I don’t want to write this email.
I’m tired.
But…
I’m going to anyways. One word at a time.
And that makes all the difference in the world.
I know you don’t want to write your story right now.
Do it anyways.
I know you think your story isn’t as good as you want it to be.
Write it anyways.
I know you feel unsure about your genre choice.
Keep moving forward anyways.
I know you are tired. I know you want to watch TV. I know you want to “rest”.
Me too.
But I write anyways.
That’s how it works.
There is no magic sauce. There is no “perfect time to write”.
I write when I’m tired 100% of the time.
I’ve never come to the page “fresh”.
And luckily, that isn’t a requirement for becoming a writer. Just listen to the King rant on the subject:
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.
You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”
Most of the time I come to the page angry. Determined to conquer myself and my sloth. Never timid, never half-cocked.
If I have to beat my chest and eat raw meat to enter a savage state of mind…
… so be it.
I will not come to the page empty of emotion.
Right now, as I write these words, I am filled with an angry determination.
I DON’T WANT TO WRITE THIS EMAIL.
But…
I will not be stopped.
I cannot be stopped.
I made a promise to you that I’d send an email every day for 90 days.
I cannot go back on my promise.
Last night I slept for 3.5 hours. Woke up, started work for SUCCESS at 9am and didn’t stop until 8pm. I forgot to shower. Forgot to eat. My brain is numb.
This is the 4th day in a row that I’ve kept this schedule.
Yet I am here.
I still managed to analyze my book today. I even discovered a new character that adds a wonderful dimension of complexity to my current WIP.
I cannot be stopped.
I will not be stopped.
And neither will you if…
… you come to the page “any way but lightly“.
People say “find your motivation and everything else will take care of itself.”
Perhaps that’s true. I don’t know.
What I do know is that you can’t do this writing thing with anything less than everything you have to give.
And I mean everything.
Spill your guts. Allow yourself to be raw, tired, pissed off.
Then write.
And keep writing.
Keep writing until the anger or disappointment or fear or hope fades away.
Then do it again.
And again.
And again.
Because the truth is:
It will never go away.
Except for those moments when you are writing.
And that is everything.
Mike “The Tired One” Shreeve