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Permission to Write

IMG_0184It’s been proven time and again that I write best while sitting in a coffee shop.

unnamedGive me an hour–at a table in front of a window, the sounds of traffic nearby as cars cruise along the main drag, a porcelain cup full of a dark roast blend sitting in my periphery–and I get lost in the story. So lost, that I will forget to turn on the music even though I put in my ear buds the minute I sat down.

Add an oversized chocolate chip cookie or that heavily-iced brownie to the mix, and I can work double time.

I bet it’s the same for you. Maybe not with a decadent brownie in hand or at a table within view of passers-by, but somewhere inviting, ready, and waiting.

So, why do we hesitate? Why do we postpone?

Practicing our art is more comfortable than not practicing our art. Practicing our art is more fun than not practicing our art. Something more comfortable and more fun does not take “discipline.” It takes permission, self-permission. ~Julia Cameron

Go on. Take your hour (or two). Write.

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In Life & Writing: Progress Not Perfection

file0001743842495We hit a milestone in Milwaukee last Sunday…the equilux, the time of season when day and night come in equal parts. Over the course of the next few months now, the sun will burn brighter, warmer, longer, and the idea of summer won’t seem so impossible.

Hearing about the equilux, I thought of two words Jane Friedman says in a talk on audience development, incremental improvements. And, I was reminded me that life, as much as writing, is about progress not perfection.

In Life

IMG_0887It’s been a long winter here and everywhere else. The slightest hint that things will get better helps. The Spring call of the robin in the morning; sunlight that streams through the bedroom window, no longer filtered by frost; yard litter revealed bit by bit as piles of snow finally melt: random sticks that once guarded the opening of the snow fort, my spade meant for the garden but “borrowed” for a day in order to dig out said fort, sleds discarded and buried and rediscovered along the edge of the driveway. I’ll take those tiny shifts in the landscape, litter and all.

In Writing

IMG_0222Incremental improvements make all the difference in writing as well, and I do best when I remember that phrase. I’m at 6300+ words or into this current (and in much better shape) novel revision. I know, slow-slow-slow, but moving nonetheless. The story is filling out, my confidence growing. I even handed over the first few chapters to a writing friend for critique. That’s progress.

There’s a ton of work to be done yet, more to be revealed plenty to be cultivated. But every inch forward counts.

How does things look for you with a bit more time and a little more sun?

* If you’re struggling with a longer project, consider this guest post by Rochelle Melander, which offers tips on on tackling the big with the little: When Less Equals More.