Writers don’t need discipline, do they? Not according to one well known author.

In one of my favorite writing books (Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg), there’s a chapter on writing myths that the author says you should ignore.

I was reading the list and nodding and “Amen!”-ing my agreement all the way up to Myth #8. It said to ignore the warning that “you have to be disciplined to be a writer.” Really!

No Discipline? Shocking!

I recoiled. Such blasphemy! How could she claim that writers didn’t need self-discipline? “Everyone” knew you needed to discipline yourself to write every day, to study markets, to read in your field. How could she say that? It went against my deeply ingrained beliefs.

And yet…as I read on, her words resonated with me much more than I would have believed possible. If you don’t need to be disciplined, what do you need? She wrote:

“What you have to be is in love. With writing. Not with ideas about what to write; not with daydreams about what you’re going to do when you’re sucessful. You have to be in love with writing itself, with the solitary and satisfying act of sitting down and watching something you hold in your head and your heart quietly transform itself into words on a page.”

Major Paradigm Shift

Hmm…You don’t have to be disciplined–but instead, you have to be in love with the act of writing. For some reason, that rings true for me.

Of my 42 published books, I can only think of three that I had to “make myself” sit down and write. (They were a work-for-hire assignment on a subject that I had no interest in.) But I loved writing the others.

Yes, I ran into occasional rough spots. Yes, sometimes I felt physically or emotionally shot, so writing wasn’t as much fun on those days. But I didn’t have to discipline myself to write.

In each case, I had a story I was burning to tell, and I couldn’t wait for private, uninterrupted time when I could immerse myself in my fictional world–where I could make life turn out like I wanted, like it should be.

Fueled from Within

In the early years, the inner passion for writing fueled me–not discipline imposed from the outside. If I recall correctly, the need for discipline didn’t occur until I was juggling a full-time day job along with raising a family PLUS writing.

I think Ms. Berg is onto something here. Maybe on the days we can’t make ourselves write, we should check our passion quota about our current project.

Passion for writing versus self-discipline–I think I need to investigate this further! Is it one or the other–or both? And if we’ve fallen out of love with our writing, how can we get that back?

How about You?

What does “being in love with your writing” look like for you? Can you describe one of its attributes? If so, please leave a comment!

The end of June is a month of reckoning. And I’m not satisfied–not even close–with what I’ve accomplished the first half of this year.

I’m great at making goals, writing them down, setting deadlines, posting them on my bulletin board, and getting to work.

Until fairly recently, I was also very good at accomplishing whatever I set my mind to. Throw me an obstacle? I’d climb over it, tunnel under it, or go around it to meet my writing goals.

Hmmm… So what happened?

I’ve been reviewing my 2012 writing goals this past week, and (it’s embarrassing to admit) I only accomplished three of my nine goals. I think at least six of them were do-able too. I truly was puzzled by this. It is so NOT like me. Admittedly, I had added a writing project that lasted six weeks, but that wasn’t enough to make so much difference.

Luckily I journal a lot, so it wasn’t hard to go back over the year and see where my time went. Some of it went to paid critiquing, but not enough to account for my dismal showing. I babysit grandkids weekly, plus extra weekends, but it didn’t account for the failure either. Even the new community volunteer job didn’t explain it.

It explained the fatigue, I suppose. But not one of these activities actually caused my failure to meet many writing goals.

Lightbulb Moment #1

Then I realized that although none of those activities took more than 7-10 hours per week, when I added them up, it came close to 20 hours per week of “extras.” Sometimes it was more, when I did some special event.

I need to remember in the future to add up EVERYTHING I’m doing already before taking on something else, even if the solicitor promises the job will only take one hour per week. I need to add prep time, travel time, and time to answer email from people–and factor it all into the equation.

Lightbulb Moment #2

Several years ago I signed up for Mark Joyner’s free Simple’ology course, so I read through the workbook again. One thing struck me forcefully. “The Law of Clear Vision states that in order to hit a target, you need to see it clearly.”

The author had you do an experiment where you stand in the middle of a room and try to reach a targeted object on the wall. In the first try, you close your eyes, turn around five times, then (still with eyes shut) guess at the target’s location and wander toward it.

The second time you do the same turning around, only you keep your eyes open and head to the target. “It’s obvious that Method #2 will get you to your target 100% of the time. Method #1, on the other hand, will get you there only rarely.”

