I’ve Got a New Writing Mantra (…and it’s working!)
Cranky and annoyed with myself, I knew something else wasn’t working—and it wasn’t my WIP. It was my mantra: I give myself permission to write garbage.
For type-A rule followers such as myself, that mantra really is a godsend. Sometimes I need actual permission to do things below my typical (very high) standard. I’m grateful for it, really— it got me past the halfway point. Looking back, however, my project had a lot of gusto on the front end. There was momentum, and getting words on the page is much easier when you’re in a state of flow.
Now that the momentum has slowed, even “writing garbage” feels like an insurmountable chore. And the low hum of muscle discomfort has made me less up for the challenge. I needed something simpler:
The Projects that Follow After You Type “The End”
The to-do list that pops up after you type “The End” is inevitable. And these things are important to stay on top of even as you draft new works.
I’m the type of gal who thinks these administrative items are rather fun, so when I’m experiencing slow-writing moments, like, maybe I’m letting an idea or concept simmer in my brain a while longer, I turn to one of these tasks, especially if it’s been a hot second since my last tinker.
We’re on a Break
On the day that I exited my Instagram app and made a deliberate choice to limit my interaction with it, I felt angry and depressed. Mostly with myself but also with it—social media in general—and what it does to my mind after overuse. And in that anger, I began journaling. I seriously questioned if I wanted to keep writing—or at least, as hard as I’d been writing over the last several years.