Hi ladies,
This month, I will be posting a few lessons on how to be a successful writer. In many cases, and for many of you, this will be a reiteration. I believe that its important to reinforce good habits of successful writing. So, please take the time to hone your habits and see where you need to improve.
Without further ado, here are the lessons for successful writers.
Enjoy!
~ Irene
For some reason, many writers tend to be serious and even hopeless. There is so much about the writing life that is indeed difficult. Writing can be a lonely endeavour for many. It can take a long time for a writer to develop the skills and confidence levels necessary to write at his/her best. Then there are the rejection letters, the difficulty to gain contracts and the need for writers to keep positive despite the odds of editors loving their manuscripts and accepting them.
This can cause writers a lot of undue hardship and anxiety. Writers do have to live with these uncertainties and accept them in order to prosper and move past their fears and anxieties and get to their desks consistently to get their writing done. But the writing life is certainly not all negative.
Writing can and is for most part one of the best careers that we could have. It allows us to sit in the confines in our offices and be creative. Writers who write full time seem to be more fun-living and happy. They love their careers because they love writing.
For some writers, however, writing is much more than just a job—it is a vocation or calling. These writers believe that their writing is a true expression of their soul. Writers compose and express themselves in a way that they can’t in any other way. Writing for these writers is fulfilling and liberating. It can be a time to write and to be in a divine space of continuous flow and creativity. Life doesn’t get much better than that. But few writers feel so creative and fulfilled. Why is that?
I have worked with writers in workshops and critique groups, and I have found that a lot of writers are very unhappy and dissatisfied. Most of the world doesn’t understand the life of a writer. So, for writers who don’t have a family who understands the writing life (which is most of us), getting to the desk to write is an uphill battle.
Usually, by the time the writer gets to her desk to write, she feels empty and so full of anxiety that she doesn’t want to write or can’t write good quality manuscripts much less enjoy the creative process. So, for writers who have to fight with their family to even win a few minutes or an hour of writing time, writing cannot be joyful. In fact, it becomes a chore.
But then there are writers who don’t take concrete steps to separate the business and creative side of their careers. I believe that writers who get lost in what I like to call the business side of writing and forget the importance of enjoying the creative aspect of writing suffer from many different anxieties. I will be saying a lot more about the difference between the business side and creative side of writing throughout this workshop.
But for now, I want to describe what happens when writers feel too hopeless because they are concentrating more on the monetary aspects of their writing career.
Obviously, writing becomes a chore when it is reduced to the monetary components and some writers avoid writing altogether or develop writer’s block because they worry that their manuscripts will succeed in the publishing world. We all need to avoid the self-criticism and self-deprecation in order to do our best writing and to become enjoy writing so that we could consistently get to our desks and do some self-expressive writing and enjoy the creative process.
I believe that the creative life is one of the best lives that there is. A creative life goes beyond the mundane daily world of the ordinary person and amplifies our life. Creativity is a bigger, happier and expanded life, and it is an interesting life. However, creative living is a path for the brave. When our courage wanes, so does our creativity. Not only that, but fear sets in. Fear is a desolate boneyard where our dreams get lost.
Writers have so much fear within them, and I believe it is this fear that usually makes writers become joyless and stagnant. This is because when fears reign in a writer’s heart, she is unable to be creative and joy filled. This is because joy and fear cannot co-exist. Instead, the fear takes away a writer’s joy and shatters it into small fragments that can take a long time to repair fully.
The problem with fear is that it is a creativity killer. Writers who are fearful all the time are not only joy-less, but they cannot write at their best. Your fear will ruin your flow and creativity and make your writing very hard indeed.
So, why not try to eradicate fear and embrace joy and hope so that your words can flow? You have a choice of whether to be fear-filled or hope-filled. You can choose to create habits that will help you to be at your best and do your best writing.
I hope this workshop will guide you in the right path in your writing career to a place of divine creativity and bliss. I know your can do it one small step at a time.
Questions to Ponder
Please spend some time reflecting on your answers to these questions. You may want to answer these questions in your writer’s journal. If you would like to post your reflections on what you discovered during your reflections, please do so under this thread.
Are you a fearful writer?
This month, I will be posting a few lessons on how to be a successful writer. In many cases, and for many of you, this will be a reiteration. I believe that its important to reinforce good habits of successful writing. So, please take the time to hone your habits and see where you need to improve.