Bingo! Regain a Clear Vision

As soon as I read that statement, I realized why I hadn’t met too many of my goals. I had written them all down (much like hanging the target on the wall). But instead of keeping my eyes open and on the target, I blindfolded myself and twirled around, hoping that I’d somehow hit the target by accident when I was wandering around doing a lot of other things.

I learned (again) that it does no good to write down your goals or even post them on the wall if you don’t look at them. I lost that “clear vision” of what I wanted to accomplish this year and why. I did accomplish many good things for some very deserving people, but when I lost the clear vision of my own goals, things got way out of balance and off track.

Time to polish the glasses, get clear again, and face the rest of 2012 with better understanding and more resolve to stay focused.

How about you? How are you doing on your 2012 goals at the year’s mid-point?

About every two years, I get a wake-up call when some form of exhaustion sets in. Without noticing, I have fudged on bedtimes, let boundaries be way too flexible, or simply taken on more than I should have.

Time to Re-Group

Then I have to sit down and play the game called “Where’d My Time Go?” Usually I find that other people’s expectations have taken over my writing time. Nearly always I was at fault. I offered to do something I didn’t really have time for, or said “No problem!” when I should have said, “Sorry, I just can’t.”

My schedule is under control again, but I’d like to step out of this cycle once and for all. The best way I’ve found to save my writing time is to set policies. Remember, you’re the boss in your office! You have the authority to set whatever policies you need.

Time-Saving Policies

After you’ve spotted some of your weakest areas, develop policies to cover future requests. For some reason, stating that you have a “policy” about certain things carries more weight with people. Very few people argue when you have a “policy.”

Target the areas where you have the most trouble setting–and enforcing–boundaries. It might have to do with overtime on your day job, expectations from the neighbors, or any organization where you volunteer.

Some “company policies” might include:

• I have a policy about home business parties. I don’t attend them, and I don’t give them.
• I have a policy of not returning phone calls until the noon hour.
• I have a policy that says I don’t make doctors’ or dental appointments until after 3 p.m.
• I have a policy that includes no drop-in baby-sitting. I need a minimum of 48 hours notice.
• My policy states that I don’t commit to any event more than (X) months away. (Fill in your personal limit.)
• I choose to help with one party each year at my child’s school. That’s my class contribution, so what party would you like me to help with?
• My policy states that I charge $5 for each ten minutes that parents are late picking up their kids from my day care.

Under-Promise

Sometimes our commitments get out of hand because we want to do such an excellent job everywhere. So learn to under-promise, and later you can over-deliver if you have extra time.

For example, instead of volunteering to help at school the entire day, say you can come and read for one hour. If it turns out that you have extra time when the day rolls around, you can use the time to write or you can “over-deliver” on your promise and stay two hours. You’ll earn a reputation as someone who delivers even more than promised—and yet you’ll have saved time for yourself.

Time Credit Cards

Some of us (I’m guilty!) promise to do things months and months in advance when our calendars are still pristine white. Then six months later, when the event rolls around, our calendars are more jammed than we had anticipated; we regret that we ever agreed to that event or favor that really isn’t that important.

Too often we commit future time that we believe we’ll have, only to be caught up short later (like a credit card junkie who charges now and is just sure he’ll have the cash to pay it off later.)

Stop charging your time ahead! Cut up your time credit cards. Pay off whatever “time debt” you’ve accumulated at this point, but don’t charge anymore.

If people want you to commit to some volunteer thing more than a month away, simply say, “I have a policy that I don’t commit to things so far ahead. If you want to call me back in (X) months, I will be able to give you an answer then.” At that point, you’ll have a realistic idea of what your month’s schedule looks like.

If you are pressed for an answer (“I need to know now!”), then regretfully tell people that the answer will have to be “no.” (Given that choice, people will usually wait.)

E-mail, Social Networking, and Web Surfing

Limit your Internet time to two periods per day, before and after your writing. Keep it short. Answer crucial e-mail, but skip all the forwarded jokes and poignant stories till later. Unsubscribe from all but the best two or three e-newsletters you receive. Delete the junk without reading it. Check the social networking sites you use for marketing, and then close down. According to current workplace statistics, conquering e-mail/surfing/Facebook addiction can save you a full two or three hours per day.

