Did you make New Year’s resolutions this year? Or are you stuck in the doldrums, becalmed in the no-wind of no-can-do? When doubts take hold of me I like to use reverse psychology to get me going. I like to antidote my doubting thought with its opposite. Here’s a list I compiled when I gave a talk at The Society of Women Writers in Sydney last month. Scroll to the bottom of the list for the antidote approach.
1.Who would want to read my story?
This is the most common thing I hear from both aspiring published writers. If you say it in a pathetic wee voice, maybe no one. But if you turn it on its head and say it like a spruiker : ‘Who wants to read my story, get my story here! Its funny, tragic, shocking , hilarious, revealing, compelling etc etc.’ Yes, ME, I definitely want to read it. As readers and writers we can’t get enough of other people’s stories and let’s face it if you don’t write it who will!
2.I haven’t got time. I’ve got the kids, the grand kids, the house, the job, the partner, the volunteer work, the garden, the blah blah blah. Maybe when I retire, maybe when I get a holiday, maybe when the kids have left home. Forget the ‘maybe-whens’. If you wrote 500 words a day (less than half an hour) in a year you would have 182,000 words! Why not make it a new year’s resolution!
3. I won’t make any money!
Correct, you probably won’t, but we’re not in it for the money are we? The bonus is if you happen to write an international best seller you could become a millionaire. Imagine that! Top selling Australian titles for 2022: Apples Never Fall (Liane Moriarty, Macmillan) 44,080 The Murder Rule (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins) 40,870 Exiles (Jane Harper, Macmillan) 39,770 Cobalt Blue (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan) 37,040. Lets do the sums. Say you get $2.5 a book if you sell 15,000 that’s 37,050, that’s not bad for a bit of pocket money.
4.It’s all too hard….
Yes it is hard. ‘Why would anyone want to write a book’ I often hear myself say. Which part do you think is the hardest? The answer to that Q will keep us here all day! Is it the endless rewriting, going over and over and over again until you can’t see the wood for the trees. But don’t forget, writing is a process — there will be good days and bad days, the trick is not to keep your emotions out of it and simply come back to the writing.
5.I’ll get shot down in flames.
Yes, possibly you will. Some people won’t like your book, they’ll even criticise it publicly, using words you never want to hear again. Others will tell you they love it and they love you and hopefully you will believe them. Being a writer means you have to develop a thick skin. Learn not to take it personally. Your book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Think of it like an ice bath, its good for you, the pain doesn’t last long and you feel envigorated afterwards because you jumped in and did it!
6.My writing is probably not that good anyway.
Is this a ploy? Are you wanting us to say, but yes it is, your writing is fabulous. That may well be the case but whether it’s good or not, like anything it will get better with practice. The more you read, the more you write, the more your writing will improve. The more you put your work out there and get feedback from other writers, the more you offer to critique others work, the better you become. Joining a writers group is by far the best way to get better. Most writers I know have a small group of writer friends with whom they can share all their worst and best writing. If you don’t have one, consider joining our Draft Busters group. We’ve been going for nearly 20 years now. Read more here
7.Writing is so lonely
True, it can be, you do spend lot of time alone and most of us love that. What’s the loneliest time you ever spent as a writer? Mine was when I took myself off on a solo writing retreat to a cabin in the bush over Xmas. I’ll never do that again. I cried the whole time and barely wrote a word. But you don’t have to shut yourself away. It depends what you prefer. I love the story of Ruth Park writing at the kitchen table with family life going on all around. She says ‘yes, I know. I know the average writer doesn’t work on a kitchen table with a Kosciusko of pea-pods at one elbow, and a chook’s ghastly cold claws sticking out front under his notes. I know he doesn’t sweat through a crucial chapter with a small child busy under his chair-putting his feet to sleep in a doll’s bed.’ Read more here.
8. My partner will get jealous.
If you have a partner this may be true. I worked with a writer once who’s husband was so jealous of her writing she had to leave an hour early so she could write in a café on the way to work. Another arrived at work at 7 am and would write for 2 hours before everyone else came in at 9. They all thought she was so diligent. If you don’t have this problem, and your writing is suffering a bit of lethargy maybe you can pretend you do, and sneak away to write as if you were having an illicit affair.
9.I don’t think I could handle being famous.
