There are so many ways that writing for me these days is about knowing what I think about the world and getting back to my creative center.
Even in the absence of creating new works, life happens. Sometimes, life takes over. You spend so many days coming to a blank white page and leaving with one word. Or no words at all.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” ~ Steven King
But you know you can’t go on forever like this. Your writing is not just what you do: It’s who you are.
I am ready to write myself back into my good habits. This space will be where I work through all the questions that have been quietly forming in the background of my life.
I signed up for a yearlong workshop through Daily Om, and will use that as my path. The workshop is called “A Year of Writing to Uncover the Authentic Self.” Here is the first exercise.
What is standing in your way right now?
I delude myself into thinking the answer to this is time. Other priorities. Not knowing where to start. I do not believe this is writer’s block because I don’t really believe in that.
Maybe a crisis of confidence. Maybe other priorities. I am enjoying the house that I purchased in 2019 and want to make sure I stay in it without a huge financial struggle.
But this is a lie. When I am called to write, either in my job or some other capacity (letters for family members, editing things for friends …) the poet shows up.
So none of this stands in my way. It’s a comfortable lie I’ve held as a crutch.
I am the only thing standing in my way … sort of.
What would happen if you overcame the obstacle? More importantly, what would happen if you didn’t (think broadly: emotionally, physically, financially, etc.)?
If I stop leaning into these excuses, I would release works that I’ve been holding on to for the better part of 15 years. This is not just about publishing them, but not holding on to them for dear life.
If I don’t overcome the obstacle of excuses, the best of my writing years is behind me.
Scary thought, since writing is my calling.
Can you reframe the most pressing current obstacle as simply a to-do list? In other words, in order to overcome this, what do you need to learn? What tasks do you need to perform? Who do you need to convince?
My list …
Set a daily writing time.
Write.
Find a way to capture things you write in your head when it’s not your writing time.
Have you ever used an “obstacle” as an excuse not to get started? Did you regret it?
I can’t say I really regret the things I put out in the universe as excuses. The things I did instead of writing still led me to things I willed and wanted. I only regret not writing while all the other things I used as excuses were happening.
Are obstacles really just fears holding you back?
I’ve come to believe that anything you can identify as something that is holding you back really does have fear at the core. You are what you’re afraid of.
What is the longest-running obstacle in your life?
Fear of doing things alone — which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot later. No matter what golden opportunity sits in my lap, I am constantly dreaming of ways to pull other people along with me … even when it slows me down.
Wish I knew the root of this and why I’ve been doing it all my life. I think this is also the root of my fear of success which I seem to have worshipped much of my life.
Is this in my DNA? Did I learn it somewhere early right after I took my first breath?
What steps have you used to make progress toward overcoming it? How far have you come with it? What do you wish would happen? How would that be possible?
I have committed to a yearlong class to keep me writing.
I have pulled writing prompts from books and saved emails to start responding to them and creating new work.
I have pulled old manuscripts to start re-reading them.
I have set a permanent alarm on my phone to block off a writing hour a day.
I have surrounded myself with the right people supports to keep going.
What is the biggest obstacle you faced in your past? Did you overcome it? If so, how? If not, why?
There are two things that in my life that I’ve seen as true obstacles: my financial life and living through the pain of being without my children.
The financial recovery was far more simple than I had imagined. I made the connection that my struggles were directly connected to my relationship with money. I transformed my relationship and that transformed my supply.
The obstacle of being without my children is one I overcame with hard-lived forgiveness and writing.
Wait … are all of my obstacles connected?
Cherryl T. Cooley 