I’m part of a rotating lineup of mentors on the SPARKED podcast, a podcast that explores how to find and do work that makes you come alive.
And we’re looking for special guest “wisdom-seekers” to share the moment you’re in, then pose questions to Jonathan and the Sparked Braintrust to be answered, “on air.”
To submit your “moment & question” for consideration to be on the show go to sparketype.com/submit .
I recently signed up for an online course delivered by email. It was a seven-day program, and it didn’t cost much. I was excited about it. But guess what? Guess how many days of the program I actually showed up for? You’re right – three. You probably guessed this because you have likely done this yourself.
While it seems like a good idea to be able to take a class on your own, often we flake out on it. I don’t blame myself or beat myself up about it – and I don’t judge you, either. I just think it’s a flaw in the way people are delivering their good content now. To get more people into the program, they sacrifice an actual connection with the people they’re serving.
I think this is the biggest problem with online learning today. Self-study, on-demand programs can be great, and sure, some of us manage to work through a self-guided class all on our own. More often, though, we don’t set ourselves up to do the work. What originally seemed like a good idea becomes yet another thing you didn’t do. It becomes a drain on your vital life energy. Even free courses can become a drag if you don’t show up to do the work.
I prefer to spend time with the people I’m helping. That’s why most of my workshops are live or include time with me. I’ve got one coming up I want to be sure you know about, because it’s truly life-changing and I love teaching it.
One of my favorite workshops is the Annual Review for Creatives. We get to take a ‘mini-retreat’ together to reflect on the year and all we’ve done. This program is designed specifically for creative people. It’s all too easy to let our writing or art-making efforts go under the radar.
In this workshop, we give ourselves credit for all the ways we showed up for our creative selves. It’s fun, empowering and effective. And it’s live!
We meet on Friday, December 9th for three hours. I’ll guide you through my process for making the most of the year. I’ll also share some of my highlights from 2022, including surprises and wins I didn’t plan at the outset.
Get your seat here. And if for some reason you cannot make the live event, you can access the recordings and handouts through December 31, 2022.
I’ve just topped 40,000 words on the novel I’m writing. My goal is 50,000. I’d hoped to reach that deadline before I leave for London tomorrow. Alas, it was too ambitious of a goal* for me.
I realized I wouldn’t achieve the goal about a week ago. It would be easy to go limp and give up entirely. Like if you miss a day, your focus goes ‘poof,’ and you abandon the goal entirely.
But I don’t operate that way. Deadlines give me incredible focus and commitment. They help me prioritize the project, no matter what is happening in my life. I share this approach with my clients to great effect. Don’t get me wrong – there have been times when I have had to abandon a project due to life’s other plans.
I am confident I will meet my bigger goal of 50,000 words by December 1st. I have five more days after I get home. With only 10,000 words to write, that is completely doable, even with jet lag. I had the image of celebrating a complete draft in London. But no sweat. I will still celebrate those 40,000 words.
Here’s the approach that works for my clients and me.
Use upcoming trips, holidays, guests or other ‘disruptions’ to your routine to accelerate your focus. The question I ask my clients is this: “Where do you want to be with your project when you head out of the office/receive guests/start a new job?” This galvanizes their imagination and commitment. The disruption becomes less a reason to bail and more an ally to help them focus.
By keeping my word to myself to write daily since October 20, I’ve gained an enormous amount of self-trust and confidence. Every day I write, I signal to myself that despite all my doubts and insecurities, this project matters.
I leave the project with a clear sense of where I will pick it up upon return.
I trust the break will give me the perfect amount of distance and perspective. This will enhance the writing and improve the quality of the novel.
I don’t expect to write on the trip. While it would be nice to write on the airplane – nine uninterrupted hours – I know myself. I love to leave it all behind. I love the space and freedom I feel on a long-distance flight. I may read Story Genius by Lisa Cron. I may read an novel. This is ‘off’ time and I have the freedom to enjoy the vacation.
