Writing a book can test your self-esteem. You have to build stamina, because writing is a blood sport. People often ask me: “Why are you spending all this time trying to write a novel?” Even though I despise that question, my biggest enemy is always my own self-doubt. Writing well is very difficult, and sometimes very painful.
As a writer, I try to move the narrative from my brain into the brains of my readers, using words as my only tools. When I sat down with my idea for Things Unsaid, my debut novel, I knew my first draft was going to be a data dump, a depiction mostly of the main character. Then later I would start chiseling away, going over each word, adding and subtracting.
If you want to write a novel, you need to first write a story. If you want to write a story, you first need to write a paragraph. If you want to write a paragraph, you first need to put together a coherent sentence. And that is what saved me. I wrote phrases, which became sentences, then paragraphs, then scenes. I put myself on a deadline so that every week I would finish some scenes, gradually completing a chapter, then two chapters and so on.
I was going to fight my way through. I’m a writer. I care about writing. I've always cared. And I did write, although I couldn’t write Things Unsaid every day in the beginning. As writers we have to figure out what works for us. And throw the other “stuff” away. Now I know what works for me.
I realize that writing anything is a step forward. Anything. Sometimes I have to force myself to write, so I won’t lose momentum. So here are my four tips for conquering procrastination that have helped me:
My realistic writing goal, in the beginning, was one hour. If you suffer from anxiety and fear, it may be that your writing dredges up hard-to-tolerate feelings. It isn’t writing itself that you dislike, it’s the emotions that surface when you write. I remind myself that putting off the writing, in the end, won’t make it more enjoyable. I’ll feel bad about myself and defeated as a writer. Writers write. If you can find a way to be more welcoming to these emotions, they may grace you with fresh energy and ideas for your muse. Write unplugged!
You are so right about this. Thank you for reminding me. Writing is a hard calling, it's not for the faint-hearted, and as you say, there is pain. It's personal, genuine pain, and fiction can be no less painful than memoir I think, because all of it is distilled from deeper truth. Everything you write is coming from somewhere in you. And healing yourself can heal others.