’s journey, I want to invite you to join the next session of my “Just Do The Writing” Accountability Circle, which starts this coming Monday, February 20th. In the Writer’s Circle, you’ll find the peer support and accountability you need to find the true stories you are longing to tell.

Registration closes THIS THURSDAY, February 16th.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com.

“The practice of doing the writing on a daily basis has opened up insights and heightened clarity of what’s next in my whole life.”

The Writer’s Circle is an invaluable tool for creating and maintaining creative momentum. I was blown away that being a part of this Circle has opened me up to tremendous insights and heightened clarity of what’s next in my whole life! I loved seeing myself and my fellow participants gain insights, refine our writing practices in ways that truly serve our writing, embody ‘writer’ as an important part of our true and purposeful identities, and see the ‘incidental’ personal growth that can’t help but happen. I’ve noticed that I’m less distracted once I sit down to write, that I am almost always surprised at what I’ve written and the story that’s unfolding. I’m also seeing that the practice writing on a daily basis (in this case, it’s fiction) has opened up insights and heightened clarity of what’s next in my whole life.

~ Lydia Puhak, Transformative Coach, Mentor and Sensitive Idealist, www.lydiapuhak.com

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to spot the smokescreens that stop you from writing

In a creative destiny planning session with a client the other day, we discovered that she was holding herself back from what she truly wanted with her creative work because she was afraid of being disappointed if it didn’t come true.

Does that sound familiar to you?

So many of us, myself included (!), tend to vacillate between wild dreams of incredible success and being afraid to admit to what we truly want for fear that we won’t get it.

We even hold ourselves back from knowing what we want, as if staying confused will keep us safe.

Lessons from little tots

The other day on the way to preschool, my son tripped, fell flat on his hands, and dropped his toys. After he stopped crying and we had a good hug, he said to me, “I was running too fast and I threw my toys.”

I thought about that for a minute and responded, “I don’t think you were running too fast, but sometimes we do trip and fall down.”

I wanted him to know that sometimes, things just go wrong, and we don’t necessarily want to: 1) blame ourselves, or 2) hold back overly from enjoying life because “something might happen”.

Making decisions to protect ourselves

We have all had experiences in our lives where we reach for what we want and don’t get it.

In our disappointment, we make decisions to protect ourselves from even wanting it in the first place, so we won’t get hurt again. We decide that it’s safer to aim low than to proclaim our dreams and be embarrassed when we don’t get them.

I’ve run into this with my creative work and my coaching work — setting my sights high, only to have it all come crashing down, and then deciding it’s not worth pursuing anymore.

In fact, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given up on my creativity over the years to protect myself, like the time I dropped out after ONE DAY in art school because another student ridiculed my work, or how I decided not to be a writer when I was a kid because my parents told me I couldn’t make enough money that way.

What’s the right lesson here?

So while it’s true that we might be disappointed and sometimes we do aim higher than we achieve, is the right lesson to learn NOT to aim high? Is it truly better to be “realistic“?

I think we have to ask ourselves, “Which risk is bigger? The risk of playing small and holding back, never quite reaching for what I want? Or the risk of going for it, maybe falling hard, but maybe grasping that star I want?”

Let’s all agree to admit what it is we truly want, and to say to ourselves, “I’m going to give this dream the respect it deserves, and play full out to get it. After all, it’s something I truly, deeply want.“

What’s your dream?

What’s your big dream? Tell us about it in the comments.

Here’s my dream: To have my writing be paid, published and/or produced.

For the sake of further exploration, next week I’ll write about doing things for the joy of them, even if they don’t “happen” the way we want them too.

Warmly,

~> Ongoing. My Protection & Grounding Jewelry is on close-out. Only ONE necklace is left. Is it yours? Find it here.

~> February 20th, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session. Registration CLOSES TOMORROW, Thursday, February 16th. Sign up here.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was recently named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip. They’re offering a free class called, “21 Steps to a Professional Rewrite” this Sunday if you’re interested. Details. It’s a great class that provides a ton of value for screenwriters and may be helpful for novelists too.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> I loved watching Tales from the Script about real stories of screenwriting for Hollywood. Up next is Super Eight. Plus I’m in the middle of reading a bunch of books about screenwriting and reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to my son. He loves it!

You may also be interested in:

• How to grow into your dream
• The most important work you’ll ever do
• Listen to Dreamification Radio: Claiming Your Creative Identity

To celebrate the start of the next session of my Writer’s Circle this coming Monday, I’m sharing a free four-part series on “How to Find the Courage to Share the Stories You Are Longing To Tell.”

