No More Excuses

Part of the reason why I decided to go to grad school was to force me to write. I’m one of those types who will convince myself that I’m just not in the right mood or the conditions aren’t perfect in order for me to write.

Truthfully, it’s never going to be the right time to write. Something is going to be in the way, whether it’s the house in disarray, your spouse or kids or roommates making an ungodly amount of noise, or your pet continually trying to hide under your desk (even though he’s way too big to fit).

When it seems like things are too much and life is not going to play fair, you have to decide whether you are going to make excuses and stay stagnant, or if you’re going to punch your excuses in the face and move.

Now when I say move, I don’t necessarily mean move forward. You may not be in the best frame of mind while you’re writing and the next day you find you have to delete two chapters that you labored over. It’s okay, it happens. I promise you right now, we’ve all been there.

The important thing is that you don’t stop, because once you stop, it’s that much harder to get going again.

Now that I’m in a program where I have to write daily and turn in word counts and outlines and character biographies, I’m realizing how unused my writing muscles had become. I gave myself reasons why I couldn’t write, and in doing so I let myself get lazy. Being creative was hard when it used to come naturally.

I hate to say it, but you know that old saying, “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it?” Well…it’s true.

There are tons of ways you can keep those creative muscles strong and healthy. Wednesday’s blog post will give you a couple things I suggest to do, but in between now and then, think about the moments you have felt most inspired. What were you doing? Where were you? Were you with people or alone? Were you eating/drinking anything? Thinking about these things will help you start to recreate your ideal writing situation, and will hopefully help you write even through those distracting or not so ideal moments.

~Liz

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