What I want most to convey to you is this sense of how I hold a deadline. I take it seriously, and it galvanizes my focus. But when/if I don’t achieve that goal, it’s not a problem. I know I have done everything I can to get there. I simply set a new deadline and reset the focus.
*I don’t typically go for ‘write your book in an unreasonably short period of time’. Getting a book from idea to print takes time. Writing and revising is not a speedy medium. But to accelerate focus and get a shaggy draft out quickly, NaNoWriMo is handy.
Do you use trips or other ‘disruptions’ to work in your favor? Share your experience below.
Travel is one of those incredibly personal things. Many of my clients hope to get a lot of writing done while traveling. And some do. But if they don’t know how they write/travel, they can easily burden themselves with unrealistic expectations. It’s much better to plan according to your style of travel than to lug all your writing materials with you and never crack open your laptop. I coach my clients to know their way so they can set themselves up for success whether they bring their writing along or take a break.
Are you a traveling writer? Some people can write easily while on the road. Others can’t. Neither is better; it’s only important to know what works for you.
One client of mine loved his airplane time. It was the only place where he didn’t have to respond to work demands. Where he wasn’t responsible for his family’s needs. Where he had uninterrupted time to write. He got a lot done while away from his routine. Others find that work trips, family trips or vacations are too disruptive to focus.
Don’t judge whether you can or can’t write while away from home. What’s damaging to your confidence is having unreasonable expectations for yourself. Bringing a lot of stuff with you to work on and not getting to it can add unnecessary stress. Remember, the main thing we need to guard and access is focus. Some people can focus more easily when away from home. Others find that they can’t get much writing done while traveling.
Decide which you are—a traveling writer or a home writer. Set your expectations accordingly.
Drop a note in the comments below to share your travel/writing mode. What works for you?
The other day in the Impulse Writing Club, our Writual Blessing was Writing heals you. This Blessing seemed particularly apt for the week’s writing.
I’m just over 20,000 words into my novel in progress. There’s a lot to write, and my deadline is November 17th. We leave for a vacation in London that day and I hope to have a shaggy draft done before I go. I need to channel Tori Amos and her energetic keyboard jam style to get this done!
While bobbing around in water aerobics class the other day, I had wave after wave of insights about how writing this book is changing my life. I’ll share a few of my benefits of writing a novel here.
1 I have ‘writer’s eyes’ on all the time. Out in the world, I automatically write in my head the things I see. I describe and put into words what I see. This feels good, and it somehow feels like I am learning to write better. I call this ‘hands-off keyboard’ writing. Even when we’re not inking things, writers are always playing with language.
2 I have a clear creative edge. My current creative edge is description. I struggle to find interesting ways to describe external things like the landscape or the setting. It’s a fine line between straightforward writing and overwrought prose. In this novel, I get to apply myself at my creative edge and see growth.
3 I see situations in the book – and in life – more objectively. I always tend toward seeing multiple perspectives on life. In this autofiction, I can get out of my point of view and see myself and my actions objectively. This is the kind of thing we seek in therapy. This is a big bonus I didn’t expect.
4 The hard stuff I am writing about yields benefits I have always sought in therapy. This is where writing feels healing.
5 I feel happier. Having a creative writing project gives me a sense of satisfaction that I don’t get from other work projects. Engaging in a project that’s initially just for me seems to give me confidence and self-respect. This is one of the big challenges of writing a long project – while doing it, we are the only ones benefiting from it. But I assert it’s worth it, even if it’s just for us.
I appreciate all these insights. I just dove into this idea. NaNoWriMo – the invitation to draft 50,000 words in a month – drove me past overthinking the idea. My published novel took 12 years to write. I’ve avoided other long works of fiction because I don’t want to take that long. Now I feel motivated to take up projects for their own sake. Not worrying about how long it will take. Setting aside concern about where it will go and what it will do for me.
Soaking up the feelings and insights I get while writing gives me plenty. Right now, I’m going to savor that.
And now, I’m off to ink my 2500 words for the day because that deadline is moving toward me. And I am moving toward it, with my heart open and fingers dancing.
