The Writing Life

The biggest misconception I see around writing – or any creative practice – is that we think we need a lot of time. We imagine that we’ll get to the writing when we have two hours, five days a week.

Who does anything for two hours, five days a week? Okay, maybe work. And Netflix bingeing.

But other than that, we rarely do anything continuously for two hours. So why would we set ourselves up to write with completely unreasonable expectations?

I’m writing this article in between things. My mind said I didn’t have much time to focus. But I just opened up the freaking document and started typing my thoughts. (Revision comes later.)

Using free-writing, I’ve trained myself to stop, drop and write when I need to. I don’t worry about what I am going to say. I don’t fret over it being good or even coherent! I know that, for me, getting something on the page that I can sculpt and revise later is much better than having it sit on my to-do list.

Try writing for 15 minutes every day. If you can’t do every day, NO SWEAT! Even 15 or 20 days is better than none. In this way, we learn that we can stop, drop and write. Even when we’re busy. Even when we have fears. Even when life seems to want to get in our way.

If you are waiting for a two-hour chunk of time to write, or a time when you have a more clear calendar, you will be waiting for a long time. I say stop waiting. Stop deferring your writing dream.

It will be messy, and some days will feel like a slog. But if writing is a dream of yours, I want so dearly for you to claim the joys awaiting you in your words.

Look! Squirrel!

Yeah, gotcha. These days, our attention is as fractured as a kaleidoscope, splintering in a million directions at once. It’s getting harder and harder to reign in our focus enough to write or create.

I write about this in my book, but I’ll say it here: The real game of productivity isn‘t time management, it’s focus management.

One miraculous thing about free-writing is that it’s an excellent focus management practice. Using a timer – a simple but potent tool – to help develop and maintain your focus. I’ve tried writing without the timer and it’s oh so easy to slip off somewhere else to see what’s going on.

Try the timer! See how it helps you garner your focus.

Prompt: Focus feels…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

It’s the weirdest thing, free-writing. When you do it consistently, you discover so much more inside you than you ever imagined.

Using free-writing, I’ve seen students access memories, stories and insights that they didn’t realize they were carrying. It’s crazy. It’s like the pen (or keyboard) is a key to accessing your fullest self.

Even though I have seen this happen many times over decades, it still amazes me. It’s incredible how much free-writing can give us.

Prompt: I’d love to discover…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

In my writing classes, people often come to terms with what’s truly important for them. Often, they sign up to work on a project. But before they can get into the material, some clearing away the underbrush is called for.

OY! You’re saying now. I don’t want to do personal journaling and I don’t want to do therapy. (Unless like me, you do.) But trust me, accessing your truth and knowing your priorities will inform your writing.

The cool thing about being a writer is that it all counts. It all contributes to the work. You knowing yourself and knowing what you want leads to you being a better writer.

Prompt: What’s important to me now…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

When you’re sitting on the sidelines of your writing, there’s lots of room in the stands for your fears to crowd around.

But once you get in the game, the fears can’t keep up with you. Fear hates a moving target. When you’re writing, even imperfectly, you gain confidence.

You have this writing impulse for a reason. You have something to say. You enjoy writing, if you can remember that.

You’re going to love the glow of confidence and creativity that writing regularly gives you.

Prompt: With more confidence around writing, I will…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

So little time, so many ways to write! If you’re like me, you have a long list of things you want to write – short stories, personal essays, poems, books…where to find the time to explore all these genres and styles of writing?

Free-writing offers an invitation to experiment without risk. No need to master anything right away; free-writing allows you to explore and discover genres that you’ve always been curious about.

One way to jump out of your normal writing mode is to slip into third person point of view. Jumping into another perspective makes it easy to write in new ways and styles. My students love shifting gears this way for the freedom and fun it gives them.

Prompt: I’d love to explore…
This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

So much of the information and inspiration out there goads us to GO BIG! And to MAKE A DIFFERENCE! That’s all fine and good, and sometimes those well-meaning encouragements just add fuel to the inner critic. The inner critic loves to say “Who, you?! You can’t even keep the kitchen clean, let alone change the world!”

I believe in all kinds of power. I believe in the quiet power of changing the world with a gesture, or a smile, or a one:one conversation. Change doesn’t have to be MASSIVE to be powerful. I learned this while writing my novel, and I believe it’s true for the real world, too.

So it was with some trepidation that I put ‘world-changing’ into the title of my book. I see how it can feel like just another too-big promise.

I grappled with this and considered leaving it off the title. But I couldn’t. First, now more than ever we need help with the world’s problems. And it’s never been easier to step up and offer our solutions to spark change. Writing is one of the power tools that can make a difference. Now is not the time to play small, dumb it down or dilute our passion for the things we care about deeply.

Second, I believe that the works we make work us. Embarking on the process of writing a book is guaranteed to change the author. I have seen every single one of my coaching clients transform as a result of stepping up and into their writing power.

