Don't wait for your Muse,
but...
"Can I call you?" a coaching client emailed me on a Thursday. "I'm in a
panic."
"What's going on?" I emailed back.
"I lost my job and I can't seem to stick to my writing schedule."
He'd been writing early every morning before he headed off to work
and that schedule had been working well.
"Whew! When did this happen?"
"Monday," he responded. "The truth is I haven't written a word since
then."
No matter how well your writing schedule is working, life events can
temporarily stop your flow of creativity, and you know what? That's
okay!
Creative interruptions are okay!
John Lennon's, Life is what happens to you while
you're busy making other plans has more than a grain of truth
to it. It's not at all surprising that my client was thrown off his
writing schedule by the loss of his job. That's a big, disturbing event.
It doesn't have to be a big event that acts as a distraction. This
morning I was feeling totally idealess and scattered. I asked myself why
and realized I was a bit nervous about a meeting I have scheduled with
my accountant.
In both cases, our creativity came to a screaming halt. In my case,
the interruption was brief. I was back on track in minutes.
My client took a bit longer - in fact, it turned out it took about
two weeks for him to sort through everything. Then he was able to see
that he losing his job actually created some space for him
to do even more work on his book. With his family's blessing and
understanding, he upped his writing time to about four hours a day,
spending the balance of his time looking for a new job.
Don't let interruptions stop you cold
The trick, of course, is not to let life events stop you completely.
The only way to get a book written is to either write it yourself or
hire someone to write it. If you're writing it yourself, you've simply
got to put words on paper. Most people find they do this best when they
stick to a writing schedule.
But sticking to a writing schedule isn't the same thing as being a
slave to it. That doesn't work well either.
How long a delay is acceptable?
You are the only one who knows when an interruption in your writing
schedule slips from understandable and acceptable to procrastination
and, if you let it, writers block.
Writing well requires, among other things, self-honesty. Coupled with
self-compassion, self-honesty will keep you writing over the long haul.
Write well and often!
