Love Your Life

In order to become better writers, we need to appreciate the fact we ARE writers and love what we do. For many of us, we feel writing is a guilty pleasure. We've been told to get a "real job" or to find something more "worthwhile" to do.

Julia Cameron understands this well. In her book, "The Right to Write," she says, "Seeking to value ourselves, we look to others for assurance. If what we are doing threatens them, they cannot give it. If what we envision is larger than what they can see, they cannot give support for what it is we are doing."

We have the right to love our lives. It's time to start doing more of what we love and less of what we hate.

Here's how we do it:

We get organized, set writing goals, and get up out of bed with a specific goal in mind. It might be an Artist's Day, a journaling project, developing a story outline or elevator pitch.

Time is limited. We need to take control of our schedules so that we know when our creative energy is the highest. Is it in the early morning or late at night? By figuring out personal rhythms, we won't waste time. We'll know the best time to journal, reflect, or work on a manuscript. The menial, boring tasks can be done during our "off" times when creative energy drops. We learn to multi-task, and we catch up reading with audio books or while waiting in the doctor's office or post office lines.

We try to remember that writing is a process and the process is more important than the product. We write for ourselves, not for others. No champion golfer or tennis player ever got good without practice so every minute we spend on writing is time is honing our craft and should be not only tolerated but applauded.

We should surround ourselves with other writers. They will support us.

We're wise enough to take time off from writing now and then to refuel, regroup, restore, recoup.

Whenever and wherever we write, we need to feel harmonious with our environment. Many people choose a coffee shop because life at home is chaotic. Others prefer a place in the public library or a park or the kitchen table. Some can write just about anywhere. One author I know wrote his entire book on lunch breaks. The writing provided an escape from the work day and the limited amount of time forced him to not waste a minute.

It's okay to love being a writer. Sure, we have responsibilities and obligations,but the first obligation should be to our creative selves.