Each book is different, but writing – any kind of writing – has changed my students and clients profoundly. They have gained:

• Confidence about their message.
• Clarity about their work and the need for it in the world.
• Satisfaction from capturing their ideas in one place they can share.
• Feeling of having put into place a legacy work that will live beyond them.
• Honoring a life-long dream of writing a book.

If that’s not enough to encourage you to finally get started on your book, I don’t know what is. So, remember, you don’t have to be big and loud to change the world. You can change things by changing yourself, by picking up your pen, and writing what is waiting inside you.

And guess what? You don’t have to be writing a book to get these world-changing benefits. Students in Impulse Writing Club experience profound changes even in the first week of our class. Free-writing every week brings so much confidence and power, it’s hard to believe such a simple practice can do so much.

Enrollment is open for The Impulse Writing Club. Start changing your world one writing session at a time in this life-changing online writing class.

Where, oh where is that authentic voice of yours? It’s not hiding in others’ writing. It’s right there, in your pen or keyboard, waiting for you to ink a path to it. The problem is, it can take some effort to find your voice.

I’ve found the quickest way to hearing our voice is by using free-writing. Somehow, the timer, a random prompt and permission to write imperfectly loosens up the chokehold you feel around your voice.

Regular free-writing connects you to your voice more quickly and more reliably.

Prompt: When I hear my writing voice, I…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

Before you sit down to write, there’s a voice – perhaps a chorus – singing a stinky tune about all the reasons you shouldn’t write. You don’t know what to say. You’re crappy with spelling. Someone else has probably already written what you want to write. Blah de blah blah.

Your inner critic seems to have an endless list that keeps you from what you want to do – write. But guess what?

Free-writing is like driving on a highway in your mind you didn’t know you have access to. Here, you find that you do know what you want to say, you have a unique way of saying it, and for the first draft, spelling doesn’t matter as much as getting your words out.

You’re going to love how free writing shows your inner critic a thing or two.

Prompt: Without my inner critic, I can…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

One of my favorite things about free-writing is that it can be used for any kind of writing. My students claim that after a month of free-writing, everything they have to write feels easier. Blog posts, emails, proposals…when they have free-writing at their disposal, words for any kind of project come easier.

And sometimes, we need help. We need the wisdom of a guide or another perspective from a friend. Guess what? That insight can come from your very own pen. It’s amazing how letting rip on an issue for 15 minutes can reveal insights you couldn’t access simply by circling the problem endlessly in your mind.

Prompt: A challenge I am facing now is…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

You know how we read books like Daily Rituals, trying to learn from other people’s writing process? It’s like we’re looking for the magic key that will show us how to unlock our own genius.

The problem is that someone else’s key probably won’t work to open your writing gates. You have to – get to – discover what works for you. There’s one way to do that – write regularly and reveal your own writing process.

When you free-write regularly, you learn what works. You gain insight about what doesn’t work. You find your writing process from the inside, not from watching someone else’s process.

It’s okay to be inspired by other’s process. And, there’s only one process that will work for you: yours.

Prompt: What I know about my process…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

The way to excel at anything is to practice.

I have a yoga practice, a coaching practice and a writing practice. These are all very different but as practices, they have things in common.

A practice requires you to show up regularly. A practice doesn’t demand excellence, or even good, on the first laps out. A practice teaches us courage and humility. It’s humbling to show up again and again, seeking to express yourself.

A practice also pays off over time. I don’t want to be discouraging. I know we want results for our efforts. I also know that lasting results happen over time, when we show up. When we practice.

Free-writing is an excellent way to practice. To show up without expectations, willing to see what’s there. I show up at yoga this way. I show up with my clients this way. I show up for my writing this way. Open, ready and willing to let the practice lead me. It’s a relief to let my practices hold me as I grow and learn.

Prompt: What do your practices teach you?  

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

The coolest thing happens in my writing classes. People sign up so they can get some writing done. But a bonus of the class is that they discover so much more about who they are, what they care about and why they want to write in the first place.

No matter what you are writing, you need to know the underpinnings of your words. What are your values? What do you deeply care about?

What matters most to you? With free-writing, you access things you didn’t realize about yourself. You become more YOU, and you come to love the sense of surprise and discovery that free-writing gives you.

Sometimes this freaks people out. We don’t want to know more about ourselves. We know enough already, for goodness’ sake. But free-writing has a magical way of showing us more, showing the truth of us, pointing us in the direction of our true north.

Aren’t you curious about yourself?

Prompt: If I knew more about myself…

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.

Appreciate that the time we spend on our writing as a gift we give to ourselves again and again.

Writing might seem like a lot of work. And, in truth, it is. But it’s also a gift we give to ourselves. Taking the time to honor our writing impulse, even if we don’t know where it will lead us, is a treat.

Appreciating yourself enough to honor the writing drive will feel like a gift you give yourself again and again.

Doesn’t this feel like a better perspective than that writing is something you have to do to prove yourself?

Prompt: What gifts might your writing give you?

This is part of a 30-day series focused on how free-writing can change your life. Start from the beginning here.