Our series continues with Part 2: “How to Spot the Stealthy Smokescreens that Stop You From Writing.”

To read yesterday’s post, “Why It Requires Courage to Write”, click here.

How to spot the stealthy smokescreens that stop you from writing

If you’re longing to write, but not doing it, you’re probably doing a number of other things instead. I think of these as “smokescreens”, because very often we don’t realize that we are fooling ourselves about why we are not writing — our fear. Our smokescreens mask that raw, naked fear and keep us busy thinking something else is going on.

Most people who say they want to write but aren’t doing it are usually instead:

1. Retreating into fantasy.

   When you’re retreating into fantasy instead of writing, you’ll notice yourself dreaming about the day when you finally have enough time to write.

   You’ll usually have a story about needing to deal with something else first, like: Making more money, getting enough childcare, getting the house clean, finishing that other big project, just getting through this one rough patch in life, etc., but the truth is that there is nothing stopping you from writing right now.

2. Procrastinating.

   If you’re graduated from fantasy land about writing someday, but still not writing, you’ve probably moved on to procrastination or one of the other tricky smokescreens below.

   Procrastination turns up when you’ve made the time to write, but when it comes time to do it, your bathroom suddenly looks really dirty or you realize you are massively behind on [your email, your laundry, your sex life, your book keeping, your fill-in-an-excuse-here].

   I’ve seen some writers say that procrastination is a good thing — that we’re allowing our creative ideas to build up before they come bursting out of us — but I read procrastination as fear, often wrapped up with perfectionism.

3. Feeling apathetic.

   Apathy rears it’s ugly head and tells us that we don’t care. It sounds like, “I mean, what’s the point? I don’t even FEEL like writing today. I’d much rather watch Castle or catch up on polishing my silver. Writing isn’t that important.”

   ANNNH. Wrong answer.

   What’s really going on here is again, you guessed it, fear. This is fear masquerading as apathy, only it’s so tricky it’s got you believing you aren’t even interested. Think again.

4. Wandering in a fog of creative confusion.

   Creative confusion is the stealthy partner creative apathy. Creative confusion keeps us spinning in circles, telling us that we don’t know what to write. It keeps you vacillating between having too many ideas and not knowing where to start.

   The antidote for creative confusion is often brainstorming, putting ANY words on the page, asking yourself a great question (“What do I really want to say here?”) or simply picking a project to start with. Sometimes we just make it too complicated, again because we’re letting our fear get the better of us.

Takeaways

Here’s what I want you to take away from this: When you are fantasizing about writing, procrastinating about writing, or feeling apathetic or creatively confused about writing, you are operating out of fear. It might not LOOK like far, but the odds are high that it’s fear running the show.

But because you know this now, you have the chance to bust that fear wide open and move past it.

“Ah ha! You can’t fool me,” you will say to your fear and self-doubt. “I see you, and I know you are trying to stop me… but it won’t work.”

Then coax yourself to the page, and start writing. ANYTHING. Seriously. Because the antidote to any of these creative smokescreens is ACTION.

Your turn

What does this illuminate for you? Share your responses in the comments.

And stay tuned for the next post in this series coming your way tomorrow, “How to Find Your True Stories.” Watch for it on the blog or subscribe here.

About the Writer’s Circle

I inspire writers to find the courage to share the stories they are secretly longing to tell but are afraid won’t be heard or accepted. If you’d like company on your writer’s journey, I want to invite you to join the next session of my “Just Do The Writing” Accountability Circle, which starts this coming Monday, February 20th. In the Writer’s Circle, you’ll find the peer support and accountability you need to bust yourself on the smokescreens and obstacles you’re creating around your writing and get your words on the page. Registration closes THIS THURSDAY, February 16th.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com.

“Good if you want to write more and make fewer excuses not to write.”

“I loved leaving and getting comments on the daily progress. It made me write almost every day! Now, I’m writing more consistently and I’m feeling good about all of it. I like getting to know the other participants. I’m feeling consistently creative. This Writer’s Circle is good if you want to write more and make fewer excuses not to write. It’s so easy to talk oneself into not doing something creative and instead doing something mundane.”
~ Giulietta Nardone, Inspirational rebel, Writer and Karaoke singer, www.giuliettathemuse.com

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to find your true stories

To celebrate the start of the next session of my Writer’s Circle this coming Monday, February 20th, I’m sharing a free series on “How to Find the Courage to Share the Stories You Are Longing To Tell.”