What benefits are you gleaning from your current project? Share in a comment below.
If you’re like me, when you travel, you get a ton of inspiration. When I lead writing and creativity workshops, I invite people to gather their inspiration in one place. I call this ‘Flashes of Inspiration’. It’s a page at the back of my notebook where I write down all the wacky ideas I get. I don’t worry about feasibility or whether I will ever implement these ideas. It’s easier to find these gems later when they’re all in one place.
As a coach, I am about actionable ideas. There’s a point where more ideas aren’t really good. We creative types can easily get overwhelmed and then just do nothing.
But while walking with my group in Paris, I reconsidered the value of ideas. Whenever I get an idea, I think to myself, “This is a GREAT idea!” I am full of enthusiasm, possibility, and joy. It doesn’t really matter if the idea is good or actionable. What if just the idea in itself, that blip of SQUEEE!! Is enough? What if we didn’t have to take action on everything?
I get joy from looking at my Flashes of Inspiration list. I typed up the ideas I got while leading Paris Sketchbook and Write Your Heart Out in Paris. The last item on the list is where my coach or project manager wants to come in. Do I need to make this list actionable? Probably not. Usually, things that rise to the top of the priority list get done. Sometimes, years later, you will pick up a list and see you’ve done most of them.
Here’s my list, shared with you, with all the wild and whackery of it, in no particular order.
How do you capture and take action on the inspiration when you get while traveling? Share your secrets below.
Have you ever been pulled away from a project? Perhaps you feared it was over and you wouldn’t get back to it. I know the feeling!
Now that I am back from France, it’s time to focus on my book. I took a hiatus during the summer and early fall. Turns out it’s a lot of work and focus required to lead two workshops in France! I didn’t have any bandwidth to focus on the book.
Sure, I have been thinking about my book and making notes about it. But I haven’t been driving it forward the way I would like.
This happens all the time – our steady going on our projects gets interrupted. Life will always throw us a distraction or something that we cannot avoid.
It can be distressing to be pulled away from our work. But a break doesn’t have to mean a breakup. Here are a couple of suggestions to make getting back into the groove easier.
Invite a deeper trust. Know that you will get back into it. Connect to the reason why you do it in the first place. Trust that you and your project won’t be done until the project itself is done.
Relinquish any angst or self-recriminiation about taking a pause. It’s just life. It’s not you or your lack of discipline. Okay, maybe it is, but you will know the difference between procrastination and an unavoidable interruption.
If you can, give yourself a return date. I knew I wouldn’t be doing any work on it until I came back from France. So I gave myself the return date of October 24th. I’m using the Atelier to help me with weekly accountability.
Getting back into a project you’ve been away for can be daunting. Where to start? I suggest a 15-minute date with your project.
Give yourself a short period of time to get acquainted. Don’t expect yourself to produce anything. Just get in touch with it. Read over what you’ve written. See what’s next. Give yourself the chance to get excited about it again. Before you know it, you will have clarity on the next steps. Set yourself up for a work session to do those next things.
Make the return graceful, not stressful. What has helped you come back to a project? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I wish it weren’t true but sometimes you will HATE writing your book.
I used to think that when we love our topic, we should love writing about it.
And that writing a book should be a great adventure, start to finish.
I was writing yet another draft of my novel. I had to take a walk to air out my thoughts. OMG this is so HARD, I remember thinking.
I was learning as I went how to craft a story. DUH! How would I know how to write a novel? Only by doing it – badly.
On the walk, a voice in my head replied to my whiney “It’s so HARD!” with “Yes, it’s hard. So? You can learn anything.”
Knowing book writing is hard work invited my values of learning, curiosity, and challenge to rise up. Now, for all 9 books I’ve written, whenever it got hard, I didn’t cave in. I leaned in.
Normalizing the work of writing a book is one of the biggest gifts I give my clients. And now you have it. You’re welcome.
Have you given up on your book or major body of work because you mistake the ‘hard’ work of writing to be a fault of your own?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Knowing this will save you a lot of angst.