Really?! Have you ever had this thought? All those festival appearances, interviews, YouTube trailers, podcasts etc. What if I come off looking like a complete dork. What if I get confused, say ‘um’ too many times, appear over confident or not confident enough? Perhaps it’s just performance anxiety. Even famous people get it. Once after performing with Yoko Ono at the Sydney Opera House (true story, read more here), she said to us afterwards. ‘Do you think it went ok?’
10.What if they see right through me and catch me out for being the fraud I really am? The old “I’m not a real writer, I don’t have a Doctrate in Creative Writing, I just learned on the job. Imposter Syndrome. It seems everyone suffers from it. Even many of the greats. I recently heard a motivation coach say ‘You don’t tell a child when they have just learned to walk that they are an imposter. You cheer them on knowing that they are going to get up take a few steps, fall over, pick themselves up again and again.’Just like writing. Another good reason to belong to a writer’s group. So they can also be your cheering squad. We all need one!
11.Why would I pour my heart and soul into a book when I know my friends and family won’t even read it.
Is that who you are writing for? Chances are they probably won’t read it. Friends and family can be your harshest critics and your most disinterested readers. They may never read it! Maybe it’s just not their thing or maybe they feel incredibly threatened, worried, anxious they might be in it, so they steer clear at all costs. Once you drop that expectation or desire for approval from them, if they do read it, it’s a bonus. There’s a far wider audience out there who are going to not only read your book but love it!
12. I can’t handle rejection, I would give up after three tries.
Who can handle it? But these writers sure learned how. According to Google, Stephen King was turned down 80 times for his novel Carrie. CS Lewis, was rejected 800 times (Can that even be true?!) for The Chronicles of Narnia. Dr Zeus, 27 times and considered burning his books. JK Rowling, 12 times. (seems like nothing compared to the others).We deal with rejection every day but somehow when it comes to our precious writing, we get confused, and we think the publisher is rejecting our precious self. Think of all the other times in your life people said no and it just made you stronger. Wear your rejections like a badge. Frame them for posterity. And when your book is out there and making a motza, you will have the last laugh.
14. I can’t write my memoir until all the people in it are dead.
Really, are you going to wait until every last one of them drops off the twig? That might take a good while How much time have you got? Why not write it anyway then see how you feel. That might take a good while too! By the time it’s ready for the publisher a few more might be gone and you might not be so worried about it then. Of course you can always change their names or try this— not even tell them you are writing a book, def don’t invite them to the launch and when they say to you at Xmas lunch, they heard you were writing a memoir, lie through your teeth or pretend you have Alzheimers. Works every time!
15. My life is stranger than fiction. There are so many things I can’t possibly write about. People just wouldn’t believe me.
Perfect. So you get a notebook and label it: The Things I Can’t Write About. In that book you write all the things you can’t write about.You can burn it, keep it under lock and key, put it in a security deposit box not to be opened for 100 years.But if one day you do decide to publish, I guarantee your best seller will be in the pages of that notebook.
16. Everything has already been written about.
Has it? From your unique POV? Sure, the same themes are written about over and over: sex, death, love, betrayal, injustice, abandonment and so on. But has anyone until now heard your particular take on them? No, I believe not. Readers and publishers are hungry for new voices, they can’t get enough, there’s never been a better time for writers and writing. I heard the artist Lindy Lee say that she believes an artist must express themself from their deepest wound. Another way to say it is if you write from your place of emotional truth, the universal essence of that truth will resonate with the reader.
17. I’m too old!
Oh really, lets take a survey, how old are you? There’s plenty of examples online of authors not getting going until later in life and writing up to their death. Lorna Page wrote and published her first book, a feminist thriller called A Dangerous Weakness at the age of 93. Writing has the advantage of being is one of the few activities you can do lying down!
18.It’s taking so long, I’ll never finish! I know the feeling, writing a book seems to go on and on and on and just when you think you’re done it goes on and on some more and more then some.. I love it when you see authors (I’ve done this myself) announce to the world they finished their draft, as if that’s it, all done, job finished. Sorry no, after another 49 drafts maybe? Yes, it does feel like you’ll never finish, and when it is all done and dusted and out there on the bookshop shelves, then what? After feeling that great sense of blank nothingness that comes at the end of a book, my bet is you will start another one. And hopefully you will never finish — and like the French writer, Marguerite Duras be writing until the day you die.
