Things started off strong in January. I was writing every day, and the new book was coming together faster than ever.
But once February arrived, it was like a giant speed bump. I didn’t feel like writing or posting anything at all. My motivation completely slumped.
As writers, sometimes we can get a little too much inside our own heads. It can be a little too easy to lose sight of the joy we can find in our journey and become overly results focused. Thoughts about books sales, deadlines, and external expectations can crowd out the pleasures of sitting down at the keyboard to create as often as possible. Even worse? When we start looking beyond our own paths and speculate too much about the careers of other writers.
It’s always good to remind myself that, while I love other writers and their books, their degree of success is not my business. Literally.
The other big thing weighing on me last month was this feeling that everything about this writing career had become too complex. And I mean the managing of the business end, not the writing itself. All the things we as writers are advised to do to market our work snowball very quickly once we start to think we need to be on every social media platform and produce consistent daily content in order to stay connected with the readers we have and gain new ones.
There’s that pressure, always, but for me I’ve had this very clear desire to do away with practically all social media. I deleted TikTok and deactivated Facebook. Which feels almost like career suicide to be honest. But I hated how much time I was spending on them, worrying about them, and always, always thinking about what I should and should not be posting. I’ve kept Instagram, for now, and my videos are still up on YouTube because I do find personal enjoyment in those places. But I’ve been creating less and less of my own content there. I haven’t exactly figured out how social media fits in with either my life or my writing career–but if I do end up keeping one or two, I don’t want to spend as much time or headspace in those places.
I recently had two of my favorite layovers, Madison, Wisconsin, and Whitefish, Montana. I credit my time spent in those places with helping me to realign my energy and actions with what I want to accomplish in the next couple of months (namely completing the first draft of my eleventh book.) I was able to sit, in peace and silence, and return my thoughts to developing story.
I’ve moved past February now. And a little self-reflection has led me to some conclusions about why I got so knocked off track, but given that I hardly wrote two paragraphs for that whole month, I’m behind where I wanted to be at this time and for this book.
It’s fine, it will all come together in the end. It always does.
I’m just chalking February up to lessons learned. Even though I often feel like this particular one keeps circling back into my life.
Don’t make commitments that suck both your time and your life when they are entirely out of alignment with who you are and what you want to accomplish.
Essentially, even now, I still find myself saying yes to things I should say no to.
One day I’ll figure it out. But that day wasn’t last month.
