- W. Somerset Maugham, English playwright, novelist and short story writer.

-DAVID BAYLES & TED ORLAND, Art & Fear

This guest post is by Becca Campbell. She is the author of Foreign Identity as well as the creator of JuNoWriMo. Visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and toss in a visit at Facebook for good measure.

Time is a commodity of which I never have enough. Maybe you’re like me. I am constantly pulled between opposing forces as they try to steal my time. There is always more to be done than I can squeeze into one day. And I’ve taken pains to pare down my life to just the basics, which is why I have a feeling that many of you are even busier than I am. I feel your struggle.

In my own struggle to find balance and satisfaction, I’ve found several key things that greatly help make the most of my writing time. These are the top six:

Don’ts

1. Procrastination

If you have a scheduled deadline, such as a blog post, don’t wait until the last minute. I’m as bad as anyone at ignoring looming posts until the night before and then frantically trying to come up with a topic. This is not the best way. You’ll be piling unnecessary stress on yourself. And often the pressure of not allowing enough time for an idea to fully develop makes writing even tougher. I find that when I procrastinate, my posts usually take longer to write. Avoid it like the plague.

2. Editing As You Go

I know it’s tempting, but try to avoid getting hung up on the little issues when you write. No one gets it perfect the first time, and that’s okay. That’s what a second (and third, and fourth) draft is for. Rereading what you’ve written stops the flow. It’s a distraction that takes you out of writing mode and puts you into “fix it” mode. And it’s not helpful for getting words on the page. Remind yourself that there will be time to go back and tweak things later.

3. Over Committing Because of Guilt or Obligation

To make time for the important things, you have to cut out the things that aren’t as important. Step back for a minute and evaluate the activities in your life. The way I see it, there are two crucial categories: serving others and investing in your own purpose. Cutting either one for the sake of the other would have disastrous results. Instead, pinpoint the things that don’t fit into either of these categories. Surfing the web doesn’t benefit either one. Neither does going to a social function for the sake of obligation (if you’re going for your own enjoyment, that’s a different story).

As for serving others: I’ve learned to check my motivation before I commit to something. Serving others is important. Crucial, even. But it has to come freely, from the heart, not from guilt or from letting others take advantage of you.

As for investing in my art: If I’m going to a social function for the sake of being “seen” or because “everyone else is going,” that’s not good enough anymore. If going doesn’t either grant me a needed reprieve or contribute to my creative growth, it’s more efficient for me to use that time to work on my craft. I only go to the things that I really enjoy.

Dos

4. Prewriting

Planning what you are going to write about ahead of time is a huge lifesaver, whether you’re keeping up with a blog or writing a novel. Having a plan gets rid of the blank page syndrome. If you blog, make a list of possible blog topics with a few points under each. If you’re writing a book, a chapter outline of the plot will guide your way, keeping you moving when you sit down to work. (Simple or detailed, somethingis better than nothing.) When you’ve planned it out ahead of time, the writing flows much faster.

I found this out during National Novel Writing Month. I’d done a great deal of pre-writing, but hadn’t finished the outline before November hit. When I started writing, words flowed with surprising swiftness – until I hit the dead end on my outline. From that point on, it was a tough, uphill struggle. Do yourself a favor and figure out as much as you can before you start.

5. Schedule Large Chunks of Time Whenever Possible

I aim to write daily. Consistency is key to success. That said, with my lifestyle and family obligations, I’m not able to get more than a couple hours in an average day. I don’t have eight hours a day to dedicate to my craft.

The problem with writing a little every day is the time it takes to gear up and get into the “zone.” By the time I’m there and the words are flowing, it’s almost time to wrap things up. That’s why I make a point to schedule large chunks of writing time whenever I can. This is aside from my daily writing time – usually on the weekend when I can get out of the house for a while. Often my most productive writing time comes from those sessions when I sequester myself and just zone in on the project.

6. Treat Your Craft Like Work, Not Leisure

If you’re like me, you’re writing in your spare time because you enjoy it, not because you’re paid. You may have a full time job, or a family to care for or other obligations that keep writing from being your main focus. And that’s fine. But if you want to get published (or have a highly profitable blog), then your aim is for writing to be your job. Why not start treating it like serious business instead of a hobby, even this early in the game?

When I had an office job, I sat down at my desk and I knew what I had to do. There was no wasting time on Facebook, getting distracted by chores or saying, “Eh, I don’t feel like it today.” I was there for a purpose and I was accountable for my time.

Even though I might be considered a “part-time” writer by my hours weekly, I view writing as my job (one of several). I’ve even started keeping timesheets for my own record. I log the date, hours spent, project and wordcount. This is key because time often disappears without me getting anything consequential done. Filling out a timesheet is a way for me to make sure I’m being productive.Respect yourself enough to take your projects seriously.

Treat your art like a job and maybe someday it will become one.