Without further ado, here are the lessons for successful writers.
Enjoy!
~ Irene
Lesson 1
Habits of Successful Writers
Irene S. Roth
Habits of Successful Writers
Irene S. Roth
For some reason, many writers tend to be serious and even hopeless. There is so much about the writing life that is indeed difficult. Writing can be a lonely endeavour for many. It can take a long time for a writer to develop the skills and confidence levels necessary to write at his/her best. Then there are the rejection letters, the difficulty to gain contracts and the need for writers to keep positive despite the odds of editors loving their manuscripts and accepting them.
This can cause writers a lot of undue hardship and anxiety. Writers do have to live with these uncertainties and accept them in order to prosper and move past their fears and anxieties and get to their desks consistently to get their writing done. But the writing life is certainly not all negative.
Writing can and is for most part one of the best careers that we could have. It allows us to sit in the confines in our offices and be creative. Writers who write full time seem to be more fun-living and happy. They love their careers because they love writing.
For some writers, however, writing is much more than just a job—it is a vocation or calling. These writers believe that their writing is a true expression of their soul. Writers compose and express themselves in a way that they can’t in any other way. Writing for these writers is fulfilling and liberating. It can be a time to write and to be in a divine space of continuous flow and creativity. Life doesn’t get much better than that. But few writers feel so creative and fulfilled. Why is that?
I have worked with writers in workshops and critique groups, and I have found that a lot of writers are very unhappy and dissatisfied. Most of the world doesn’t understand the life of a writer. So, for writers who don’t have a family who understands the writing life (which is most of us), getting to the desk to write is an uphill battle.
Usually, by the time the writer gets to her desk to write, she feels empty and so full of anxiety that she doesn’t want to write or can’t write good quality manuscripts much less enjoy the creative process. So, for writers who have to fight with their family to even win a few minutes or an hour of writing time, writing cannot be joyful. In fact, it becomes a chore.
But then there are writers who don’t take concrete steps to separate the business and creative side of their careers. I believe that writers who get lost in what I like to call the business side of writing and forget the importance of enjoying the creative aspect of writing suffer from many different anxieties. I will be saying a lot more about the difference between the business side and creative side of writing throughout this workshop.
But for now, I want to describe what happens when writers feel too hopeless because they are concentrating more on the monetary aspects of their writing career.
Obviously, writing becomes a chore when it is reduced to the monetary components and some writers avoid writing altogether or develop writer’s block because they worry that their manuscripts will succeed in the publishing world. We all need to avoid the self-criticism and self-deprecation in order to do our best writing and to become enjoy writing so that we could consistently get to our desks and do some self-expressive writing and enjoy the creative process.
I believe that the creative life is one of the best lives that there is. A creative life goes beyond the mundane daily world of the ordinary person and amplifies our life. Creativity is a bigger, happier and expanded life, and it is an interesting life. However, creative living is a path for the brave. When our courage wanes, so does our creativity. Not only that, but fear sets in. Fear is a desolate boneyard where our dreams get lost.
Writers have so much fear within them, and I believe it is this fear that usually makes writers become joyless and stagnant. This is because when fears reign in a writer’s heart, she is unable to be creative and joy filled. This is because joy and fear cannot co-exist. Instead, the fear takes away a writer’s joy and shatters it into small fragments that can take a long time to repair fully.
The problem with fear is that it is a creativity killer. Writers who are fearful all the time are not only joy-less, but they cannot write at their best. Your fear will ruin your flow and creativity and make your writing very hard indeed.
So, why not try to eradicate fear and embrace joy and hope so that your words can flow? You have a choice of whether to be fear-filled or hope-filled. You can choose to create habits that will help you to be at your best and do your best writing.
I hope this workshop will guide you in the right path in your writing career to a place of divine creativity and bliss. I know your can do it one small step at a time.
Questions to Ponder
Please spend some time reflecting on your answers to these questions. You may want to answer these questions in your writer’s journal. If you would like to post your reflections on what you discovered during your reflections, please do so under this thread.
Are you a fearful writer?
- Which anxieties do you struggle with?
- Do you struggle with self-doubt and self-criticism?
- What steps can you take to remove this self-doubt and self-criticism?
- Do you have support from you family that will allow you time to write without struggle?
- Do you work full-time?
- Can you devote 10 or more hours a week to your writing?
- What are your worst struggles as a writer?
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