19. My desk is a mess. I can’t possibly be a writer if I have a messy desk. Lets do another survey. Who has a messy desk? Who has a neat and tidy desk? Who has a bit of both? Who loves tidying their desk every day before writing? Who doesn’t care what their desk looks like and lets books and papers pile up in mountains either side as long as there is room for the computer. Messy desk, untidy desk, who cares as long as you are writing!
20.There’s already too many books in the world. Why add another? Who the hell are all these new writers I’ve never heard on the new release tables? They are just new writers coming through with unique stories to tell. Can there be too many books in the world? I know there are too many books in my house and I have had to resort to a rule, that if I bring one new book in, two books must go. It’s hard to enforce as I do so love all my old books even though I know I will probably never read them again. My dear book friends have taught me so much, have been there for all the important moments of my life. And as I have said already, our appetite for new writing is voracious, it seems we can’t get enough, so that argument is dead in the water.
21. I’m too much of an introvert to make it to the ‘In crowd’ The In Crowd are over there on that writers festival island with Author lanyards around their necks, dressed to the nines, drinking champagne in tall flutes, laughing, chatting, being erudite and witty, charming and attractive, deep and insightful. And I’m over here in a leaky dinghy, busy bailing out the water with a tea cup and trying to save my books from getting wet. But wait a minute, aren’t most writers introverts? So how do they magically make the transition from intro to extro. Are all writers secretly extroverts masquerading as introverts until they are discovered, until they get some attention, and decide they really like it, can’t get enough of the Me Me Me and decide they must have been extroverts all along! Intro, Extro or Combo, writing is one place where introverts are welcomed and accepted. I don’t think it will be a problem.
22. I can’t write a book because I don’t know who to dedicate it to.
If I dedicate to this person, that one will be jealous, if I dedicate to the other the first one will complain, and so on.Why don’t you dedicate it to yourself? After all you deserve it don’t you? Or to all the writers of the world who think that for 25 reasons or more they can’t write a book!
23. It’s so self indulgent!
Yes it is. That’s another reason to love it! I love nothing more than being at my desk. Even if I am not writing, jus sitting at my desk gives me a sense of endless possibility. It’s a habit I learned in high school when I was meant to be studying for my exams. My dad told me I had to do 3 hours a night, so I woud sit there and dream about anything else but my study. Little did he know he was responsible for setting me up with a lifelong dreaming habit. Some people call it writing.
24.The doctor said I have to give up coffee. How can I write without coffee? What is your writing drug of choice? Can you write without it? I used to be a coffee addict and always believed I couldn’t do anything creative without it, but after giving up coffee in my first pregnacy and black tea in the second, I found I didn’t need stimulants to get me going. Walking and yoga became my energisers and to this day I still haven’t had a coffee. (My daughter just turned 39!) Lately I enjoy an occasional green tea when I hit the 4 pm lag time but that’s it, so yes you can definitely do it!
25. I can’t write a book because I’ve got nothing to wear!
This always gets the biggest laugh especially, from women (and men who live with women). Must be a syndrome that gets passed down from mother to daughter. Towards the end of her life my mother used this as an excuse for everything. It’s a good reason not to do many things! But it’s also a good reason to go out and buy a new outfit, after all we want to be properly attired when we hit the desk every morning don’t we. Want to know how to dress like writer? Read more here.
There’s gotta be more!
These are the 25 I came up with, but feel free to come up with your own! Everytime you find yourself getting in the ‘ I just can’t do it’ mindset, go to a fresh page in your note book and divide it into two columns. Make a list of all the reasons you can’t write in one column and then come up with antidotes in the other column.
I’ve done it here to give you an idea.
I haven’t got time. (Antidote: list all the times in the day/week, no matter how short, you can find to write)
I won’t make any money! (Antidote: write how much money you would like to make. Be specific.)
It’s all too hard! (Antidote: make a list of all the hard things you’ve done and the rewards they have brought).
And so on
There’s a similar exercise in my free anti procrastination workbook here regarding fears and avoidances. Subscribe to the right of this page!
And a great article (thanks Jennifer Moore!) by Suzanne Berne on LitHub — Why Write a Novel, Why Read a Novel.
Coming up in 2023!
Draftbusters Online begins again Jan 9.
Mentoring packages to suit your needs.
Sensing Italy June 3 -10, 2023.
Story Hunters, India, Nove 4-19, 2023.
