Freedom to be Creative
We are our own worst enemies. We talk ourselves out of writing projects, we tell ourselves we won’t ever get a piece of work finished and we hear an awful voice telling us to not even bother starting. No one is immune from self-doubt and negative thoughts. It happens to all writers whatever stage of their career they are at. But learning to stop thoughts in their tracks, disbelieving your gremlins and overcoming obstacles is part of being a writer and the more you do it, the better you get so that when you start to say to yourself ‘I can’t write this‘, you can shut that thought out and say ‘oh yes, I can!’
Let’s start on a positive note first. Knowing why you want to be creative will help you to believe in yourself as a writer. Beliefs are our strongly held opinions, attitudes and convictions. Beliefs can be so strong they cause warfare, persecution and dissent. They can exert influence over our behaviour, thoughts and reactions but where do they come from?
Our beliefs start forming from the moment we are born. We gain them from our parents, caregivers, teachers and others who influence our lives. As we grow older, we challenge some beliefs and hold onto others. Beliefs can change but they can also be stubborn. What positive beliefs do you have in relation to yourself?
List five of those positive beliefs about yourself. Make them as bold and proud as they can be. I came up with – I am a fabulous cook. I am the most gorgeous woman in the world. I am kind, gentle and loyal. I am the best friend you could have. I am the greatest writer that ever lived.
Ok, so this may be completely over the top but I bet they made you smile. What are your beliefs? Do they make you smile? Write your list like mine. Boost your confidence. This is all about you. You can have the most positive beliefs about yourself. Notice my last sentence. Did you include being a writer on your list?
No? Then this is where to start. You need to have a positive belief in your inner writer, in your ability to be creative and in your aspiration to be the best in whatever form your writing takes. Even repeating the belief ‘I am a writer’ as a mantra several times a day will boost your confidence in your abilities. Narrow it down to your own specialist writing ability. Say ‘I am a romance novelist’, ‘I am a short story writer‘, ‘I am a non-fiction author’ – whatever you want to be or are in the process of becoming. Telling your creative mind who you really are on a regular basis will invigorate and inspire your thinking. Unfortunately, beliefs are not always positive and the rest of this chapter will help you to deal with those times when negativity rears its ugly head.
Did you know that Roald Dahl believed he had invented gremlins? In a brilliant biography written by Donald Sturrock, it tells the tale of how the world famous Dahl came up with a story about gremlins and tried to sell its film version to Disney. Unfortunately, it never went into production but whether your gremlins look like Disney characters or something more sinister, they need dealing with.
Who are your gremlins? They are the voices in your head that send you negative thoughts (see below) but they can actually have some basis in past experiences. It could be the voice of your old English school teacher, a parent, an editor, a partner or anyone who has disrespected your work, told you it’s no good and has undermined your confidence in your writing.
Try to identify your gremlin. The next time you hear a disapproving voice in your head – think who this sounds like – is it someone you know or knew? Picture them and then tell them to go to hell! Honestly, you don’t need to be listening to them anymore.
Some creative coaches recommend actually drawing a picture of your gremlin. If you enjoy art, it’s a great way of putting a visual to that negative voice and you can make your gremlin as ugly and horrible as you want. Using this technique helps you to realise that your gremlins are unworthy of your attention and they need to be stopped. I tell my more visual clients to picture their gremlin and then lock them in a dungeon! Don’t listen to them and don’t let them out to negatively influence your thoughts.
NATS are negative automatic thoughts. Or what I call nasty awful thoughts. They come from nowhere, are real downers and the more you try not to think them, the more they hum around your head like the gnats that they are. They can be your gremlins but they are worse than that. They are unbidden, annoying thoughts that tell you you’re a rubbish writer, that you’ll never succeed, that you should even stop trying and the thoughts just whirl round and round.
And I have found that writers that have completed at least one major project are particularly susceptible to them. Of course, beginners have fears and negative thoughts but I’ve talked to so many writers who have accomplished so much and then their NATS get the better of them. I know after I had my first book published that I went into a panic about only having one book in me. It was like maybe that’s all I’d ever do and that’s it. Published writers begin to create their own new identities and the fear of never being published again seems to be a recurring thought.
