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Day 3: Wednesday, November 3
It is easy to get lost along the way during the course of being a writer. This fact is true whether you write novels or write for the web, whether you write for fun or you write to put food on the table. Writer’s block will throw itself in your path. Self-doubt will creep into your writing world. And every day you will need to make the choice to continue writing despite the difficulty of it.
Here are 25 simple mantras that you can keep in mind to keep you writing when the writing gets tough to do:
1. I can write.
2. I will know more tonight than I did when I woke up this morning.
3. My own writing voice is good enough.
4. The right words are just around the corner.
5. Reading is research.
6. It’s okay if the draft isn’t terrific.
7. My opinion matters more than my critics’ opinion.
8. I can write something else tomorrow.
9. It’s okay to be friends with other writers.
10. I only need to sit and write – the rest will work itself out.
11. My writing is good enough to serve fair pay.
12. My perspective is unique; sharing it adds to the world.
13. I write because I enjoy writing.
14. Writing is the way that I understand the world around me.
15. Inspiration is a jewel to be treasured and carried within me each day.
16. It’s okay to feel like a mess.
17. The most well-known writers have felt bad about their work.
18. There is a way to do this writing thing that will work for me.
19. Creativity is a worthy use of my time.
20. I can say “no” if I don’t want to waste my time writing something.
21. My writing will change with time.
22. Putting my writing out into the world may affect others in ways I’ll never know.
23. It’s important to listen to my instincts about writing.
24. I deserve to take time out each day to write.
25. I will write.
It’s the simple things that matter each day. We need to walk into our experiences with the mindset that it’s perfectly okay to do what we are doing and that how we are doing it is good enough for today. The world is tough enough; don’t make it harder by being unkind to yourself or your writing. Remember that when you are sitting down at the desk to write something that’s not working for you. And then just sit and write.
Question of the Day: What mantra gets you to the next step in writing?
From your loving forums moderator: How are you doing on day 3?
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Go Rhino, go !
Fighting the urge to edit, reject and over critique is what this is about in the end for a lot of us. Getting over that Editor's voice telling us to stop writing, stop our flow, is what keeps us from going forward in a draft. You can always keep a pad of paper for notes on what the Editor says if it's helpful so you can keep going. Sometimes that's enough to keep you moving forward.
And you're right, 30 days DOES make a habit, but just because this ends at day 30 doesn't mean that you don't have to keep moving forward with your habit and sometimes if you find a couple other people on here you connect with who you can keep in touch with, sometimes THAT'S all you need, you know?
It's funny, because I made the false assumption that maybe you were new to playwriting, but after looking at your bio, it made me realize, humbly, that the urge to edit, reject and over-critique can happen to anyone with any amount of theatre background at any time. Thank you for reminding me of that!
The grant writing that you're doing for the mask making workshop in commedia sounds like a wonderful opportunity and i hope you get to do it. It's relation to your play that you're working on about the masks that teenagers wear is wonderful. I think that it's a great idea and it would help a lot of teens, you know? One of my instructors at the university of iowa was commedia trained and i often wished i could have done more work with him. Break a leg on that!
I love the editing process so much that I often get sad that I don't get to talk about it much here. Mostly the focus is on creating new work, but in the end, when you think about it, editing is also about creating new work--creating new work that is stronger than what it was before!
It is good that you can see that tearing apart something will make it stronger. It's hard to let something go when you love it that much, but sometimes you have to.
I know that you will come up with what you are supposed to come up with for the play in the end. Just keep listening to the characters, they won't steer you wrong!
It's funny how it works. You have an idea of where you want to go and you get more ideas as you go along, but then BOOM, something happens and you're on a completely different track than you thought you would ever be. Good for having 9 pages and a lot of ideas. That will definitely help you in the long run. Just don't resist where the play and the characters want to go. Sometimes I do that, and I have to remember, sometimes the creation is stronger than the god that created them.
so good. Have written every day and fighting the urge to edit, reject and over-critique.
30 days makes a habit. of course this process will then be over.
I've set up a meeting with my actor friend for tomorrow, so that will be fun. As for today, I went back and reviewed Act 1 (which was originally a stand-alone) and noted the parts that will need to be revised to accommodate the concept for Act 2. It's sad to have to tear into a work like that, but it's necessary, and I think I can strengthen some of the thematic aspects of the whole thing. Writing what characters have to say can be easy. Having something to say about the world is another thing entirely.
A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for.
I write without an end in sight. Well, that's not really true, because my entire play is turning out to be a series of flashbacks. So I know where my lead character is when the play ends, but I'm still not sure how she gets there or who she takes with her. I have 9 pages, 4 characters, 12 Scenes, and a lot of ideas.
So what's next?
watching The Simpsons and checking on the site. If I can come down from my caffiene buzz today, I will try and write some of Mine, but I am still at 4 pages.
I've only got about a page and a half, but lots of ideas!
Sarah M. Duncan
My characters told me their names yesterday, plus sorted out a few details that needed to be dealt with.
Today has been filled with "find a vehicle right now to replace our totaled one" and other "responsibilities" (blech)
However...I got a good 2 and a half pages of unformatted dialogue which will be at least 5 pages if/when I get time to format them.