I’ve seem to be hitting writer’s block far too often now. My grade in my creative writing class is suffering because i don’t turn in anything because I’m never really satisfied with anything I do. All my good ideas seem to turn into bad ones once I write it down. 

Answer:

You turn off your inner critic. You do not listen to your inner police force. You ignore the little voices that tell you that it’s all stupid, and you keep going.

Your grade isn’t suffering because your writing is bad, it’s suffering because you aren’t finishing things and handing them in.

So, finish them and hand them in. Even if a story’s lousy, you’ll learn something from it that will be useful as a writer, even if it’s just “don’t do that again”.

You’re always going to be dissatisfied with what you write. That’s part of being human. In our heads, stories are perfect, flawless, glittering, magical. Then we start to put them down on paper, one unsatisfactory word at a time. And each time our inner critics tell us that it’s a rotten idea and we should abandon it.

If you’re going to write, ignore your inner critic, while you’re writing. Do whatever you can to finish. Know that anything can be fixed later.

Remember: you don’t have to be brilliant when you start out. You just have to write. Every story you finish puts you closer to being a writer, and makes you a better writer.

Blaming “Writer’s Block” is wonderful. It removes any responsibility from the person with the “block”. It gives you something to blame, and it sounds fancy.

But it’s probably more honest to think of it as a combination of laziness, perfectionism and Getting Stuck. If you’re being lazy, don’t be. If you’re being a perfectionist, don’t be. And if you’re stuck, figure out where the story went off the rails, or what you got wrong, or where you need to go deeper, or what you need to add to make it work, and then start writing again.

-NEIL GAIMAN

Every November, hundreds of thousands take up the challenge of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). The goal: write a 50,000 word novel in just thirty days and survive to tell the tale. If it sounds kind of crazy it’s because it is.

Most give up along the way (last year only 14% finished), but a handful grind it out to the bitter end. They’re the ones who don’t know any better, frankly—the diehards with no Quit in them.

I was a “Wrimer” once so I believe in the value of programs like NaNoWriMo. They challenge reluctant writers to take a chance and see what they’re made of–people like me who discovered a talent I wasn’t confident I had.

So I contacted the fine folks at the Office of Letters and Light, the non-profit behind NaNoWriMo, with a proposal: I wanted to create a survival guide of sorts of this year’s Wrimers and donate the profits to them to help support their writing programs.

They said, “Yes!” I went to work. @WriMo: A 30-Day Survival Guide for Writers is the product of that love labor.

SO, WHAT IS IT?

@WriMo is an ebook organized into short daily readings–think blog-length snippets like you find here on StorysellerPRO. It’s crammed with inspiration, writerly wisdom, and the occasional kick in the moneymaker designed to keep the budding novelist’s head in the game. There’s a reading for every day of NaNoWriMo, but the topics are relevant enough to be used beyond November.

What you won’t find is a bunch of “how to’s” on the craft. This is NOT a reference guide for learning how to write a novel. This is a 30-day supply of whoop a** for aspiring writers intent on running the gauntlet of National Novel Writing Month.

@WriMo releases OCTOBER 1 for all e-reading devices and will be available for $4.00. Even if you don’t own a Kindle, iPad, or other e-reading device, you will still be able to read it via your favorite reading app. And for the app-averse, it will also be available as a PDF.

I’M GIVING MONEY AWAY!

This is creative philanthropy and 100% of the profits will be donated to The Office of Letters and Light to keep their programs going. They are a fairly small organization and rely on the kindness of friends and strangers to keep going. This is one way you and I can help them out. You can barely purchase a latte at Starbucks for $4.00, so this is good deal AND it does some good in the world.

WANT TO GET IT FREE? JOIN THE @WriMo LAUNCH TEAM

I’m looking for a small group of people who will roll up their sleeves and help spread the word about @WriMo.

Here’s what’s in it for you:

1. A free, electronic review copy of the book before publication (Kindle, iPad, Nook, or PDF)
2. Exclusive access to me during NaNoWriMo via a private Facebook Group.
3. A special thank you shout out on StorysellerPRO with a linkback to your website or blog

LAUNCH TEAM REQUIREMENTS

Interested? Apply to be a part of the @WriMo launch team by emailing kevin@storysellerpro.com. Include your name, a link to your website or blog if you have one, and your Twitter handle (@you) if you have one. I will select up to 100 launch team members for this experiment. It’ll be fun and we just might make some history here.

-CATHERINE DRINKER BOWEN

Today, some friends of mine are publishing a book entitled Inciting Incidents. They graciously asked me to share a short written piece about my own inciting incidents, which you’ll find below. Like the picture defines, an inciting incident is that moment that changes everything. It’s a storytelling term, used most in the movie business. I encourage you to check out their website today and support some fine folk by buying their book. 

LESSONS ALONG THE WAY

In the movies, inciting incidents usually make sense in hindsight.