One of the easiest ways to stop negative thoughts is to recognise them and change them. Say you are going about your daily chores and the little voices are randomly telling you things like you won’t get that article finished in time, that that idea isn’t worth pursuing and that the manuscript you sent out is going to be returned. Recognise it. Stop and say hey, that’s negative now let’s change that to a positive – I’ll get that article done this afternoon, I’m going to do the research for that new idea, my manuscript is going to be accepted.
What we think is what we feel. This is a saying that cognitive behavioural therapy is based on. CBT teaches us not to block our thoughts but to test them for their truth. How do you know that you won’t get your article done or that your manuscript will be returned? You don’t – you’re thinking of a negative outcome before it has happened. Sometimes this occurs because we base it on a previous experience so you think that your manuscript will be returned because it was returned before. If that was the case, no one’s books would ever get published. If it comes back, it’s time to review your work, take on board any feedback and try a different publisher. But you don’t know that it will, it’s out of your control and thinking negatively about it isn’t going to change the outcome.
Writers all have different ways of stopping negative thoughts. Deborah Durbin, author and journalist, says, “I try not to read negative reviews! Thankfully the majority of my reviews have been five stars and have all been lovely, but there are a couple of negative ones out there, but that comes with the job. You’re never going to please everyone, so don’t try to. I also try to keep everything in perspective and tell myself it’s not the end of the world if someone doesn’t like my work, or an editor doesn’t give me a commission. There are worse things happening out there in the world.”
Krystina Kellingley, author and editor of Axis-Mundi Books, says, “If I think there is really room for improvement in something I’ve written, I edit it until I think otherwise. I also ask people I can trust to tell me the truth when I ask them what they think. If all else fails I just get on with it anyway.”
Sarah Zama, writer and illustrator, says, “Negative thoughts like ‘I can’t possibly sort out the project I’m working on‘, or ‘My writing hopelessly sucks, how could anyone ever be willing to read this’, or ‘I’m making a mess of all the characters‘. These kinds of thoughts? I tell myself: look, there are plenty of things you could rather be doing, like going for a walk, watching a movie, read someone else’s writing, cleaning your house. If you think writing is not worth doing, just do one of the other things instead. Never happened so far.
“I also like reading quotations from professional writers because I often find them inspiring. One of my favourite is from E.L. Doctorow who says, ‘It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’ Or Peter De Vries who said, ‘I write when I’m inspired, and see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.’ Or also Stephen Covey who commented, ‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ They are fun, but they are also inspiration.”
Suzanne Ruthven, author and editor of Compass Books, has a more practical way of dealing with negative thoughts, “I sit and stare at the mountains for half an hour in the fresh air, or take the dogs out.”
Sometimes a change of state can help you to banish those negative thoughts and get yourself back on track. Exercise and time out can do it but you can also change your state of mind.
In neuro-linguistic programming, we talk about states of mind with the aim of being able to change them when they are negative. At any given time, you are always in a state – that is your emotional, mental, physical and neurological elements combine to make you feel like how you are feeling, creating your current state of mind. For example, you may feel sad, angry, or frustrated about a writing project that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The problem with being in a negative state is that it is not conducive to a successful and productive writing session.
The good news is you can change your state. One way of doing this is through a technique called anchoring. What you need to do is recognise the anchors that put you in a good state. What makes you feel happy about your work? What puts you in a good writing mood? Anchors can be as simple as the smell of freshly brewed coffee, birdsong outside of your window or the purr of the cat as it nestles on your lap ready for you to start writing. Think about what makes you feel good about your writing. It could be the memory of seeing your first book in print or reading an outstanding review. As I’ve said before you can have these things displayed in your writing area to trigger positive feelings but you can also return to positive, constructive thinking by triggering your mind to think of feel-good states. Once you recognise the anchors that make you feel happy about your writing, you can recall them at any time when your mood has dipped. It will change your state of mind and get you back into a writing mood.
