3 Mindsets to Take Into Your Writing
Writing isn’t just about sitting down at a computer and plopping words onto a page. The writing life is inextricably connected to your regular life, and to succeed in either sphere, you’ll need helpful mindsets that can guide you through frustration and creative blocks. Today I have three mindsets that I’ve observed in and learned from writers just like you.
Show up anyway (or not).
Sometimes we are not feeling that creative energy, that flow of inspiration. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could always be guaranteed the sparks and words when we want them? The not-so-sexy secret to writing is that a manuscript happens when we show up. And the even less-sexy (and probably more frustrating) secret to writing is that we have to learn to trust ourselves.
Showing up when we don’t outwardly feel like it can unlock new ideas and flows of memories and connections. Showing up when when you don’t know what to write can actually create an openness that invites deeper thought and understanding.
Other times, however, showing up doesn’t feel authentic and might actually impede future creative flows. In that case, giving yourself space from your writing can give it room to breathe and work in the background of your mind. What matters about showing up is showing up to yourself in the most authentic and aligned way possible
Sometimes this will look like logging on to your computer even though you don’t feel like it and seeing what comes out anyway, and sometimes, you’ll be able to close the laptop and give your creativity room to breathe a little. Both are good.
Be aware of when you’re living out your story.
Have you ever gone through something and in the middle you think, I need to write about this? Before we can write our memoirs, we first have to live them, and being in tune with moments and experiences that beg to be written can add unique dimension to both your lived experience and the writing life.
As with any element of the writing, this lens must be in balance with the actual living. You don’t want to spend all of your time observing your life instead of participating in it, and while memories can certainly be mined and meaning made after the fact, a special magic happens when we can step back from the moment and think as a writer would.
When we’re aware of when we're living out a moment in our story, we can pay attention to new and different things and approach our writing with multifaceted perspective.
You’re not running late.
We can pile guilt on ourselves so easily, because we’ve convinced ourselves that writing has to happen a certain way to be “right” or “good.” This mindset serves no one, not your reader and certainly not you. Unless you’re working with an agent, editor, or publishing house, you’re not on a deadline. You don’t have to rush. You’re not running late.
If you find yourself spinning in circles, making no progress because you don’t know what to what to write, the problem is focus, not discipline. Whenever you find yourself stalling out, dig deeper than “I need to catch up” or “I’m just not disciplined enough,” because your actual problem has more to do with process, mindset, or a combination of the two.
You’re not behind, writer. You’re exactly where you need to be, and you can move forward from this place right here.
I hope these mindsets will help you move forward in your writing, and if they resonated with you, you’ll love my free mini ebook, Should You Write a Memoir?. You can find that free resource here.
I also explore these lessons in more depth (with another one!) in episode 11 of The Memoir Method Podcast. Listen and subscribe here.
This blog post is part of the Writer’s Toolkit Series. You can check out the other posts by clicking the tag at the bottom of this post.
