On Completing Writing Projects

A year into the pandemic, I hope we've all had time to reflect on the kinds of writers we want to be, what we want to bring forth into the world, and how we might begin. I am always happy to begin, and I have a million beginnings in notebooks, files and pages all over the place; it's the completing I have trouble with! I wonder if you can relate?

I start something, get excited about it, and then I don't even know where I left it. Or I come back to it, and suddenly it's not what I thought it was. Or I start to feel like I've lost my way. Or I get distracted, and days/months/years go by, and I don't remember what I was trying to write or why. Doubt sets in. It's amazing to me I've finished anything.

So here are a few strategies that have helped me in the past.

Create a system. I grab a working title and make a file for any idea that floats past my nose. I try to write as much as I know about a project as soon as I know it. I add to this project file as soon as I think I know more. If I should make a note outside the file, by hand in a notebook, I title it and make a note on page 1 of the notebook so I can find it again. I leave the first page of all my notebooks blank so I can list what's inside.

And I forgive myself when I screw up, forget, and lose things. I offer myself compassion so that I can move on without feeling the burden or the anger of the inner critic. Kindness is one more way to reduce the stress in our lives. I hope you will offer some to yourself tonight! Kindness takes the pressure off. Whatever we thought we'd accomplish by now, we are all doing the best we can amidst very difficult circumstances.

How does accepting failures and offering kindness work? It creates an atmosphere in which work can happen. It is the beginning of permission to fail. Without permission to do things badly, nothing can get done. Especially writing. Writing is like hacking at marble - the best sculptors know that we don't need the fine sandpaper until the end.

Let me know if you'll join me in Brave Space.