Not writing happens more than writing. Staring at the blank page. Struggling to get motivation to put words on the screen. We have all felt that way. It’s common. Its cause? Resistance.
Resistance keeps writers from writing. It stands in the way of every type of creative endeavor, whether its a painter who isn’t wielding her brush or a writer avoiding the page. It is the single biggest challenge in creating things that are whole and realized and finished.
The best way to break through resistance is action. You must do. You must create. You must write. And you must finish what you begin. Otherwise you are doing nothing more than playing. You are dabbling, and dabbling will never get you where you want to be.
Here are some concrete ways to break through resistance that is keeping you from your work:
Love What You Do
If you do not love the process of writing, of putting your ideas and stories on the page, stop. It is love that will sustain you through the ups and downs of writing—and there are and will always be ups and down. There will always be points in the process where you will doubt your skill, your idea, your characters, your story. There will be times when you will want to walk away and do anything else, even if it’s defrosting the freezer or cleaning the litter. It is only love that will keep you coming back. If you don’t love the act of writing, do something else. The agony of resistance is not worth it if you don’t have the passion to push through.
Avoid Envy
Don’t compare yourself to other writers. They are not you. They will never be you. You will never be them. Be true to who you are as a writer and create. Focus on your own work. And take any envy aimed in your direction as a compliment, not a criticism. Then get back to work.
Look Deep Into Yourself
Resistance hides. It is invisible, lurking deep within the creative mind. Look deeply to ferret it out and expose it. It cannot live in the light of examination. As an added benefit, once you identify exactly what is preventing you from working, you can push past it.
Work
Take a deep breath, accept the feeling of resistance, and then sit down and begin anyway. The feeling will fade with work. The obstacle will shrink with productivity and creation. Don’t let it stop you. Look it in the face and call it by its name, and then push through.
Recognize Its Forms
Resistance comes from our fears. The fear of failure, success, looking stupid, not finding an audience, starving. The list goes on and on. The sad thing is that resistance manifests in a variety of ways that mislead us into thinking we are doing something productive when we aren’t. It shows up as extended research, cleaning, organizing, mindless chatter in our heads, extreme fatigue, restlessness and any other feeling that gets in the way of writing. You need to know how to recognize when you have crossed the line from a reasonable activity into a resistance-born activity. This recognition will help you break through.
Develop a Work Ethic
Work turns on the inspiration. As Louis L’Amour said, “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” You can’t wait for inspiration. That’s not how it happens most of the time. Sure, there are times when you race to your laptop to capture the lines flowing in your head, but more often they won’t appear until you do. As Stephen Pressfield, who wrote The War of Art, said: “The amateur waits for inspiration. The professional knows that it will come after he starts.” Having a strong work ethic will get you a lot farther than waiting for inspiration.
Don’t Look for Validation
Just work. It’s not up to anyone else to approve of how you spend your time. If you want to write, write. Do it. As Dot says to Seurat in the musical Sunday in the Park with George, “Stop worrying if your vision is new. Let others make that decision. They usually do. You keep moving on.” Writing is not about accolades but about telling a story the best way you can. The accolades can only happen when the work is done and polished and shared. By then, you should be working on something new. You should have moved on.
Don’t Stop
No matter what. Don’t stop writing. Resistance wants to instill paralysis—don’t let it win. Keep writing, no matter how difficult. Keep putting words on the page. You can’t edit something that isn’t there, that doesn’t exist. Make something exist.
Keep Improving
Rejection can inspire resistance. It could cause you to stall. Don’t let it. Keep improving. Figure out why what you wrote didn’t work. Ask for help. Join a writers group or find Beta readers. Hire a manuscript consultant or editor. Learn from your mistakes and missteps. Keeping trying. No matter how successful you get, keep learning.
Be Objective
Don’t let emotions rule your work. Write first and then edit with a clear eye. Be open to criticism, not stopped by it. It is not personal. Look at your writing as your job, not your baby. It is precious, but it will never be perfect. You must contain your feelings so you can see the flaws and fix them.
Find the Zone
Like with athletes, there is a zone writers can find. But it only appears after the words begin to flow. After you start writing. The zone doesn’t come when you’re sitting on the couch surfing YouTube or binging shows on Netflix. How can it? Your brain is too occupied with other people’s work. Focus on your own. Sit down and begin, the inspiration will come and soon you will find your writing zone. It won’t happen every day, but it will come, and on those days you will remember why you love writing. And again, like athletes, you will find the zone more easily and frequently the more you practice.
Finish
Breaking through resistance means nothing if you can’t finish your story. The whole point is to get the story from your brain to the page and then to a reader. If no one reads what you write, then what is the work for? If you do it from love and don’t want readers, then great, keep going. If, however, you do want to find an audience, you must finish what you start. No one will publish an unfinished, unpolished manuscript, no matter how great the idea is.
Begin Again
Resistance will rear its ugly head again every time you begin anew. Expect it and be prepared to push through. This is a fight that will never end. It’s the writer’s constant challenge.
Good luck!