Kelly Gibbons, artist and writer, about me

Monday, January 12, 2004

Happy Monday! (I am so glad I can say that and really mean it!)

My last post started out as a bit of a downer. This writing life is like that at times. Some days are amazing and I am full of energy and ideas and writing seems so easy. But then there are the days where nothing seems right and ideas just aren't there. No matter how hard I try to come up with them they won't come.
I think the down days seem worse than they really are because the up days are so great. I really have been working to find a balance and I think I'm succeeding. I look back to the beginning (a mere 4 months ago) and find that I am dealing with this better even though it always doesn't seem that way. First of all, I stress, but I don't stay there for nearly as long, and I have also learned to cope with the stress much better.

These are things I learned this week:

1. It gets easier the longer you do something. I'm still an basket of nerves when it comes to writing, but I can calm myself down much faster now.
2. Doubting myself is normal. Saying "I can do this" is a great way to get over it. Really it works!
3. Small steps get you there. A whole bunch of small steps no matter how slow will get you to your destination. The sprint will get you there so much faster, but the speed could cause you to miss so much along the way.
4. To boost creativity, change your scenery. I was stuck for ideas and decided to try going somewhere else to write. Since the library is about a 1/2 mile away I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (got a little exercise in!). Anyway, the change of pace worked wonders, but not at first. It did take me a bit to warm up to my surroundings--OK maybe it was just me that need to warm up, next time I walk somewhere the temp has to be way above the zero mark! I went with a goal. I was not leaving until I had a solid start to the article I was struggling with. I got it by sitting there and forcing myself to write. At home it is easy to walk away or give up. There my time was limited, so I knew I had to get to business. It really helped, I left with a great beginning, and when I got home I finished the article fast.
6. Bouncing ideas off others works. If you are a writer and don't have a writing buddy, get yourself one--it works wonders. I am not one to ask for help, and I have always had a hard time reaching out to others, but I have read how helpful this can be so I gave it a try. I was struggling all weekend over ideas for queries I want to submit. I teamed up with someone trying to do the same thing. She challenged me to come up with five ideas by the end of the weekend. Knowing that you have to answer to someone else really motivates you, and having someone validate the ideas was exactly what I needed.

posted by Kelly @ 1/12/2004 09:37:00 AM

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