A Balanced Relationship with Your Writing

One of the most exciting aspects of writing is what we learn about ourselves in the process.

I work primarily with fiction writers, memoirists and screenwriters. I also support non-fiction writers through the process of finishing. Though the writer I post about today is non-fiction, her problem and her solution fit for any writer, fiction and non-fiction.

I've been working with this writer for months. Throughout that entire time, she has had tremendous resistance to actually sitting down and writing her project. Only by checking in weekly for a pep-talk and ongoing help with structure and accountability does she find the strength to continue.

Having never considered herself a writer, she is fraught with uncertainty and insecurity around the act of writing. She is confident when in her role as an expert in her field. When discussing her writing project, her voice turns unsteady and her resolve fragile.  

She refuses to succumb to her fears and doubts and continues to show up for her writing. In the process, she has been transformed. An epiphany hits. With insight into the parts she wants to write and those parts she feels she "should" include, she forms a new relationship with her book. Now that she sees the book in new ways, new energy flows, allowing her to take true ownership of the project, helping her to narrow and refine her focus in her work and thus narrow and redefine the book.

With the relationship in balance -- you being true to who you are and the book reflecting that -- the more effortless the completion...

Writer's Journey Mirrors Hero's Journey

The middle of the Middle is the territory of the antagonists both for the writer and for the protagonist, too.

Antagonists, internal and exterior, sabotage the protagonist from reaching her goals. The very same antagonists plague the writer as well. 

In the Middle, the writer begins to doubt herself. Her way becomes murky. She looks to others for validation. Old beliefs of not being smart enough, good enough, or productive enough turn from a murmur to a roar. She rails against never receiving the credit she believes she is due. Accepts all the old criticisms she throws at herself. She fears. She falters. Her passion for her project wanes. The antagonists begin to win. 

Rise up out of the lower energy systems and move to the "third eye", the place of wisdom -- of intuition.

Listen, not with your mind or through your ego, but to that deeper voice. Make time for yourself. Partner with the process. Pull your protagonist and yourself through the slog and toward the Climax. See your way clear.