Today’s post starts the series with thoughts on “Why It Requires Courage to Write.”

Why it requires courage to write

Special thanks to John Klymshyn for this image

I’ve dreamed of writing for years, since I was a child. And I have. Over the last 9 years I’ve written hundreds of articles, blog posts, and newsletters through my coaching business. Before that, I wrote city plans. Before that, my graduate thesis.

But I’ve always dreamed of writing a proper something — a larger writing project with a definitive end, like a book or a screenplay.

Somehow, I never seemed to find the time to write until recently — just in the last year or so. And now I’m writing on a daily basis, soon to finish my first feature length screenplay.

What I didn’t understand, until now, was that my lack of writing WAS NOT tied to all the things I believed about what it would take for me to write, like that I needed more time, better ideas, sudden divine inspiration, the proper writing space, a better computer, or any of the other things I was telling myself.

Instead, I discovered that what was going on at a deeper level was that I was afraid. I was afraid to write.

And this is what I’ve seen with many people who say they want to write but aren’t doing it.

Just like me, they are afraid.

Common fears

If you have fear coming up around writing, you might be experiencing some of these common concerns I hear from writers:

• You’re afraid the writing you’re longing to share isn’t serious, artistic, engaging, funny, clever, dramatic, or fill-in-the-blank enough.
• You’re afraid that you’ll embarrass yourself if you put your words out there for other people to see.
• You’re afraid that you won’t be able to do a good enough job telling your stories — you won’t be able to do them justice and you’ll let your ideas down.
• You’re afraid you won’t be able to come with good ideas.
• You’re afraid that other people will be hurt if you write things they don’t like. You’re afraid they will see themselves in your stories and be offended.
• You’re afraid you don’t know how to write well enough, but you don’t give yourself the chance to learn how because you believe that writing requires innate talent and that if you had it, you’d already be writing.
• You might even be afraid that your best work is already behind you.

What you need to understand is that these fears are ONLY fears. Nothing more, nothing less. They MAY come true, we may fall on our faces and have to pick ourselves up again, just like my son did on his way to school this morning.

You also need to understand that these fears are your ENEMIES. They are the enemies to your dream of writing, and courage is your antidote.

Your turn

What does this illuminate for you? Share your responses in the comments.

And stay tuned for the next post in this series coming your way tomorrow, “How to Spot the Stealthy Smokescreens that Stop You From Writing.” Watch for it on the blog or subscribe here.

About the Writer’s Circle

I inspire writers to find the courage to share the stories they are secretly longing to tell but are afraid won’t be heard or welcomed. If you’d like company on your writer’s journey, I want to invite you to join the next session of my “Just Do The Writing” Accountability Circle, which starts this coming Monday, February 20th. In the Writer’s Circle, you’ll find the peer support and accountability you need to find the courage you need to see your writing through. Registration closes THIS THURSDAY, February 16th.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com.

“I would have really struggled to do this without this writer’s group.”

I loved the community, and how quickly it came together. It made such a difference to have that support and it was so good to take the isolation of writing away. I love that my writing has quickly started to establish into my daily routine. I would have really struggled to do this without this group. I’m more creative, more productive, and starting to identify as a writer… it’s so exciting! If you’re considering this course, GO FOR IT!!!
~ Rebekah Shepherd, Yoga teacher, Writer, www.soulnicheyoga.com

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to find your true stories

Are you waiting for the right mood to strike before you work on your creative project?

Are you waiting until you have the right room to write or paint in?

Are you waiting until you have the right computer before you can start writing?

Are you waiting until you have the right “voice” or platform before you start sharing your message?

Are you waiting until you’ve picked the right project to start working on?

Are you waiting until you have more money before you do your art?

Are you waiting for big blocks of time before you write songs, start your novel, or get that screenplay off the shelf for a rewrite?

Are you waiting to be divinely inspired before you start your project?

Are you waiting for permission to create?

Wait no longer.

Your art will not happen unless you do it. And sometimes that means showing up and doing it even if you don’t know what you’re doing yet.

Besides, in a study by Robert Boice about academic writers, he found that writers who committed to writing daily were TWICE as likely to have a creative thought as writers who wrote when they “felt like it.”

