Writing the rat race away

Life is crazy. We all know that.

Because life these days isn’t actually life: it’s just one big rat race.

Everyone is running from point A to point B as fast as they can; doing everything they can to stay focused on the prize; pushing themselves to run harder—faster. Never satisfied with where they’re at. Always wanting to be more, better, greater.

The end goal is what’s important—and anything that get’s in the way of achieving that goal is to be avoided.

What a horrible way to live. What a soul sucking way to work. Who in their right mind would want to run in a race like that?

It sounds horrible and exhausting and… And it sounds… Oh…

… it sounds like the exact same way so many of us think about writing.

Great.

One of the most useful tools for self motivation that you should have in your toolbox.

There we were—a basketball team with a roster eight men deep shallow, and hardly a true basketball player among us—trying to compete against schools much MUCH larger than us; all of which were able to field teams with rosters filled to the brim by hardcore, true blooded, diehard basketball players.

The whole situation felt suspiciously like the setup to your typical disney-channel-esque basketball movie.

You know, the type of underdog story where the little guy rises up against all odds to take home the big trophy. By the end of the season, though, it didn’t turn out that way; we didn’t come in first; we didn’t take home the trophy…

But we did come in second.

Most people would have never thought that a basketball team made up of non-basketball players, from a school so small that nobody had ever heard of it, would have been able to take second place in our league.

But that’s because most people didn’t know about our secret weapon.

What secret weapon, you ask? What could possibly take a team like mine and turn us into a basketball team from an almost-disney-channel-esque basketball movie?

We were really good at pretending.

Are you even good enough to be a writer?

I spend a decent amount of time on online writing forums.

It’s a great feeling to be able to interact with and help out other writers directly. I love being able to read what they’re working on, and give the occasional piece of advice or input. For someone like me, these communities of writers are like some sort of heaven…

But the best part about frequenting these forums? The other users are always asking questions…

Lately though, I’ve noticed a very annoying question popping up more and more often.

Am I good enough to be a writer?

Seriously? Are you good enough? You have to be joking.

Of course you’re not!

Strong bodies and strong minds

Sure, you’re lying on your back, desperately gasping for breath, vision swimming, heart pounding, probably dying… But somewhere in the back of your mind you’re standing tall.

Pride swells your chest as you look back on the pain you endured and the hurdles you leapt to earn this moment. And you find yourself thinking… “Yeah, I just did that.”

I absolutely love that feeling.

It’s a reward well worth the pain invested to receive it.

But these days, I don’t workout just to keep my body strong or to get my “feeling of accomplishment” fix. It’s nice to feel strong, don’t get me wrong, but these days I mostly workout to make myself a better writer.

Don’t follow? Let me explain…

How writers keep writing when their muse is dead

The muse is dead; and with her, your desire to write.

You no longer feel the urge to tell that story in your head. You no longer feel the need to get the words out. You have no interest in putting in the work required of a writer; because, well, the underlying motivation that inspired you to start writing in the first place, is gone.

This isn’t like writer’s block where you know exactly what you want to write, but don’t know how to go about doing it; although, it’s just as dangerous, and just as difficult to deal with. This is like a punch to the gut that knocks all of the creative energy out of you.

With writer’s block, you stare at a blank screen and a blinking cursor; but when the muse dies, you’re not even motivated enough to sit in the chair—and that’s not even the worst of it all. The worst part this is how sudden this can come on.

There is no warning, no indication that something might be wrong; you simply wake up one morning to discover that your inspiration, drive, excitement, and motivation to write are, just, gone.

What else could it be? Your muse is dead.

The number one plain, simple, and easy way to improve your writing

There is someone out there, right now, who want’s to read what you write.

There is someone out there, right now, who needs your words. Maybe they need them to escape, or maybe they need them to relax; but whatever their reasons, one thing holds true: they are relying on you.

Okay, that sounded a little dramatic. No, this isn’t a life or death situation here. But sometimes, in order to get yourself motivated, that’s how you have to think of your writing.

Somebody out there needs to read your story. If they don’t get it, you’ve let them down.

Why I’m embarrassed by my writing (most of the time) and why you should be too.

Your readers hate bad writing… Maybe that is why so many of us writer types become such snobs for “good writing.” You know, the type of flowery language and intricate sentence patterns that grace the pages of those classic novels we love so much. For some of us, every single time we sit down to write, no matter what it is we happen to be writing, that is the standard of “good writing” that we want to hold ourselves to.

Actually, most of the time we prefer to hold ourselves to the even higher standard, don’t we? Perfection is what we strive for. Perfection is our standard, and perfect writing is our obsession. Because we don’t just want everything we write to be perfect, we need everything we write to be perfect.

What artist could ever be satisfied with anything less?

Does that sound about right? Good. It should.

You should always strive to produce your best work in the end; but this innate perfectionism we all struggle with comes with a price.