Revision requires that we see our writing for what it is: an approximation of our intended meaning and effect. We’re trying to recreate the same ideas and emotions in the reader that we experienced, to induce the same neurological state of consciousness, and we can’t do more than approximate that. The page will never hold … More How Do You Revise Without Letting the Saboteur Attack?
Agility is a wonderful source of surprising connections for me as a writer and coach (including finding a publisher for AWB at a dog agility trial.) Kathy Keats is one of the marvelous people I’ve found through agility whose wisdom extends beyond agility. Kathy’s coaching applies to people who want to excel in any sport, … More Silencing the Inner Critic – Guest Post by Kathy Keats
“My Preciousssss.” “Book em Danno.” “What’s up Doc?” “Just the facts Mam.” “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night.” “D’oh!” “To be or not to be…” “How YOU doin?” Can you spot the two anomalies in these Catch Phrases? While you’re pondering that, I’ll distract your eye from the answers to that question, by identifying … More Who Said That?
On New Year’s Eve, I walked a labyrinth while meditating on what I wanted to let go of and what I wanted to embrace in 2012. At first, I thought “I want to stop being so reactive. I want to respond to difficult people and situations with equanimity.” Then I thought “Equanimity is all well … More Don’t Just Reduce Resistance, Savor Life!
Some writers don’t realize that they’ve got writer’s resistance. They think they’re lazy or undisciplined, untalented or don’t really want to write. All of this is Saboteur-speak, the self-destructive lies we tell ourselves when we’re in the clutches of the Saboteur. It’s important to recognize resistance for what it is: natural, normal and most importantly, … More Still Lazy After All These Years?
Susan, a student in my Entering the Flow class this summer, mentioned a great exercise she’d done in Rebecca Kanner’s single-session Loft class, Silencing the Inner Critic. I thought the exercise sounded like a brilliant way to see the Saboteur from a different perspective and asked Rebecca to write a guest post about it. Here … More Pass the Critic
“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” – Pablo Picasso Creation and destruction are opposite ends of the Transformation Continuum. You can’t create something without destroying something else. Create music, destroy silence. Create a garden, destroy weeds. Create a story, destroy all the other possible ways you could have told … More 10 Ways to Break Writer’s Block – Literally
Identify the Opportunity and Desire Take a few minutes to complete this sentence (on the page or screen or in your head): “I want to write…” Did you write mainly about what content you want to write (e.g. a story about a rodeo clown, or poetry that moves people to tears, or an essay about … More The Right to Write What’s Right for You
The effective writer’s personality is not at the center. Her talent isn’t at the center. Her ego and self-worth are not at the center. The writing task is at the center.
This is how writers can quiet the conscious self and all the inner chatter that is the origin of resistance. The better we direct our attention away from our own qualities – our expectations, nerves, reputation – the easier it is to lose ourselves in the creative flow. We can prevent ourselves from thinking too much about ourselves as writers or about the quality of any given day’s writing – which is death to flow performance.
Do you hear the whisper of self-doubt or the roar of criticism whenever you even think about writing? Do you have a collection of excuses and reasons not to write? Do you have other behaviors and beliefs that undermine your writing? That’s the Saboteur at work. But you don’t have to let the Saboteur run … More Want to End Writer’s Block? Stop Feeding the Saboteur!
Bane of Your Resistance 