3 Writing Struggles — and How to Tame Them
I’ve published three books (soon four). Before I got to the point that I could make these books happen, I struggled big time.
Any of these sound familiar?
1. No time to write.
2. No regular writing practice.
3. Ideas “stuck” in my head.
Um-hmmm. I had all those problems.
If you want to write a nonfiction book, I want to help you overcome these blocks. Let’s take a look at each one and see how to kick them to the curb.
1. Unearth Ideas with a Backhoe
A lot of time people have a vision for what they want to create, but they don’t know how to move along ideas from their brain to the page.
You can do this by using ideas from #2. Start that writing practice. Write on a regular basis, and you’ll find your ideas start to show up.
It’ll hurt at first. It’s like getting back into running or other exercise after an absence. Ouch! The good news is that it gets easier.
And you’ll surprise yourself with what you come up with while writing. I see a-ha moments and happy connections made all the time in my writing classes. Once people set pen to paper — especially in a community — ideas magically appear.
2. Find “Hidden” Writing Time
If you have time to use a bathroom, you have time to write.
When we say we don’t have time, we’re really saying that we’re not making the time. I’ve done the same thing, unfortunately!
If you don’t want to make time or are short on it, you can hire a ghostwriter or book doctor to help you get your book done. If you’re short on money, you can make the time and get the book done.
Writing a book will take either time or money.
The antidote for not enough time? Set a goal. I designed a free 21-day 500 Words Challenge for this very reason. My goal is to help people get over the blockages and resistance that threaten their writing output — and writing 500 words per day helps to overcome these blocks.
500 words may seem like Mount Everest at first. I invite you to try it for a week at the very least. Tell me if it doesn’t get easier. Really. Tell me.
2. Forge a Writing Practice
Most of the time, this requires a shift in mindset. It did for me.
After I left the supportive structure of a creative writing program, I returned to the Washington, DC area and stopped writing. I had to focus on life duties like finding a job and an apartment. I lived in temporary housing while my new husband stayed back in Florida to wrap things up. Soon after, my life morphed into managing a move from Florida to Maryland and commuting to the new job. I had not carved out time for writing.
My life felt like it was in a shambles and that threw my writing practice into a shambles, too. I didn’t even think of my writing in terms of having a “practice.” I didn’t start out disciplined. I had to teach myself to do it.
A community helps you form a practice.
What helped me was teaming up with a friend in the same boat. We sent each other our writing and shared our comments on each other’s work. At the time, this worked wonders. If I had it to do over, I would have been more mindful about setting goals and focusing on the bigger picture (writing and finishing my first book, for instance).
Once I started to view consistent writing as a practice — something to which I commit every day — then I began to see how it could be woven into my life. For good.
Deborah Ager founded Radiant Media Labs to help experts, go-getters, and entrepreneurs write books in less time. Radiant Media Labs offers ghostwriting services and book coaching to help you start and finish your nonfiction book. She’s written or edited four books with publishers large and small. One of most recent is The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry.