The key here is consistency. Making the effort to show up every day to your creative passion will foster and spark your creativity, not the other way around.

Your Turn

So, what are you waiting for? (No, really, I want to know!)

Tell us about it in the comments.

Warmly,

~> Ongoing. My Protection & Grounding Jewelry is on close-out. Only ONE necklace is left. Is it yours? Find it here.

~> February 20th, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Sign up here. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was just named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> I’m totally caught up on Castle, except for the latest “The Blue Butterfly”. Now I get to venture into some movies I’ve been wanting to see: Tales from the Script and Super Eight.

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• Is there a link between sensitivity and creativity?
• Intriguing side effects of getting up at o’ dark hundred

Yesterday was a tough one.

It was a dark, drizzly day after a bad night of sleep, followed by a bit of bad news. And it was on the heels of a wicked cold that had me laid up Wednesday through Sunday. Not a good cocktail for a sensitive soul with work to be done.

Needless to say, I came home after dropping off my son to feeling rather adrift.

I didn’t know what I wanted to work on. None of the many items on my idea list or to do list was the least bit appealing. Even though I had come up with some nifty ideas on the way home in the car, when I sat down at my desk and confronted my computer screen, a strong feeling of despondency — and resistance — came up.

I didn’t want to do anything.

Or did I?

I checked in with my heart.

I checked in with my spirit.

I asked, “Is there anything I DO want to work on?“

The answer came back, “Yes. My script.”

(And this was even after doing my first round of writing first thing in the morning.)

So I did. I got out my latest set of assignments, turned on my timer, and dug in.

An hour later, I felt like myself again. I even went on to have a happy, productive day working with my clients and revamping my website (you can see the evidence on my Shop and Home pages).

By doing my work, by turning to my calling rather than away from it, I found myself.

Your Turn

What works for you?

When you’ve fallen off the wagon of clarity and productivity, how do you find your way back to taking action?

And by the way, I’m not intending to say that action is the only solution here. There are times when for me the right “action” is clearly nothing work-related, like rest, reflection, exercise, or taking a break. But I think I’m talking about something different here — that Thing that happens when you know getting back on path is just what’s called for but it’s feeling elusive. I’d love to hear what works for you.

Tell us about it in the comments.

Warmly,

~> Ongoing. My Protection & Grounding Jewelry is on close-out. Only TWO necklaces are left, and then they are gone for good. Find them here.

~> February 2, 2012. Start the new year fresh with your life purpose clear in your mind. My next life purpose breakthrough group session in on February 2. Details. SOLD OUT.

~> February 20th, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Sign up here. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was just named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Now onto Castle, Season 4. So good!

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to find your true stories

Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person, says that “almost all HSPs have an artistic side they enjoy expressing … or they deeply appreciate some form of art.” She also says that, “almost all studies of the personalities of prominent artists insist that sensitivity is central.”

Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice, notes, “It’s not a rule by any means, but many creatively gifted people tend to display a natural tendency toward introversion. Perhaps the isolated nature of a lot of creative work is what calls many of us to our chosen profession to begin with. We love to get lost in the process of moving big conceptual rocks…”

(To be clear, while not all introverts are sensitives, all sensitives are introverts in the classic sense of the word “introversion”: meaning that we recharge our energy by having time alone.)

I think there’s a link between creativity and sensitivity due to the deep, rich, and imaginative inner life sensitives experience. While our vivid imaginations can run amok from time to time, it’s a powerful tool for venturing into new creative territory.

Similarly, our tendency to empathy gives us a great resource when it comes to exploring the emotional depths, which can also be a boon when it comes to creative expression.

Just the other day on Twitter, I joked about my screenwriting:

The challenges of sensitivity and creativity

I notice that the challenging aspect of both being sensitive and creative comes primarily on the audience side of things.

And ironically, I can’t tell you how frequently I analyze hands for creative, sensitive types who have “Spotlight” in their hands — it’s astonishing. So much so that I’m seriously considering doing a one-time class on “Sensitives in the Spotlight.”

(“Spotlight” is a shortened version of the expression, “Creative Expression in the Spotlight” for someone with a Right Ring Finger life purpose, and for the term, “Fame and Fortune in the Arts” for someone with an Apollo Star gift marking.)

As Elaine Aron puts it, “The difficulty, I believe, is that normally we artists work alone, refining our craft and our subtle creative vision. But withdrawl of any kind increases sensitivity — that is part of why one withdraws. So we are extra sensitive when the time comes to show our work, perform it, explain it, sell it, read reviews of it, and accept rejection or acclaim.”

