You’ve been talking about this book for years. Now it’s time to fish or cut bait.
Honestly—I’m here to let you off the hook. Do you mean it? Do you truly want to write a book?
Why???
So? If you got that, what would it mean?
And then if you got that, what would it give you?
Dig down deeper, layer by layer, until you can feel why you want this.
Could you meet that need in some other way? (Easier ways exist.) Choose not to write that book. Give it up and do something else. Do nothing. It’s beats doing nothing except berating yourself.
If you’re not writing, this is your homework: do NOT write your book. Figure out what you’d rather do. If you can possibly avoid writing a book, do it! Do it on purpose! Do it with joy! (If quitting your book is difficult, see Evan Harris’s The Art of Quitting for more about that.)
If your book is rolling this week, keep it up—and also spend a few minutes clarifying your Why. Post that reason or that list of reasons over your desk, pat yourself on the back, and write some more.
If you just can’t quit, then come on back. The door is always open.
Either way, here’s your soundtrack for this assignment: Armstrong and Crosby: Gone Fishin’
And for those of you still writing, please answer in the comments: Why???
Love, Gwyn
_______________________
Text © Gwyn Nichols 2013. All rights reserved. WritersResort.com
Photo © Deanna Roose
Writers' Resort LLC 
It’s one of Those Things. Writing one’s novel. It nags at people, almost as much as the fear that they have no imagination and have nothing to say. There’s half an idea lurking, or a 2D character waiting to spring into 3D, if only they could find the luxury of time.
Quitting is a radical idea… but very good advice.
LikeLike