📝Part 3 of 4: Now Do The Stuff You Said You'd Do
The actual plan in action. What does that look like?
Hey, y’all! Happy Wednesday. How’s your week so far? I’m trying to get my head above water with all the stuff I need to do, but it’s not easy lately. Content, copy edits, newsletter, marketing, and oh yeah, somewhere in there I need to get busy on that new story I’m writing: code name “moonfire.” (You guys! I love this new story so much. (I know, I say that about every new story I write.) But the concept is really unique and the atmosphere is crisp from the first page so I’m a bit swoony.🥰) Anyway…
Onto the good stuff! I saw this quote the other day, and it really hit home for me.
Are you where you had hoped you would be five years later? For me, the answer is yes. Better than I expected actually, and that feels great. But I didn’t get here by accident. I had to work hard to get to this place. I feel like most of us spend our life wanting the goals of the future, only to arrive there, and it’s the same as yesterday. No real change has happened toward what we had hoped to achieve. It’s frustrating and disappointing. You start to question if you’re even capable of getting what you want. You start to feel deflated and lose motivation. So you have three choices.
Give up, accept mediocracy.
Keep doing status quo but never grow.
Or say forget that noise, I’m not stopping until I get what I want.
If you chose #3, welcome!
📝Part 3 of 4: Now Do The Stuff You Said You'd Do
I’m sure you’ve heard before, that if you want something bad enough, you’ll make it happen. Wanting is only the desire for something. The achievement comes in the action. You have to do the work or it won’t happen.
Last week you strategically wrote out your goals…or maybe you didn’t and you’re shining me on that you did. *shrugs* Doesn’t affect me if you don’t do the work. But let’s pretend you did. What does action look like? Here are some things I do.
🤓PREP THE NIGHT BEFORE
Don’t you roll your eyes at me. Didn’t your mama teach you any better? I know this seems like a silly step, but trust me, it works. It ain’t hard. It doesn’t need to take more than five minutes. But when you have your stuff together the night before it sets you up for success the next day. Think of it this way, you have a big presentation for the company. You don’t just walk into that meeting the day of and wing it. You prep beforehand. Same should go for your writing time.
First, know what you want to write about. Working on a certain scene. Tweaking your outline (for you psychopaths who outline.) Creating character sheets. Brainstorming ideas for the story. Building your Pinterest board. Writing out your synopsis. Now jot down what you’re doing in a writing journal, make a few notes, and the next day when you sit down to write, look it over. Secondly, and the most important part of prepping, know when you’re going to write the next day and make sure everyone else does too. Tell those pesky kids, needy spouse, annoying mother, etc. that you will not be available. Boom, done! That’s it. I promise, a small amount of prep-work can make a big difference when it’s time to work. Now you can show up at your desk and simply write.
😘COURTING FLOW
This is terminology my writer’s coach, Heather Demetrios, always used. It’s when you do all the things you need to do to get the muse to show up, which in turn opens up the writing flow. To do that, you need to know your writing process. I’ve touched on that before here. Think of this as your five minute warm-up before you start exercising. Here are a bunch of ideas to help you get going:
📽️Close your eyes and spend five minutes visualizing the scene as a movie in your head. Yes, literally close your eyes.
💭Spend a few minutes daydreaming about your story. Do it sitting in front of your computer. Laying on the floor (my favorite.) Or do it as you’re fixing breakfast or while you’re taking a shower. Let your mind be curious about the story.
📌If you’re a visual writer, like me, scroll through your Pinterest board and find an image to spark that writing excitement. Or cluster a few images that represent the scene/chapter you want to write.
📝Do a quick, fun writing exercise. You can search the internet and find a few suggestions. I love, “Close your eyes and sit in the character’s room and tell me what you see.” (Dude, for a visual writer, you sure do close your eyes a lot. Shush, you!)
📖Read delicious words that others have written. Sometimes I’ll reread small passages from my favorite books and that gets me itching to write. Or maybe reread a really good scene you’ve already written.
⏱️Word purge. Write as many descriptive words as you can in one minute that describes the scene you’re about to write. Go! Did any interesting words pop up that surprised you? Explore those words and how they work in the scene, it might spark a new idea.
