Hi, all! It’s the first Monday of fall, and it really feels like fall here—crisp air, leaves falling, and the little surge of energy that often goes with that for me.
This week, let’s take a look back at the vision you set at the beginning of this series and consider how a little experiment or two can help you along the way.
At the beginning of this series, we talked about setting a vision as being about both product and process—not just the particular project you were hoping to complete or the progress you wanted to make on word count, but also how you wanted to feel about your writing:
Here’s what I mean: the product is the actual thing you’re going to produce. You might want to draft a new chapter or two, or revise an essay or a handful of poems. You might have a target in terms of word count. Those tangible outcomes are important because achieving them builds confidence. (And allows you to make progress toward actually getting the writing out into the world.)
But I also want you to think about your writing process. How do you want to feel about your writing practice and the way that writing fits into your life? If you’ve been struggling to make time for writing, your process goal might be to write x days per week, or to write for y minutes a week. Maybe you’re struggling with self-doubt and actually finishing projects; in that case, you might set a goal of writing with confidence and sharing your work with someone. (I’ve got tips on writer’s block and imposter syndrome coming in this series!) Or maybe you struggle with digital distractions when you write and want to recommit to sustained writing time, rather than writing slash twitter slash email checking sessions.
So let’s do this: write down your vision for your work over the next eight weeks. What do you want to accomplish? How do you want to feel about your writing life? What distractions and obstacles will you need to clear away? If you want, post this vision somewhere you’ll see it regularly. It could be a recurring reminder on your phone, or an index card taped near your writing space, or a post-it note in your planner.
So when you look back at the vision you set in week 0, what do you see?
I’ll start: mine feels really ambitious now, particularly now that I’m settled back in to a busy semester and my long commute. I’m definitely making progress—and I’m going to count up that progress after I send this, because I think it’s important to note and celebrate that—but my early-September vision does not align with my late-September reality.
There’s a time when I would have beat myself up about falling short on those big goals. But you know what? Being mean to yourself about your writing doesn’t actually do anything to get it done. A vision is something to strive for, not a box to tick.
Wherever you are with respect to your vision, I’d encourage you to try a little experiment this week. It can be tempting, particularly if you feel like you’re not quite hitting your targets, to double down on your intensity. Let’s try having some fun instead.
A couple examples of little experiments:
try writing in a different medium: a little notebook, a big unlined notebook, in sharpie or metallic ink, on a whiteboard or poster-sized post-it, on index cards, using the voice recorder on your phone
write at a different time of day, or in a different place. if you’re a morning writer, steal a few minutes before you go to bed. you could take your writing out for a date to a coffee shop, or meet a friend for a beer and some writing time.
talk back to your writing. find a place where you’re struggling and change the perspective, or change the voice.
The big idea here is to do something different—to remind yourself that writing is supposed to be fun. Maybe not the easy fun of watching a movie or hanging out with friends, but the joyful work of making something that matters to you. Pick one experiment this week to reconnect with the joy of writing.
three tasks for today:
Take a look back at your vision and consider how you’re working toward it. Reflect on what you’ve done in the last several weeks. I’d encourage you to actually go week by week in your calendar and flip through your notebook and/or digital files. You’ve probably done more than you think.
Set your intention for your writing for the week. This could be a milestone on an ongoing project, a deadline for a submission or an application, or a target for word count or time.
Pick a little experiment to help you reconnect with what you love about your writing.
What little experiments are you working on this week? How is your writing going? I’d love to hear from you. You can always reply to this email, comment below, or find me on twitter (@nancy_reddy) and instagram (@nancy.o.reddy).
little experiments
Hi Everyone! New experiment this week-- write AS I'm reading (rather than separate the two tasks), allowing myself to respond to and push back on other writers' lines; see meditating as separate from the writing practice (I don't know why, but it took the pressure off and made it more relaxing). I've think I'm pretty disciplined, but still, the Pomodoro method has changed things up and helped me squeeze out greater focus-- which, I remind myself, doesn't necessarily happen just by setting time aside. Thank you, Nancy!