You will be caught off-guard when you discover this:
Writing a book is different than writing anything else.
Whaaaat? Here’s the problem.
We were taught how to write in school. Everyone writes! Should be easy, right?
We think because we’ve written blogs or articles that we switch to book mode easily.
But writing a compelling story for a book or article is a craft. A book is a body of work that calls for more depth. Doing it well takes time. Humility and patience.
If you are struggling with writing a book, it’s not your fault. The job itself is challenging.
How have you adapted to the work of writing long-form? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Break it down to meet your deadlines
Sometimes, especially when we’re starting a project, numbers can help us. We can track our word count. We can add up the number of writing sessions.
I came up with a simple formula that my clients have told me is SUPER helpful to stay on track with a project.
I’d like to think I am a genius for inventing this formula. But honestly, it was the method I used to wade through the tomes we read in my Classics Book Club. (Think Don Quixote.)
Applied to writing your own tomes, it can help you have reasonable expectations about how much you need to write in order to meet your goals.
Do the math for your current project:
The final digit is how many pages or words you need to write daily.
Try this and let me know how it goes! Share your experience in the comments below.
You may know that I spend an inordinate amount of time with books. Reading books, reading ABOUT books, helping people shape their books, writing my own books, and going to the library every week to pick up more books.
I was delighted to be invited to a book club that had read my novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach. I drove into the mountains on a sunny afternoon for tea and book chat.
The big treat was that this group is an art book group. All the members are artists. So of course the food was artistic, the conversation was about art, and the home filled with art.
It was an honor to be invited and I’m always thrilled that people are reading my novel. I brought my fat binder of notes from my research at the Princeton Library.
But the best part of the day was when the host, Teri, mentioned that she has a huge collection of books on creativity. Can I see your books? I asked. You know how it is – you go into someone’s home and if they have a bookcase around, you can’t help but want to scan the titles. It’s like being able to Google someone’s brain.
She led me upstairs. Immediately I felt like I was in Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It was a wonderworld of books. Teri has two studios connected by a hallway lined with books. One of the bookcases was actually a hidden door! She reached behind some of the books to open the door into one of her studios. Of course, I was all aflutter with booklust. So many books! So many questions!
Do you read all these? Yes.
When do you read? In the morning for an hour or two.
Do you make notes? Yes, in the margins.
Teri reads so much that she had to start a second art book group. She sent me the lists of the books both groups had read. Scanning the list, I felt the need to stop everything, set up the hammock, and get to reading.
I was so inspired that I adjusted my reading habits. I am often awake at 3 or 4 am, much to my frustration. Now, I take that as my reading time. I haven’t made the leap to write in the margins, but perhaps one day I will.
Are you this bookish? I love that I am still able to feel the excitement I felt as a girl at the library or bookstore. I love that books are such a great social object, connecting us to the author, to the author’s ideas, and to other readers across time and space.
Great book podcast
I was perusing podcasts the other day and discovered The Book Case. What a treat! This is a father/daughter team who interviews authors. They also speak with independent booksellers around the US to hear about their bookstores and what books they are loving. What a great idea – and so well done. I am listening to every episode and particularly loved hearing from Anna Quindlen and Jennifer Egan.
What I’m reading
I am loving Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting by Mary Gauthier. Teri recommended it after I confessed that I long to write a song. This is the songwriting book I have been craving – one that addresses the personal and emotional chops required to write a good song.
I have another songwriting book on the shelf but I will wait until I’ve dived into it to recommend that.
That’s it, book lovers! Share your current book loves in a comment below.
You will resist this but pretend you’ve just paid me thousands of dollars and my advice is GOLD.
Identify your reader early on. Know your reader, not just from a marketing perspective but from a writing perspective. Often when we sit down to write, we get overly formal and lose touch with our voice and our confidence.
If you have a business, you have identified your ideal client or customer.