Assignment: Where is your time going? Do you know? Keep track for a few weeks and be sure. Then begin to implement whatever policies you need in order to safeguard your time.

Write your company policies down and review them daily. As you use these policies, they will become second nature. Just remember that nature abhors a vacuum. Be ready to fill your new-found time with activities that can further your writing career.

***Speaking of furthering your writing career, in response to several emails, I’ve updated my critique service page. I am now reserving spots for July, August, and September. Just FYI!

Have you collected quotes and free ebooks and downloads from the Internet? Do you remember to document the source of your information (the URL)? I nearly always forget. Copying and pasting the information and a long URL was a headache.

Until now.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, the Quote

Below is a quote that I wanted to use for today’s blog, but I wanted to also give credit where it was due. I copied it onto my computer screen some months ago, but I can’t remember the source. (If any of you know, tell me, and I’ll add the credit.)

I remembered the quote when I was looking over several boxes of manuscripts that I had never finished. I didn’t recall why. Then I remembered this quote, and it gave me a solution:

Canvas your half-done creations, whether they are chapters half-written, paintings half-painted, business ideas half-formulated, or programs half-coded. How many of them are stuck at roughly the same spot?

I’ll bet that spot is where you started thinking about how you were going to sell or share that creation.

I’m not saying you can’t sell it – I’m saying you have to create it first. And to create it, you have to create it for yourself. You have to be passionate about it. You have to be interested in it. You have to have your moment to cherish the newborn.

Go back and review those half-baked ideas. Put a sign, physical or otherwise, on them that says “Not For Sale” or “Just For Me.” Give yourself room to play. (Source Unknown) [P.S. LATER: Thanks to several people, I can now give proper credit. It’s from an article called “Your Art is For You” by Charlie Gilkey.]

What to Do? Help is Here!

I decided to mark every abandoned manuscript as “not for submission” and give myself room to play and enjoy the writing. It’s made the writing fun again.

I wished I knew where I pulled the quote from because I’d like to go back to that website or ebook or blog and read the author’s other ideas.

I mentioned my aggravation to a friend, who told me (again) that she had solved that issue long ago by using Evernote for online research of all kinds. Using the program’s F*R*E*E version, you can capture whole web pages, movies, audio files, you name it. You then tag your material and file it in a folder you create.

You can download the free version of Evernote to all your computers, phones, and mobile devices so they can synchronize. I downloaded the free version and started using it immediately. (The simple guide to using Evernote takes just a few minutes to read.) There are also Evernote Tutorial videos and an Evernote blog–chockful of great tips!

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, usually some research is necessary. The Evernote system is a much more organized place for it than your Favorites, and you can actually store the information itself (URL and all). I love being able to collect it, then get off-line to read it at any time.

Nothing comes from nothing. If you’re having trouble with creative OUTput, it could well be because you have little creative INput.

I know–because that’s been my problem the past few months. I’ve been trying to fish from an empty pond. I’ve been trying to draw a drink of cool water from an empty well. The creative juices just aren’t flowing. (Why are all the metaphors for creativity liquid?)

Refresh Your Soul

“How do you enhance the creative power in your life?” asks Thomas KinKade in Lightposts for Living. “The starting point for all creative acts…is to live life and pay attention!” Get outdoors, study the birds and flowers and insects and rain up close. Go to museums and art galleries. Thumb through photos.

Katherine Paterson, award-winning children’s author, went so far as to say she didn’t even believe in writer’s block. She said that the thing that freezes a writer’s soul and leaves her staring in panic at a blank computer screen is writer’s starvation. If you need more creative “juice,” fill your mind and heart with sights, sounds, ideas, images, and experiences.

With the holidays ahead of us, you might be thinking, “Yeah, right, like I’m going to have time to go fill my creative well with images!” Don’t think of it as an added “thing to do,” but as a mind-set.

Be Mindful

When you’re out shopping or going to school programs, take time to really look at the people…the decorations. When carols play over the WalMart loudspeakers, stop briefly and listen (or sing along). Make time to go to a Christmas concert. (My favorite one during the holidays is when my son-in-law plays in the Tubameisters’s concert on the Riverwalk.)

Take time to fill your mind and heart with sights, sounds, ideas, images, and experiences. And when 2012 rolls around, you’ll be ready to write–and you’ll have something to write about.