I have a confession to make.
I’m feeling very uneasy with my writing lately.
I’m close to the finish line with my brain dump draft of a novel. It’s taken me longer to draft than I’d like.
It happens.
Life. Doubt. Travel. It’s all taken a toll this summer on my writing time and mindset.
As I recently drafted what I had planned to be some climactic moments, I realized I had characters pivotal to that arc in a different location entirely and no real plan on how to get everyone back together for the big moment.
Which made me doubt all that I had written up to this moment. After all, if this is where the tracks I laid deposited me, then how far back do I need to back up the train? Or am I changing the destination altogether?
Scary questions to be asking myself at this point in the process.
Until I remembered Steven Pressfield’s War of Art on my craft shelf.
The entire first part of the book is dedicated to resistance. How it works in our writing life, why it does what it does. The sneaky ways it infiltrates our ranks.
But I was specifically reminded of this tidbit:
The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it’s got.
YES!
This is where I am.
Does this make the resistance dissipate?
Hell, no!
But it makes me more aware of its whispers in my ear. I can identify the voice. I can recognize his skulking presence behind my writing chair.
By naming it, I can other it. I can separate it from my creative process. That block or that fear or that procrastination instinct, it’s resistance. A natural, lizard brain by-product recognizing I’m reaching the end.
And the end represents a change. A fear of the next step. A fear that the work is closer to being judged by others.
Once I can identify resistance for what it is, I can remind myself that, for me, the end of a draft is really just the beginning.
The beginning of revision.
The beginning of getting to play with what I’ve created. See what I really have.
The beginning of the fixes that will create the backbone of the real story I’ve written.
Writer’s block
Procrastination
Shiny new story ideas distracting us from the story at hand
Writing longer and longer unable to let it come to a natural finish
Name it.
Face it.
Take a deep breath or take a break.
But be intentional. Don’t just put the story aside indefinitely. Maybe use your writing time to refill your well, doodle, daydream, scribble lots of what ifs to move your story forward.
Then, when you sit back down to the work, watch out for resistance. Offer him a little salute of recognition, then put him at the back of your inspiration bus.
If finishing a novel is as important to you as it is to me, we’ll just have to keep writing.
No way around it.
No matter what resistance has to say about it.
My name is Monica and I’m a writer and a book coach who loves helping writers find the story rose in the thorny process of revision.
Need help beating back your resistance as you embark on your next round of revision?
I can help bring clarity and focus to your process so you can revise with confidence.
Join my waitlist for one-on-one coaching!
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