When we know our reader, we can write directly to them. The connection between you, your ideas, and your reader is powerful. With a specific person in mind, your writing will flow. Decisions about what goes in the book will become super easy.
And yet, you will resist it. You will want the book to be for everybody. You will think of three or more audiences who will love your book.
But it’s not for an “audience.” When you think of that word, what comes to mind is probably a bunch of people or a big group. But when you think of one specific person, writing your book is infinitely easier. Trust me.
Have you identified your reader for your book or other writing? This isn’t needed as much for fiction but for non-fiction, yes, this is a power move.
Bonus homework from your writing coach
Free-write about your ideal reader. Who needs your book? They will recognize it immediately when they see it. Give them a name. Get very clear about who they are and why your book is important to them.
After you went through your homework, share your comments below.
I like to think that each of us has a predominant feeling tone. We see this tone reflected in our writing or creative work. We connect with it through other’s art: movies, music, art often allows us to experience our feeling tone.
My feeling tone is a blend of melancholy/hope/joy. I love things that bring a sense of the poignancy of life to the forefront. Life is a mixed bag, right? It’s sad and hopeful and gorgeous and funny all at once.
Art gives me a way to honor that blend of feelings. We started watching a show called This Is Us. We’ve been trying to avoid getting into TV shows because, well, you know. You get hooked. The next thing you know you’re watching every night.
I ask myself what is it that pulls me in? It’s wanting to be in that world. To experience that feeling tone.
This Is Us is a show with wonderful characters, all flawed, all fully human, all doing their best to be themselves. The themes revolve around parenting, being a sibling, and being successful at what we care most about.
We just love it. It’s a sweet show, and with all the trouble in the world and the other dark stuff we have been watching (Ozark), This Is Us is the show I need right now.
Turns out we have tuned into this program just as it’s coming to the finale of its 6-season run. Steve came into the studio the other day to announce,“Sweetie. There are 150 episodes of the show.” I thought, Great! That’s a year of nightly watching. OY VEY!
What words describe your feeling tone in your art and life? What shows, music or art reflect that feeling tone back to you? Share in the comments below.
Last Call Ya’ll for Impulse Writing Club!
Registration for the Impulse Writing Club is still open. Want to join us for 16 weeks of writing? Register today!
I promised my coachy genius in this week’s Impulses to help you get over inner critic POO POOing and write the book that’s inside you.
But first you may be asking, Who is Cynthia Morris to talk about writing a book? Some stats:
Reading books for 50 years. (Doesn’t qualify me around writing a book, but I do have unquenchable booklust. )
Wrote and published 8 books, including a novel.
Writing my 9th book now.
I’m a Certified Co-Active Professional Coach since 1999, focused on writing and creative process.
Former bookseller (Again, doesn’t qualify me about writing but gives me insider view to the book world.)
I’ve been coaching writers and creatives since 1999 = thousands of conversations to discover a) the path we all must hike when writing a book + b) how we all have to hike it in our own way.
Okay, here are a few of my best coaching inquiries to help you truly commit to your book writing. Give yourself a few minutes to answer these questions on your own. Respond in writing, without overthinking.
Are you in for the Impulse Writing Club?
Registration for the Impulse Writing Club is still open. Want to join us for 16 weeks of writing? We start next week. Register today!
Share your comments below.
My answers to last week’s questions that will actually get you writing your book.
Let’s hijack the voice in your head that says don’t bother writing your book.
Yes, the world needs YOUR book. Other books reflect proof of concept. Your voice will add to the conversation.
There’s only one way to find out if you can do it – try it and see. Really. Isn’t it better to give it a chance than to wonder what if for the rest of your life?
If you care about your idea, chances are, someone else will, too. And honestly, you are writing the first draft for yourself in most cases.
Choose the book that feels most alive to you and start there.
Don’t fret about finishing; just get started. Worse than not finishing is the pain of never giving your ideas a chance.
Which one of these statements/actions most ignites you to write your book? Share in the comments below.
Next week I will share my true coachy genius that gets people motivated, ready and in action around writing a book.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
