Stepping Through Writing Procrastination
The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside. And
only she who listens can speak.
- Dag Hammarskjöl
You've got to find the force inside you.
- Joseph
Campbell
Out of clutter, find simplicity.
- Albert
Einstein
Writing is a major portion of an academic's life. For some, the words roll out of the head onto the page with little
disruption. For others, every phrase takes its toll. And for many of us in the middle, we get stuck on some of
the things we write, or at some times. One way to write to start writing is to sit down and "just write."
Write whatever comes out of your hands. Critique and edit later.
This morning, I woke up knowing that I had a newsletter to do today. As you'll read, I want to change the way I
approach writing my newsletters, so I won't have to rely on time pressure to get me going.
I've mentioned Morning Pages in previous articles. It is a pivotal tool proposed in The Artist's Way books (see below) to tap into your creativity. Simply, you hand-write three pages as quickly as
you can. The same tool can be used at any time, not just the morning, to bring clarity to an issue, in preparation
for a meeting, and so on. Writing by hand is recommended, but if you're doing it on the keyboard, be sure to type
as quickly as you can, without going back, without editing. When you're done, see what you've written and notice
that you are not in the same "place" as when you started writing.
I want you to see how this works. So I'm going to take a risk here and present a direct quote taken from the Morning
Pages I wrote this morning. It is unedited, with the exception of some expletives, which I tempered just a bit.
As you read, notice that a number of important points showed up. I didn't have to struggle for these to show up.
They just appeared... almost magically. It's what happens when you tap into your creativity.
I am transcribing this from my own handwriting, and will correct spelling and just enough punctuation and grammar
so you can understand it. I've also thrown in a few paragraphs to break up the visual space.
As you read what follows, notice, in particular, the many times that doubts and self-criticism pop up. Notice also,
how the commitment to write three pages "no matter what," allows the positive voices to appear, as well,
and that the writing, in and of itself, is evidence of my success in this venture, no matter what shows up. OK.
Here goes.
Directly from today's morning pages
"... Today I have only 2 things happening in the daytime. Lunch with Kate and repair of my fridge. So I want
to do the following. This morning I want to write my newsletter. What? Impossible! What would I write about? There
is nothing that is moving me at the moment. Well, let's find something. How about we write it about faculty issues.
One of the most important... What a crappy line. What do I know about faculty, anyway? OK. Enough with the doubting
voices. This is the place I have in my life where I get to choose. Am I going to be successful, or am I not? What's
the risk of overdoing it with having too many clients?
So today I write my newsletter. This morning. After the repairman leaves. The topic can be one of the following.
Anything that I wrote about before on my list of usable newsletter topics... or something else. What else? I'm
stalling. I can't get to the point of letting my pen write something for fear that it won't. Hey! That's a good
subject... Fear of Writing.
But what if I don't have enough to say? I don't know. What will happen? I'll look like a fool. First, to myself,
then to others. Well, then what? Well, I'll bemoan the fact that I can't write worth beans... or something else.
And then I'll go read e-mail or something, or straighten up my office, or anything else than write. Because I feel
like a fraud and I feel like I'll never be able to get my thoughts down on paper, or I'll get them down on paper
and... What's the point? I'm not thinking of anything clearly here.
So how do I get out of this loop? Is there a way? Or am I truly too incompetent and too uncreative, too dull, to
make this happen? Well, OK. Let's assume I can actually write my newsletter the way other people write. Ooh. There's
an assumption there that other people can write better than I can. Is that true? What if it weren't? Would that
make it easier for me to get started? Probably.
OK. So when I start to write, what do I do to get myself started? Well, the way I've always done it in the past
was to wait until the last minute. But if I don't want to do that to myself anymore, I've got to find a strategy
to allow me to get on with it earlier. But I've always worked on inspiration. I'll suddenly have this idea that
I would latch onto and flesh out and there it would be. I wouldn't have to do the hard work of deciding what's
important... or most important. Everything's important. And so I can... or can I then just write about anything
right now, rather than wait for that last minute inspiration?
Well, it feels different. There's no reason to select this topic over that topic unless there's a
looming deadline that pushes me into the fray of writing. Start writing now! or else you'll be up all night, your
readers will notice your inconsistency, and you'll once again get to fail. At least that's what I think. Am I really
failing, or is there something I need to tweak or toss out? Some notion or strategy or tactic that I've been using
all along. What if I started writing and writing and writing and just discover what comes out? What are the themes
(aka themas) that appear?
What great gems just pop out of the back of my head. What if I were to do this with articles as dense as those
that are coming up for review. Is it likely that just getting my ideas out onto paper will allow me to get the
process, the creative process, rolling? And then, as I see what's showing up, and what the relationships are, I
can "simply" draw them all together and will then see what we have. Shifted person there. Good thing
I'm going to edit later.
So that's the point, I guess. If I can generate ideas, my energy flows. If I don't have to be constantly in evaluation
mode (What's that? That's nonsense. G. Bullwhacker wrote about that in 1927, for goodness sake. What's up with
you?) then I can let it all out. There will be several wonderful gems (at least) buried inside the rubble. And
how do you do that... that sifting through the rubble? I sift it on the first run-through by simply marking in
the margin whenever a gem pops up. It's a simple strategy.
And then there's the possibility that nothing will come out at all. Oh well. Better to see what you see. All the
doubts, all the pessimistic voices. All the chatter that goes on. It won't be a waste of time. Right? Promise me
it won't be a waste of time. OK. I promise. Whatever. Get a life, OK? So is that it? Do I dare show people the
inner process? Do I dare reveal a true blithering from my morning pages? I don't know... we'll see if it shows
up in my newsletter later today. Perhaps I'll write about something else and I won't have to take this risk. Perhaps
not. Only time will tell. So be it. Amen. And so on and so forth."
Your Turn
- As you read this, what resonated in you?
- Did you think, "I can't believe he's writing this for everyone to see!"?
- What implications does this have for your own writing?
- Notice that "embracing" the voice of doubt, rather than bracing against it, allowed me to move through
it, to continue to generate ideas.
- What's the method you use to get yourself to write?
- Does it work for you? What about it would you like to change?
- Take out a sheet of writing paper.
- Down the left side of the page, write the numbers 1 through 20.
- Do the same down the middle of the page.
- Label the left column "Topics that interest me."
- Then, as quickly as possible, list 20 topics for articles, papers, discussions, presentations, that interest
you.
- When finished with your list of 20, down the middle column, quickly write either that you will do the item
to the left, or your first "reason" why you can't, shouldn't, won't, or are not permitted to create the
item to the left.
- Re-read your list and the prospective outcomes on the right. What do you notice?
- What are you going to change so that you will move forward in this area?
- Keep at it. Changing this or any other area of your life takes intention, support, and consistent monitoring.
But change you will.
- Contact me if you'd like to learn more on this issue.
To your successful writing life -
Steve
Resources
The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon, by Mark Bryan, with Julia Cameron and Catherine Allen, "Brings
the million-copy bestseller The Artist's Way (by Julia Cameron) into the workplace," and I highly
recommend it.
If you're interested in purchasing The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon, it is available in
paperback. I encourage you to support your local independent bookseller. However, should you not have one
available to you, you can support me a smidgen by purchasing it at Amazon.com using this link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688166350/reitercoaching.
I appreciate it.
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