Sometimes we find it difficult to move ahead with our goals. There are obstacles in our way but we can’t see them clearly or hesitate with trying to get rid of them. One client told me that he just wasn’t happy with any of his stories. He’d written loads of them but they always changed from what he had originally set out to write and he didn’t feel this was normal. I reassured him that it was perfectly normal for something you are writing to change beyond its original conception. We talked around this issue for a while before I realised that what was actually underlining his feelings about his stories was a fear of sending them out to an editor. He dreaded feedback so was already telling himself his stories were no good. He’d put in place an obstacle that would severely affect his chances of publication.
Do you put any obstacles in your own way? Think of a goal that is proving hard to achieve and consider whether you are putting obstacles before you. They may be internal such as my client had or they may be external such as not having enough time, needing a new computer or anything else you can use as an excuse!
Then draw up an action plan for each obstacle. What can you do to change the situation? Use a critique group to look at your work before you send it out, get up an hour earlier in the morning, give your PC a check-up…whatever it takes to remove that obstacle, note it down and plan to do it. By giving your obstacle a name and clarifying what you can do to get rid of it, you shall overcome!
Oh, writer’s block – so much has been written about it, whole books, in fact. Some writers believe they suffer from it, others think it’s just something we make up as an excuse for not writing. Whatever it is, it’s not a disease, it’s not fatal and it just means you are not putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. You obviously need to ask yourself why. What is it that is stopping you from writing?
Writer’s block is the name given to just about anything to do with not writing – a lack of ideas, the gap between projects, a story that’s not working, the book that’s stalled after the first two chapters. If your current project is stalled then ask yourself why and be honest. Maybe this isn’t the book you were meant to write, maybe this article needs to be written from a different perspective, maybe you need to do more work on your characters. For whatever reason your writing has stopped, there is a solution to get it going again but that solution is within you. Remember in chapter two, I mentioned passion? If you are not passionate about a project, the likelihood is it will stall at some point because your heart’s just not in it. What are you writing it for then?
Marilynn Hughes, publisher and author of several books including Come to Wisdom’s Door and Prelude to a Dream, told me, “I take a look at my published books shelf and honestly critique it. It makes me realize that whether or not I’m in a writer’s block right now, I have done good work before, and I will do good work again.”
In chapter one, I talked about having a creative ritual that starts your day, signalling to you that it’s time to start writing. If you are suffering from writer’s block, can’t get started on a new project or are feeling bereft and idea-less after completing a major piece of work, a ritual might not help. You could go through your routine and then still sit with no clear thoughts or aim of where to go. Sometimes the anti-ritual can help.
I’ve just watched a documentary about creativity that proved that the brain starts to work creatively when it is doing mundane tasks. Doing nothing doesn’t help and doing something taxing doesn’t work. You need to keep your brain active but just enough so creativity can creep in and strike you with inspiration.
Try the anti-ritual. Do things differently for a couple of days. Change your routine and add in something new. New experiences can create new neural pathways in our minds so visit that place you’ve been meaning to research, have coffee with a writing friend in a different cafe, clear out your office space and update your vision board. Keep your mind open to new writing ideas but take a break and do something that you wouldn’t usually do.
You could try writing at different times. If you’re a morning person and you usually sit at the computer first thing. Leave that, go off for the day and see if writing in the evening gets your cognitive bits working again. I do the simple thing of not sitting at the computer and staring at a blank space but going out, walking the dog or taking a trip to the shops, and then sitting with pen and paper. I really find the computer frustrating when the words are not flowing so I grab a notebook and curl up on a comfy sofa to see what flows from the pen.
If you can change your routine for a day or two, it will refresh your need to get back to your current writing and also provide you with new thoughts about what other goals you hope to achieve.
As I was writing the title to this section, it reminded me of an article I read recently that stated that procrastination is actually needed in a writer’s life to allow downtime and time for the brain to start thinking of new creative ideas. That’s all well and good but when the brain stays in procrastination mode and doesn’t go any further then you’re in trouble.