Real life, on the other hand, can’t be bothered with things like reason and making sense. No explanation exists for the whirlwinds that swallow us whole—a loved one’s suicide, a failed marriage, a business that implodes, vaporizing dreams along the way.

These are my inciting incidents, three of them at least. The hardest ones to explain.

Looking back even now, they still don’t make much sense. That’s as it should be. Mystery is a gift and I no longer need to know why. That question alone could drive you mad. My part is to embrace the lessons my inciting incidents, and what came after them, have offered me.

Lessons like…

1. Only this moment is life.

I know this, but still manage to squander my days reliving the past or trying to control the future. Sometimes, I awaken and glimpse the world that’s right in front of me with raw clarity. But then I fall back asleep and return to the cramped, dream world in my head.

I’m most aware of God when I remember that the past is a memory that exists only because I want it to. Any power it has comes from me. The future, too, is just imagination. It’s a figment of my own making, no more substantial than a curl of smoke.

The Old Testament scene at the burning bush is instructive. When Moses asked who he should say sent him, God answered, “I AM.”

I love that. For God, it’s always Now. This moment. Maybe he’s onto something. It’s only and always Now for us, too. We just miss it because we think Now’s not good enough.

But it is. It’s all that is.

2. We move forward only through stillness.

Our culture is addicted to distraction and doing. We’ve forgotten how to make space, to pause. Selah, that ancient word for pause or meditate, is a footnote to skip over.

We’ve somehow come to believe that we’re humans doing instead of humans being. Seen that way, life becomes an adventure in missing the point.

Be still and know that I am God, the psalmist wrote. Be still. Know.

Selah.

It’s a paradox, moving forward by being still. But paradox is the language of the True—life comes through death, maturity by growing young and seeing as a child, and greatness through making ourselves small.

3. Have unconditional compassion for yourself. Only then can you truly love others.

Inciting incidents are moments that open us to discovery, and the greatest discovery is Love. Love for who we are and love for the “other” who isn’t all that different than me.

In a moment of honesty, I’ll admit that I hated myself for years—despised myself, actually—to the point where ending my life seemed to make sense. Everything felt hollow and pointless. It’s no surprise that I was an unloving person.

Then a miracle happened and I stopped hating myself so much. It’s hard to explain. Miracles are that way. Thankfully, I began learning what Marianne Williamson says far more eloquently than I ever could:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

4. Only you can live your life and write your story.

Life must be lived. There’s no other way. It’s a brilliantly beautiful and absurd contact sport with a lot of rules, but only a few that truly matter.

One that does is this: We alone are responsible for our life. We have responsibility, the ability to respond. No one can find out the Truth for us.

All beliefs, until you experience them, are hearsay. They are rumors of the truth, not Truth itself. Inciting incidents have reminded me that it’s not enough to live vicariously through someone else. I must face them myself.

There is no finish line. Not really. The adventure is the point. The process is the point. This takes radical humility because we aren’t in control. Inciting incidents burn that fog of illusion away like the sun.

But the One who penned the beginning of our Stories is the same who sees us through the inciting incidents and all that comes after—good, bad, and ugly. And that is enough for me now.

Kevin Kaiser is a novelist and consultant to the publishing industry. His work has been seen on Writer’s Digest, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal, and New Yorker online. He blogs about the creative process on storysellerPRO.com and tweets via @KevinSKaiser.

This post is part of a group blogging project celebrating the release of Inciting Incidents (Moody Press), a book featuring the stories of six creatives who share honestly about surviving life’s difficulties while attempting to do great things. You can visit the “Share Your Story” section of IncitingIncidents.Org to check out posts from other synchroblog contributors, or visit the sites of the authors: Sarah Cunningham, Jeff Goins, Dave Hickman, Blaine Hogan, Tracee Persiko, Stephanie Smith, Mandy Thompson and David Wenzel. In addition, you can hear more about the project in this NPR-style interview series by Moody Radio.  

Also, if you pick up the book in the first two weeks, Moody will give you a bundle of free resources, including two full-length e-books. The book is available immediately at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Christian Book.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

It must all be true…

Right?

Writers, especially those who want to plumb the depths, cannot be content with that approach to life. You can’t live or create on borrowed conviction for long. If you try, the only possible outcome is propaganda, not art or truth that’s rooted in authentic experience. To tell the truth fully, you have to have lived it. There’s no shortcut. You have to take the journey yourself and ask honest questions and pursue the answer wherever it may lead. In short, you can’t bullshit forever if your goal is exploring the truth.

I know many authors who say they write to discover, to put their view of the world to the test and see whether or not it holds up under naked light. At some point, we must all face the truth that every one of our beliefs, even the most sacred ones, is hearsay until we experience it personally. Until then we are spreading rumors of the truth and not the Truth itself.

-HENRY MILLER