Some of my private clients and I recently did some work on this topic of “being seen” and discovered the importance of being willing to fully receive acclaim and trying not to block the massive flow of energy that comes with attention from an audience, but rather allowing it to flow through us and around us.

I was also recently reminded through my screenwriting class of the power and importance of intelligent, quality feedback to help us to improve our work.

As Artists in the Spotlight, we must be engaged in the exchange of our artistic expression for applause, approval, and appreciation from our audience. It is exhilarating, and while it may appear to be purely ego-driven, it is a necessary part of the equation for artistic fulfillment, at least from a life purpose perspective.

So yes, Virginia, I do see a link between sensitivity and creativity, and I think it brings challenges all of its own.

Your Turn

What does this inspire or raise for you? Let me know on the blog.

~> Ongoing. My Protection & Grounding Jewelry is on close-out. Only TWO necklaces are left, and then they are gone for good. Find them here.

~> February 2, 2012. Start the new year fresh with your life purpose clear in your mind. My next life purpose breakthrough group session in on February 2. Details. SOLD OUT.

~> February 20th, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Sign up here. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was just named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Still watching Castle, Season 3. Loving it!

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• Are you waiting to feel creative?
• Intriguing side effects of getting up at o’ dark hundred

The other day I had an email from a friend about me screenwriting at 6 a.m. every morning. She said, “I admire your discipline. It must come from a deep passion.”

I thought, “Is this passion? Is this discipline? Is that what this is? That doesn’t quite feel right.”

Perhaps this is because I’ve struggled for so long to be clear about what I’m passionate about that the word “passion” has lost meaning for me.

Then, last week I found myself saying to my Writer’s Circle participants how you would have to fight me off with a sword to keep me from writing.

And I thought, “Huh! Passion.”

But the clincher was when I saw Jeanne Bowerman‘s tweet:

I knew my own answer was “No. Way.”

Then I got it. This is beyond reason, it’s beyond passion. It’s a kind of fierceness I never expected.

What shocks me is that this fierceness has been born out of the discipline of writing on a daily basis, not the other way around. And I hesitate to even call it discipline, because there are days when I have to drag myself out of bed with bribes and threats alike. The funny thing is that it’s gotten more scary NOT to write than TO write. 

I didn’t know I would love writing like this. I had no idea until I started doing it regularly. Daily. At ungodly hours.

I’m also fascinated to have discovered that taking a day off or two DOES dwindle this feeling. I find myself drifting and uninspired when I stop.

But as long as I write every day or darn close to it, I’m good.

And I’m doing this by making it a LOT harder NOT to write than it is TO write:

• I set my clock early. If I don’t get up and write immediately, I’ll miss my chance before my husband goes to work and I’ve got kid duty.
• I set public goals with my Writer’s Circle EVERY DAY. And they notice if I don’t show up.
• I have assignments due every day for my ProSeries screenwriting class. And they’re counting to make sure we’re doing the assignments.
• I’m the coach for the Writer’s Circle too, so I have a responsibility as a role model too.

I’ve got multiple layers of accountability. Plus a healthy fear that if I stop writing, it’ll be hard to get started again. And a fierce belief that I’ve found my true calling.

Your Turn

What does this inspire for you? Let me know on the blog.

*** If you’d like to have this kind of daily accountability for yourself around your writing, join my “Just Do The Writing” Accountability Circle right now. Our next session starts on Monday, January 23rd, and Thursday, January 19th is the last day to register. If you do your part, it will blow your mind. http://JustDoTheWriting.com

~> Ongoing. My Protection & Grounding Jewelry is on close-out. Only TWO necklaces are left, and then they are gone for good. Find them here.

~> January 23rd, 2012. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Sign up here. Get my Free Writing Tips series too, and receive a coupon for a savings on your first 4 week session.

~> February 2, 2012. Start the new year fresh with your life purpose clear in your mind. My next life purpose breakthrough group session in on February 2. Details. SOLD OUT.

~> Ongoing. Writing in the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU, which was just named the #1 screenwriting class by InkTip.

~> Daily and especially Fridays. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Still watching Castle, Season 3, so good. I guess the whole planet really is designed to show off Nathan Fillion’s awesomeness.

You may also be interested in:

• What about doing things just for the joy of it?
• How to make writing a whole lot easier
• How to find your true stories