Write Unconditionally

Have you ever felt as though you’ve lost your writing passion?  You know, that once upon a time feeling when the words just flowed, your nerve endings crackled and you lost track of time while writing?

 

Sometimes, when faced with a writing to do list that includes posting to the WriteSuccess blog, writing an article for the Invisible Ink (the newsletter for the International Association of Professional Ghost Writers), and freelance assignments ranging from drafting a press release to editing an ebook, I wonder when writing stopped being fun and became work instead.  Or maybe the feeling comes after receiving a string of rejections, or chasing down writing job leads that go nowhere, or on those days when the only activity you see on your otherwise blank computer screen is the blinking of your cursor.

 

That’s when I know it’s time to take a break from writing for my livelihood, if only for a short while, and do what I call some unconditional writing.  Maybe it’s a long overdue note to a friend, or pouring out my heart in my journal.  Maybe it’s reading other blogs and commenting on them, or simply looking out my window and trying to describe how many different shades of gray there are on a wintery day.  It’s time to write for fun again, without expectation of payment or feedback, and without self-judgment.

 

When I write unconditionally, I revive the simple of joy of wordplay.  I don’t write to inform, educate, persuade, explain or inspire.  I write simply because I can.  And by doing so, I reawaken the appreciation that I can do something well that others struggle with, and that I love something others dread to do.  Then the writing to do list looks fun again, and back to work I go.

 

So when you’re feeling stuck, try writing with abandon.  Write unconditionally, for no other reason than the fact that you’re able to do so.  I think you’ll find that you’re passion for writing wasn’t lost—it just needed to be rekindled.

 

Here’s to your writing success.

 

Mary Anne

Happy New Year!

It’s January 2, 2010, and I am sitting down to write for the first time in this new year, this new decade.
Actually, that’s not entirely true—I wrote journal entries both yesterday and today.  So I guess I can say that this is the first time I’ve sat down to write for someone besides myself  since last year.

I almost didn’t get any words written just now. Sitting at my PC, I find that it’s so easy to click on an Internet browser and begin to surf and read under the guise of research.  I am about to launch an association just for ghost writers (and those who want to be), and although I’ve done a fair share of ghost writing myself, I like to read up on how others find ghost writing work, how they got started, and what they charge their clients.  So I can quickly find excuses for reading rather than writing.

But that’s not what this year is going to be about.  Yes, I will launch the association, but I also plan to get back into writing shape myself—slowly and awkwardly, at first, but eventually toning up those writing muscles of mine over time.  I’m doing it because, in order to inspire other writers to write, I need to set a good example.  I’m doing it because I have been inconsistent for far too long.  I’m doing it because I need to do it.

Often over the years, I’ve encouraged writers to put aside at least 15 minutes a day for writing.  Time for me to take a dose of my own sweet medicine.

And you know what?  It feels good.  It always has felt good, this writing process.  Not always smooth, seldom very easy, but always fulfilling.  It’s what I was born to do.  And if you’ve followed WriteSuccess for any length of time, you know that it’s what you were born to do as well.

Here’s to your writing success in 2010.

Mary Anne

P.S. Interested in learning more about my new association for ghost writers?  Pop on over to http://iapgw.org and sign up for the free newsletter that will begin going out this month.  Or consider being one of the first to join—I plan on making this association THE place for ghost writers to connect with those who are looking for them!

Could Fear of Success Be Stopping You from Writing?

I just finished reading an article about fear of success, to which I’ll provide the link at the end of this post for those of you who are interested.  I’d never truly understood before how one could tell the difference between fear of success and fear of failure until I read this.  To me, the terms were interchangeable, as both lead to the same result.

 

But now I know that’s not true at all, and the realization simply blows me away.  I see where I have clearly fallen on the fear of success side of the fence off and on during my writing career.

 

Here’s how I know—if I’d suffered from fear of failure all these years as opposed to fear of success, I most likely wouldn’t have attempted to do or try almost everything I’ve done and tried in my life so far, from sending out query letters and emails to launching WriteSuccess.  In the corporate world, I attempted (unsuccessfully) to climb the management ranks several times, and while I now know my inability to do so was simply the closing of one door and the opening of another, if I’d feared failure rather than success I most certainly would not have kept trying after the first rejection.

 

Fear of success, on the other hand, does explain why the mental paralysis some of us experience whenever we have a really big idea that we want to pursue.  Oh, we’ll take the initial baby steps towards big goals, and sometimes even spend a great deal of time, effort and (when necessary) money on them.  But as we get closer…some of us freeze.  We seem to totally lose interest, or do anything to avoid working on it.  Let’s face it, the comfort zone may be less than fulfilling, even boring, but man, is it ever comfortable.  Who knows what dangers lay beyond its borders?

 

There’s a certain amount of relief in having a name for what has kept me from making big moves or taking big chances for decades.  It doesn’t mean I’ve found a cure or antidote for it, but as the saying goes, knowing is half the battle.  I at least know what the dragon I need to slay looks like now, and I find that knowledge curiously exciting and refreshing.

 

How about you?  Could fear of success be keeping you from your writing success?  Read more about it here and see if you identify:

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/are_you_afraid_of_success

 

Here’s to your writing success.

 

Mary Anne

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