Reply To: What is the biggest hurdle you have to overcome when it comes to writing?

[redheadeded]

James,

I am the same way with my art. I have heard all the supposed solutions, and they are all great, but you have to try them all out to see which one works for you. That’s the frusterating part, what works for some won’t work for others. However after years of therapy and people trying to help me while I was stuck in the mud so to speak, I realized there is one key thing that you have to overcome yourself before any other solution will work.

You have to believe that one will work in the first place. If you can look yourself in the mirror and truly believe that there is a solution, you will find the one that works for you. If you don’t believe anything will work no matter what, it won’t matter how much you reach out, and ask for help, or yern to do the thing you enjoy; the laundry, the twitch streams and the anime will continue to block your acheivments. Cause let’s face it, only you really know what’s stopping you. If you know what it is, perfectionism, fear of failure, fear of success, impostor syndrome, you can address it. Like I said I had to get therapy and it was still several years before I could put pen to paper without filling the trash bin with tears. And because of that I am a big advicate for therapy and mental health help, especially for creatives in a rut. But I hope you can find a solution for you. Because you truely are a great writer, and I believe you can and will make some seriously awesome stuff in the future.

Ok, now that the tearjerker shit is out of the way, this is my personal experiance and the solutions that at least got me started… I am not out of the swamp yet by any means….

– Ready the space: on the days, or times when you feel motivated (and this comes and goes) get everything ready for your creative endeavour. Have a space, a drink, a pep routine that you can do as a habit or to pump yourself up for when you want to create. It takes time to build a habit so be patient with yourself.

I set up the dogs in a quiet spot so they sleep, get a cup of tea (I know I am so frikking irish it hurts sometimes), and take off my shoes, 3 big breaths and put pencil to paper. It’s not much but it can help.

– The 5 minute rule: I understand hyperfocus, but it’s hard to start and stop. Set timers and work for 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour. Set a timer you can’t ignore (that last bit is important, if you start to ignore the timer this system will not work!) And stop when you are done, treat or reward yourself when you succeed at starting and stopping at the correct times. (I have a cookies, seriously I’m that juvenile). Do a task you loath if you do not suceed, don’t punish yourself, just saying for those of us with mental hangups this can hurt your overall chances of succeeding in the future.

– You ain’t Atlas: This is a complex I had to learn I have and I STRUGGLE with it in my artwork daily, it’s perfectionism, the translation of the perfect thought in my head to the poorly mishappen creation that forms from rather unskilled hands. @buddyscalera has to repeatiedly tell me “It doesn’t have to be perfect, just done. Get it down on paper, get it out, learn what you can from it and move on to the next one”. And he’s right, so doing things for others has helped me to well, let’s say lessen my strict adherance to ‘get it right, before showing anyone’. Deadlines can help some people with this, they have to have SOMETHING to show, sell, or turn in rather than nothing. And so rather than carry the weight of the world in your writing, try writing something that isn’t important? a silly poem for a 5 year old who won’t remember in 3 months, a tagline for a joke you found funny at work, or even just a anoyimous blog post that no one will ever know was you? whatever works, it helped me anyway.

– Finally Don’t Delete. We are all our own worst nightmares. Getting something on the page is a start. If you are dissatifed with what you wrote, put it away and start new, but don’t trash it, because that tells your emotional brain somehow somewhere (for me anyway) that it wasn’t worth the effort. And that’s not true. It’s pratice, it’s learning, and it is ALWAY a worthy endevour. So keep a hundred versions until you find the right one. And then when you can.. keep going. 😉

Feel free to reach out if you need to chat, I’m around most days and I get it. I think we all do man, each in our own way. And good luck my friend.

D. Alley, the RedheadedEd

[redheadeded]

James,

I am the same way with my art. I have heard all the supposed solutions, and they are all great, but you have to try them all out to see which one works for you. That’s the frusterating part, what works for some won’t work for others. However after years of therapy and people trying to help me while I was stuck in the mud so to speak, I realized there is one key thing that you have to overcome yourself before any other solution will work.

You have to believe that one will work in the first place. If you can look yourself in the mirror and truly believe that there is a solution, you will find the one that works for you. If you don’t believe anything will work no matter what, it won’t matter how much you reach out, and ask for help, or yern to do the thing you enjoy; the laundry, the twitch streams and the anime will continue to block your acheivments. Cause let’s face it, only you really know what’s stopping you. If you know what it is, perfectionism, fear of failure, fear of success, impostor syndrome, you can address it. Like I said I had to get therapy and it was still several years before I could put pen to paper without filling the trash bin with tears. And because of that I am a big advicate for therapy and mental health help, especially for creatives in a rut. But I hope you can find a solution for you. Because you truely are a great writer, and I believe you can and will make some seriously awesome stuff in the future.

Ok, now that the tearjerker shit is out of the way, this is my personal experiance and the solutions that at least got me started… I am not out of the swamp yet by any means….

– Ready the space: on the days, or times when you feel motivated (and this comes and goes) get everything ready for your creative endeavour. Have a space, a drink, a pep routine that you can do as a habit or to pump yourself up for when you want to create. It takes time to build a habit so be patient with yourself.

I set up the dogs in a quiet spot so they sleep, get a cup of tea (I know I am so frikking irish it hurts sometimes), and take off my shoes, 3 big breaths and put pencil to paper. It’s not much but it can help.

– The 5 minute rule: I understand hyperfocus, but it’s hard to start and stop. Set timers and work for 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour. Set a timer you can’t ignore (that last bit is important, if you start to ignore the timer this system will not work!) And stop when you are done, treat or reward yourself when you succeed at starting and stopping at the correct times. (I have a cookies, seriously I’m that juvenile). Do a task you loath if you do not suceed, don’t punish yourself, just saying for those of us with mental hangups this can hurt your overall chances of succeeding in the future.

– You ain’t Atlas: This is a complex I had to learn I have and I STRUGGLE with it in my artwork daily, it’s perfectionism, the translation of the perfect thought in my head to the poorly mishappen creation that forms from rather unskilled hands. @buddyscalera has to repeatiedly tell me “It doesn’t have to be perfect, just done. Get it down on paper, get it out, learn what you can from it and move on to the next one”. And he’s right, so doing things for others has helped me to well, let’s say lessen my strict adherance to ‘get it right, before showing anyone’. Deadlines can help some people with this, they have to have SOMETHING to show, sell, or turn in rather than nothing. And so rather than carry the weight of the world in your writing, try writing something that isn’t important? a silly poem for a 5 year old who won’t remember in 3 months, a tagline for a joke you found funny at work, or even just a anoyimous blog post that no one will ever know was you? whatever works, it helped me anyway.

– Finally Don’t Delete. We are all our own worst nightmares. Getting something on the page is a start. If you are dissatifed with what you wrote, put it away and start new, but don’t trash it, because that tells your emotional brain somehow somewhere (for me anyway) that it wasn’t worth the effort. And that’s not true. It’s pratice, it’s learning, and it is ALWAY a worthy endevour. So keep a hundred versions until you find the right one. And then when you can.. keep going. 😉

Feel free to reach out if you need to chat, I’m around most days and I get it. I think we all do man, each in our own way. And good luck my friend.

D. Alley, the RedheadedEd