❓What gets you jazzed to write? Can’t think of anything? Then close your eyes (for God’s sake, just do it) and recall a time before where you had a good writing session with the muse. Feel the feeling of excitement in your body. Visualize your fingers furiously typing out the words as it pours from your brain. Recall how awesome you felt during that time. Reread those amazing words you wrote that day and pat yourself on the back. Sometimes reliving a prolific writing session can spark another one.
🚫SET BOUNDARIES
This was my biggest enemy. Damn if I wasn’t a sabotagerniere of my own goals. Even now sometimes I forget to set boundaries around my writing time. It takes discipline. Here’s a few boundary bandits to be aware of and how to avoid them:
📱Checking social media => Lock yourself out of the apps. Turn off the phone. Put it in the other room. Turn the Wi-Fi off on your computer. No, actually do those things. EVERY TIME. Not just the day you found yourself on your phone. Make it a routine every day.
🤫Family, friends, your pesky ass kids bugging you again => Put up a sign on your closed door that you’re working. When someone interrupts you at home, remind them you're working until X time and unless someone is gushing blood, DO NOT bother you. All else fails, threaten murder.
📧That email or to-do task that will only take one quick second do…DON’T => It can wait. Jot it down on your to-do list so you don’t forget it and then get back to work. Even better, set up a dedicated time later that day to do your tasks list, then you won’t have that “if I don’t do it now, it won’t get done” urgency.
✨SHINY new “thing” snagging your thoughts (i.e. new book idea, wanting to plan your vacation, online shopping, cleaning your stove with a toothpick) => This probably means you’re in a tough spot in your story and you don’t want to write the difficult thing you need to write. Or you have writer’s block. Or maybe you’ve run out of steam. Take a five minute break. Grab a snack. Take the dog for a walk. Meditate. Do some simple yoga stretches. Try the 4-4-4-4 breathing technique. DO NOT do a chore or task or check email or social media or interact with the family. This should be a quiet moment where you refocus yourself.
Those are the things I need to protect my writing boundaries. Figure out yours, and then find a solution to nip the distractions in the bud. It will take practice and discipline, but eventually you’ll guard your precious writing time like it’s the last piece of your Granny’s peach cobbler.
🪑BUTT IN CHAIR
God do I hate this saying. I effing hate it. But it works. Consistency is the key. You can’t have consistency if you’re not putting your butt in the chair every day. If you write one page a day, you’ll have a novel at the end of a year. Or how about just write 220 words a day? The average novel is around 80K words, so at 220 words a day adds up to a novel in a year. You’re telling me you can’t find a half hour a day to write 220 words?? I don’t care if you sit there and stare at the computer for your 30 minutes and you only come up with one sentence. Butt. In. Chair. Commit to a reasonable daily goal and do it.
Why is it so important to write daily? You need to train your writer brain to activate. It’s muscle memory. It keeps your story fresh in your thoughts. If you let too much time pass between writing, you start to forget your story. Out of sight, out of mind. Your subconscious can’t work out your plot holes if you’re not keeping your story within arm’s length. But when you DO write daily, consistently, what happens next is the snowball effect. 220 words a day becomes 400. That 30 minutes becomes an hour. Then you’ll find an additional hour later that night because you’re excited to finish writing that scene. A train is slow to chug at the start, but once it gets going, it’s a powerful force. That’s you and your writer brain.
If you want to achieve your goals, you have to set yourself up for success. Don’t just sit down and start typing, do all the prep work beforehand. Know what do you want to accomplish in that day’s writing session. Set your boundaries. Do your writing ritual: Light a candle. Grab a snack. Get a cup of coffee. Put on mood music. Then court the muse: Look at your Pinterest board. Read a small passage from a book that inspires you. Review your outline for the scene. Do all the things I talk about here, and I promise you, you’ll be writing consistently and fully before you know it.
That’s your lesson for today, kiddos.
Hugs and kisses! You're gonna need the extra love for next week’s final episode. Coming up, Part 4 of 4 - How Not to F*ck it Up. When I give you a big dose of tough love.
xo,
Dana
ICYMI:
Part 1 of 4 - New Year New You, What do you want from 2025? How are you going to get it?