Written by: Adrea Peters, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Life goal: Write a Book. You start or think (and think and think) about starting, and you get stuck. Or you’re writing the book and you get stuck. In all scenarios, you give up in defeat. You either don’t start, or don’t finish, and end up shaming yourself for even considering such a bold dream.
Getting stuck means you’re onto something really good.
Stick with me. I promise it’s worth it.
When your words start to have emotion. Let me repeat that: when your words start to have EMOTION, you are in the best possible place. And, yes, for you cynics out there, boredom is an emotion and one that doesn’t work all that well for books. Thus, you know you need to address those words and make them far less boring.
Your emotions equal the readers emotions. You infuse your writing. Period. We write books to be heard. Your words are your voice. You have something important to say. We all do. When we write, we give ourselves the CHANCE to be heard.
That.
Is.
Powerful.
And when it gets emotional, we freak out (until we have trained ourselves to know better and go in deeper).
When we freak out, we are stuck. When we are stuck, we distract ourselves.
Here’s the cool part... (this where my promise of this being worth it comes in.)
Distractions serve the writer. As an author, you have to make every enemy you face a friend. HAVE TO. I’m not kidding. Or you really won’t finish. And when that dream sits there unfulfilled, it turns into a nightmare.
The key to becoming a writer is inclusion, not exclusion. This is counterintuitive, until it isn’t. It took me decades to figure this out. When have this silly notion that we have to exclude everyone and everything to write. That is impossible. You have to reverse it if you want to succeed in your craft. (perhaps any craft).
Here are some other common enemies… to be BEFRIENDED, not AVOIDED.
Social Media (this is how we connect with readers)
Cleaning (nothing brings more clarity than a mind quieted by monotony)
Chatting to family and friends (a freaking treasure trove of material!)
Grooming (allows you feel good about yourself!)
Exercising (builds strength, you need a lot of strength to be a writer!)
Sleep (may we never underestimate the power of rest. Writing challenges our emotions, which is exhausting and fulfilling. Rest clears the muck so you can get overly emotional all over again.)
If we want to be heard (and we do or we would not write a book), we need to present our whole selves. I know you have heard this all before and I really hate to sound like a song you’ve heard before...
Yet.
That is story in action. We repeat our patterns until we break them and CHANGE into who we really want to be.
You can’t rush progress.
You can to monopolize your distractions. Make them your best friend, because that is exactly what they are.
To do this, get a notebook, or sticky notes, or a giant whiteboard in your living room (yes, I hung one temporarily so that I could take on one distraction at a time and triumph over it!) and WRITE EVERY DISTRACTION DOWN.
From there, figure out how that distraction is making life better, not worse.
Here is a quick trick... think about how harmful it is, and then reverse it to see the good in it. For example, eating excessive amounts of potato chips (this is one of mine). The bad is that I feel nauseous, greasy, and ashamed. Therefore, the good is that I am ready to feel good when I eat, energized and alive, clean and proud. Now just swap out eat for write… and you will have a “Oh. Wait a sec. Okay. Okay. I get it.” Moment.
Thank you for your time! Happy writing!
Adrea Peters, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Adrea Peters is an award-winning author with a unique focus on endless possibilities. Her exuberant knowledge of story and its connection to the physics of us makes every offering she delivers mind-blowingly expansive. She wants YOU to understand YOU and how to let your stories reflect that. Both her fiction and non-fiction offer playful insight on how life works, how relationships suffer and bloom, and how we, as humans, always have triumph awaiting us. In addition to writing, Adrea worked for a Fortune 35 company before starting her consulting firm where she has helped many colleagues soar equal to the characters in her stories. Her mission: For each and every one of you to know that you are a unique, one-of-a-kind human being living an extraordinary life.
