Eating Elephants Bite by Bite

Bite by bite. Step by step. Or as the witty Anne Lamott's book instructs Bird by Bird (read it!). We've all heard the saying, but how can we apply it in writing? In my last post about writer's doubt I mentioned ignoring the debilitating voices and writing regardless of the fear. We must take each bite, every step forward to silence those fears.

As writers we write because we must. If you have the aching desire to bleed ink into stories than focus on the bites not the elephant. Let each idea, sentence, or character lead you past doubt.

I have been struggling with the demons that would take away my pen for nearly ten years. I have allowed them to dictate whether I follow my passion. Not anymore. I have named five steps I can take any time I feel the doubt swelling up around my hands as I hold them over the keyboard.

1. WRITE. WRITE. WRITE.

I heard these words many times over the past decade, but I never understood what it was to sit down and just write. I always felt I needed a plan and when the plan didn't come to me I simply wouldn't write. Then I discovered NaNoWriMo, a challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. I like a good challenge and took it on. At the end of November I had a first draft of my first completed manuscript. What was even better than having it done was the enlightenment I gained from writing about 2,000 words every day without an outline or any type of plan. I had made a habit of writing. NaNoWriMo had helped me realize what "just write" meant and how great things can be accomplished. I highly recommend NaNoWriMo in November and the Camp NaNoWriMo online in April. 

2. READ. READ. READ.

We cannot hope to weave transcending stories or leave our readers wanting if we do not first study the works of those who have already done it. Turn your love of books and reading into a study of the craft. Read your old favorites, find new favorites, read from the genre you wish to write, and read the how to books like Bird by Bird. Just read. Inhale the creativity that resides in every printed work as if it were water or air. It will increase your passion and ignite your imagination.

3. GATHER IDEAS

Ideas are all around us waiting to be claimed. Take moments when you're in public to slow down, to listen to what is going on around you, to experience the senses, and to examine the beauty of life. The actions of others usually make for great material. Pay attention to current events and read-up on your history. You shouldn't have to look long to find an intriguing conflict or interesting character. Your creativity can also be sparked by dreams. After all Sigmund Freud did suggest that dreams are pathways to the subconscious. Perhaps even a direct link to our uncharted imaginations?

4. DREAM

We cannot always be writing or reading or making notes of our next great idea. Life happens. However, we can always be dreaming. Dreaming of our next writing session or what our characters will do next. Dreaming of all the possibilities that could come from putting our pens to paper. French author, Antole France, said it best that "to accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." Dreaming encourages passion which drives determination to doing whatever it takes to reach our goals.

5. KEEP LEARNING

In all things, never feel you have learned all there is to know. Our world is constantly changing. Technology challenges us to keep evolving. Case in point, I joined Twitter. We must also study history to learn from our past so that our future does not repeat it. Take classes. Join organizations. Read. By constantly learning we discover new voices, new techniques, and new possibilities. 

These are only suggestive first steps to overcome the creeping doubts that linger behind our dreams. Make your own list of the steps that will get you to the finish line. Put it somewhere you'll walk by often to remind yourself not of the elephant, but each small bite. Good luck and keep writing.

Writer's Doubt Is Real and Debilitating

Every single writer has experienced writer's block in some form or another. I also have to believe that every writer has struggled with the doubt that follows great ideas into our imaginations. The doubt that makes us question everything we know or believe. I for one struggle with it constantly. Fortunately my current protagonist, Andy, won't let me listen to it. She's fierce that way.

My drive to keep pounding away on my computer seems like enough most days to drown out all pestering voices of doubt. I'm confident in my story and my characters. And most days I'm confident in my writing. What scares me to an almost debilitating state is the question - Is it enough? Am I enough? My characters chose me. I am responsible for telling their stories, but what if I don't have what it takes? What if I can't spill enough ink to give them life? I don't have an English degree. No, I had the great plan to be a lawyer until after I graduated with my bachelor degree and decided that wasn't going to work. What then? I discovered the Loft Literary Center and my passion for writing. But is it enough?

I follow great authors like K.M. Weiland who has become an unsolicited mentor to me. I'm inspired and greatly intimidated by her vast wealth of knowledge about the ins and outs of writing especially story structure. James Patterson is offering a MasterClass on writing that is appealing to me, but will it really help increase my confidence? No matter if my education is formal or self-taught, I do aspire to learn daily to improve my craft. But is the ability to be able to articulate every sentence structure and pinch point necessary for me to be a good writer? Do I need to get a masters in fine arts in order to silence these doubts?

I don't think so. In fact, several of my Loft teachers have said that an MFA is not necessary. I'd love to get my MFA. But my practical rational self says I have to be able to justify the tuition by first proving myself as a writer. This cycle seems to follow the same as the idea that one must be published in order to get published. Or the daunting reality for those in the corporate workforce that you need experience to get the job you want, but how does one get the experience if you can't get the job you need to get the experience? Ufda. The chicken and egg taunt me.

Currently Andy shouts at me to throw the damn egg against a wall. To forget all the self-doubt and let her finish telling me her story. That is exactly what I will do. I know the parts of a story. I know what is needed to make it sing and to get the readers to lean in. Sure, I might not know every technical term for parts of a story, but for now what I do know is enough. All I can do is get it all out, once, twice, as many rewrites as it takes me to do justice to Andy's story. That's what my passion and Andy demand.

What do you do to silence the doubts that follow you?