What holds writers back?
In my experience, there is only one thing that holds writers back. That's it. Just one measily little thing.
It's NOT:
- lack of time
- lack of drive
- cramped writing space
- absense of support from others
- poor schooling
- the day job
- responsibilities.....
Those things can deter us and keep us from working at our best. They can certaintly hinder us and keep us from writing 10 books a year as many of us seem to have so many ideas to get down! But they do not hold us back.
What holds us back is DOUBT pure and simple. "Doubt is what keeps one from taking action" as Dr. Masters says. If you are not living up to your goals and finishing projects, even if it takes years, take a look and see if doubt is at the core of what's hindering you. Explore why you might have doubts about your work? Where do those doubts come from? How did you get them? Can you let them go? Can you work in spite of them?
How do you overcome doubt?
As you go about writing your 'idea' don't think of it as your idea but instead think of it as your muse's idea. Know that s/he will follow up with all the subsequent ideas need to bring a piece to completion. That s/he believes in it and in you or s/he never would've inspired you in the first place. Know that as far as s/he is concerned, that idea is already completed and s/he's just waiting for you to write it down.
If you don't have any doubt about yourself, your ability, or your project then there really is nothing to hinder you from finishing it - even if you don't have tons of time and the perfect conditions to write. You just won't feel you need those things all that much.
It's NOT:
- lack of time
- lack of drive
- cramped writing space
- absense of support from others
- poor schooling
- the day job
- responsibilities.....
Those things can deter us and keep us from working at our best. They can certaintly hinder us and keep us from writing 10 books a year as many of us seem to have so many ideas to get down! But they do not hold us back.
What holds us back is DOUBT pure and simple. "Doubt is what keeps one from taking action" as Dr. Masters says. If you are not living up to your goals and finishing projects, even if it takes years, take a look and see if doubt is at the core of what's hindering you. Explore why you might have doubts about your work? Where do those doubts come from? How did you get them? Can you let them go? Can you work in spite of them?
How do you overcome doubt?
As you go about writing your 'idea' don't think of it as your idea but instead think of it as your muse's idea. Know that s/he will follow up with all the subsequent ideas need to bring a piece to completion. That s/he believes in it and in you or s/he never would've inspired you in the first place. Know that as far as s/he is concerned, that idea is already completed and s/he's just waiting for you to write it down.
If you don't have any doubt about yourself, your ability, or your project then there really is nothing to hinder you from finishing it - even if you don't have tons of time and the perfect conditions to write. You just won't feel you need those things all that much.
posted by Victoria at 2:28 PM
3 Comments:
Victoria,
I hope you are right, but I find my ideas lacking strength to carry an entire work. What is holding me back is an actionable idea, something that inspires me, with a premise that has a definable high-stakes problem. If I had that I really think I could do it, but so far my ideas feel empty, and I wish I had a more persistent and helpful muse.
Hi Scott,
So you doubt your ideas have the strength to carry an entire story? Pick and idea and sit with it a while. Ask how you can make the idea stronger. Is it a question of working on the subplot, or characterization?
All ideas can be described in this way - as not having enough strength - it's what you do with the idea that counts.
Does Moby Dick at its' very basic premise seem like it could be told in soooo many pages?
Man hates fish and wants to kill it.... but no really he struggles with this obsession and it is his ultimate downfall.... It will take several hundred pages to tell....
Victoria,
You are probably right about that. I think I put too much pressure on myself to have a sparkling idea. I actually do have about five ideas that are sitting in my mind waiting for a flash of brilliance to unfreeze them.
I think sometimes that I should make up the characters, give them all quirky personalities, then put them all in the same room and let them create the story for me. I tend to want a beginning and an ending all thought out, and some idea of the conflict that will happen in between. Maybe I need a different approach.
But I can tell you I'm getting tired of waiting for my brain to produce.
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