Photo credit Mike Lyon
It was the end of senior year of college, and the whole earth was about to become my oyster. Or something like that. I had just finished the most grueling and boring project of my academic career; an eighty page senior thesis. I was preparing to sit down with my professor to discuss the results and receive great accolades on my work. He was unimpressed. For my hundreds of hours of toil and many a night at the library I got an average grade on this stack of pages I had poured my heart and soul into.
My conclusion; I’m not a writer.
I would’ve laughed if you told me I’d be about to release my third book in three years (Staying is the new Going ’15, Guardrails ’16 and Everyone’s a Genius ’17). I’m certainly not writing this to brag, only to say it has surprised me as much as anyone. I didn’t set out to be a serial writer, but here I am, and loving it. Something happens as I write. I don’t refine notes and drafts and manuscripts; they refine me. Most days I’m not thinking about those who might dare to read it; I’m lost in the adventure of writing.
Any writer gets a bucket full of questions. People have all kinds of assumptions. Once in a long while they’re true. There is a paradox I’ve discovered about writing; Many want to write a book, but few believe it’s possible.
Writing seems intriguing, but unreachable like living in a tiny home, retiring at forty five or rafting the grand canyon. We know people do it; we just don’t think we could. Writing is a gauntlet full of man-eating barriers.
Here are the three common barriers to writing…
Jacked up thinking. Our fears creep out from under the bed and convince of us of things that aren’t true.
I could never do that. I don’t have enough time. I’ll write a book when I’m an expert.
The someday mentality. The idea goes something like this; someday I’ll happen into a long amount of time, and then I’ll write. There is no urgency.
Great ideas — Urgency = Missed Opportunities
Only a few professions have writing sabbaticals built in. The rest of us have to create time. Without a deadline we never get around to it. Our fears and busyness have time to beat us up and steal our lunch in the meantime.
A writing process. You can write a blog post in one sitting but not a book. Emotion isn’t the currency of writing; discipline is. If you don’t develop a process from the conception of the idea to the birth of a book you won’t go through with it. I wrote down my process and am giving it away; 7 steps for launching your big idea.
I want to help writers overcome their jacked up thinking, move past “someday” and develop a process. I can’t hear the same things incessantly and avoid the conversation. I’m excited to be launching content and a cohort around writing this fall. There will be limited spots. Shoot me an email if you would like to be notified when the cohort opens. I’ll be writing more on overcoming these barriers. This one was just to whet the whistle.