Procrastination is by its definition to delay or postpone something. It’s still going to be there when you’ve finished the chores, had a fifth cup of tea or wandered aimlessly round the house trying to find something else to do. It’s just delaying the inevitable. If you find yourself procrastinating, you can set it a time limit. Allow yourself procrastination time, half an hour or an hour, then get to work. At this stage, you know you are a writer and you have a good idea of what you are going to write so putting it off inevitably isn’t going to help you achieve your goals. By allowing yourself a certain amount of faffing time, you can say that’s done now and now it’s time to start writing.
If you’re finding it hard to settle down to writing, it might be that you need a change of perspective. Are you looking at your work from the wrong point of view? In a workshop that I gave to fiction writers, I asked them to rewrite their first paragraphs from another character’s point of view to see if that helped their writing to flow or gave them a different perspective on their story. For some writers, that was enough to take their writing on a different path.
Take an article that you are writing from a first person viewpoint, will it be better from an expert’s point of view? Or that fiction book you are writing that might actually work better as fact? Try looking at your work from a different perspective and it might reveal another path that your writing could take that will actually make it easier and more appealing to you to write.
There is another form of negative thinking that affects us writers and its not to do with writing! It’s the kind of anxiety that creeps up when you have to do something else like give a talk, lecture a group of students, do a radio interview or even appear on the TV!
Writers have other elements to their writing life that I’m sure you are aware of like promoting your work, selling yourself to an editor and cold-calling magazines with ideas. They come with their own anxieties and challenges.
When you have to do something that doesn’t come naturally to you or makes you feel uncomfortable, take a few minutes to do a positive visualisation of the outcome. See yourself giving that interview, delivering that workshop and talking to that editor and visualise it all going well, in fact, going brilliantly. Consider the best possible outcome and then plan for it.
Preparation is key for allaying those nerves and getting you through anxious moments. Rehearse your talks and speeches. Take key notes with you. Soothe yourself with a cup of chamomile tea and a few drops of Rescue Remedy beforehand and keep those positive thoughts foremost in your mind. Don’t over think the situation but instead turn your thoughts to where this could take you. You might get commissioned to write a series of articles on the basis of a call, someone that sees you give a speech might invite you to their writer’s weekend workshops, a radio interview could lead to better publicity for your book – these are all positive outcomes that will build your career as a writer and give you the freedom to be more creative.
I love this – False Expectations Appearing Real. I’m a coward when it comes to tests at the doctor or a visit to the dentist but invariably it is never as bad as it seems. This mnemonic reminds me that I’m making up a worst case scenario that may appear real but isn’t actually going to happen.
It’s great to use for things that seem scary in your writing life like a first book signing, a first workshop, a conference speech or a meeting with your editor. If your imagination goes into overdrive and has you tripping up, forgetting your words, collapsing in a faint and throttling an argumentative editor, you can try using this. Saying the mnemonic can remind you that you are making up what may happen. You don’t know what is going to happen in your future and there is really no point in trying to predict how badly something you’re asked to do as a writer is going to turn out.
If you’re a really positive person, you might just jump at every opportunity that comes your way and see them in a brilliant light. And that’s great – go for them! But if like me, you over think everything to the point of actually saying ‘No, I can’t do that‘, then you need to convince yourself that you can. So many opportunities are lost by writers who just feel a little scared, not up to the challenge or afraid of trying something new. Because we talk ourselves out of it.
Next time you are asked to do something new, say yes and use the FEAR mnemonic when your brain starts saying oh no, oh no. Let yourself think of the worst case scenario and then ask yourself, is that really a possibility? If you think it might happen, say like forgetting your words, then plan for that. It probably won’t happen but take cue cards or a written speech with you just in case. If you think you’ll trip up – I actually did this in front of an audience of hundreds and survived! – think how you’ll laugh it off and make a joke of it. And as for your editor – they are human too – and throttling helps no one!
Overcoming obstacles, working through fear and dealing with negative thoughts are a part of everyone’s lives but for writers they take on a dimension that can seriously affect productivity and creativity. Tell your gremlins to shut up, stop those negative thoughts and feel free to be the brilliant writer that you know you are.