Boosting Creativity

 
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When I first set out on my writers retreat earlier this year (2020), I’ll be honest, I was nervous. I had never done one so big or where a didn’t know the majority of the authors attending. There were thirty of us who flew in from all parts of the US and were a mix of indie and traditional writers. I also was a little intimidated given all were ballers with twenty books published or who had NYTimes best sellers before their names or Netflix deals under their belts. Who was I to be among such giants? My imposter syndrome was singing loudly in my ear. But never in my life have my fears been squashed so quickly as soon as I walked into the door.

Almost instantly I learned that a lot of the insecurities I carried there, were insecurities others shared. A lot of the doubts and stresses I had been building internally over the years as an author, were echoed by nearly everyone. It didn’t matter if I had published one book or thirty, had hit lists or not, all the woman were in awe of each other because we each had something in common: a tenacity for storytelling. Despite other jobs, raising kids, supporting sick parents, or a countless number of life responsibilities, these women juggled their writing careers amongst it all because they couldn’t imagine ever not writing. It was a trip of commiserating, catharsis and filling each other up with so much positive energy I am still soaring high from it two weeks later. I found my stride again, my fire for creating. These women were beacons of strength, of perseverance, and selflessly shared their light, helping revive my soul.

I want to pay all these good vibes forward by sharing some wisdom and positivity I got on the trip. Some of this will sound simple, but I hope hearing it echo from another source, will have the effect it did for me. I hope this helps to put a pep in your creative step.

1. You are not alone: I’m starting with this because it was one of the biggest themes on the trip. Yes, writing is solitary, but let’s remember the entire process doesn’t need to be. Finding local author groups or writers you can reach out to, is a really good way of getting out of your own head. Being a part of a community when it comes to creativity is super important. Creativity needs energy to live and you can only feed it so much of your own before you’ll become depleted. Having a friend or critique partner you can bounce ideas off of, commiserate with, is super important. If you don’t have any currently, I suggest Googling local writing chapters in your area, finding a Facebook group for your genre, or using the bookstagram community to connect. You might have a support group already, but don’t realize it. This was what happened in my case. These people were all around me, but it took removing my head from the sand to see them. Ask that person you talk to most about your book or creative project if they wouldn’t mind being your “person”, your sounding board. Not only are you helping yourself, but you could be helping someone else in a similar situation. Listen to them and what they might need creatively as well. Sharing in our doubts and fears, joys and passions is a beautiful thing. You are not alone.

2. Ask for help when you need it: This is something I’ve struggled with a lot. I don’t like to burden people. I also am somewhat stubborn and think I can do it all on my own (insert my husband laughing here). But I can’t do it all alone, neither can or should you. It’s nearly impossible. We’d all be angry, sleep deprived people in the end. We have to remember asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. There are people out there who can proofread like a pro (because they are pros), can understand Facebook ads way better, who know better programs for formatting e-books, who can give amazing design feedback, scene feedback, problem solve plot holes. It takes a village, as they say, and it’s true. If you don’t know something and it’s not an easy Googled answer, be like a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and phone (or text) a friend. Trust me, our products will be that much better for it.

3. Make your productivity bite-sized and accountable: This was a big one I learned on the retreat. On the first day we each went around sharing our goals for the trip, what we wanted to accomplish. Then something organic happened. At lunch and dinner we found ourselves checking in with one another, asking how our progress was going, if we met our daily word count or writing goal. We began to give each other milestone markers. If we wrote this much by this time we’d all go for a walk on the beach, have a thirty minute hang session by the pool. Small, but meaningful rewards for jobs well done. I found myself pushing more each writing sprint, not letting myself be distracted, because I knew I’d be checking in with someone during the breaks or I wanted go on that walk later. My daily productivity was starting to become accountable beyond my own discipline. My goals also started to appear more-bite sized, manageable in small hour intervals instead of large daunting daily checklists.

This new behavior is what I held onto since being back and what has made my writing time much, much more productive. Now my daily goal is to write every morning, without the pressure of word count, Monday – Friday for at least one hour before starting my other job. It’s accountable because I now have a progress check-in with a friend every morning. Such a simple tweak in creating bite-sized accountable productivity has me feeling accomplished rather than run down. It’s what had me writing 5k last week while also working a 9-5. When we juggle multiple jobs, parenting or other responsibilities, making time for things is tough and can cause us to be disappointed in ourselves for not doing “it all”. We give up on dreams this way, on things that bring us happiness. But removing all the pressure besides carving out a small window of time, be it 20 minutes or two hours, for us to work on our project every day or even every other day, helps make these dreams more digestible, tangible and realistic. I challenge you to try this: Create your bite-sized productivity and ask someone to hold you accountable. You’d be amazed how far you can walk even when taking small steps forward.

4. Your pace is your pace: Common advice, but something that was made glaringly apparent on the retreat. Every single person on the trip wrote at different speeds, needed different setups to write, different music to get the juices flowing, etc. As hard as it is, do not compare yourself to others! Even if they write faster than you, they might edit slower, or their genres might be completely different, needing completely different kinds of process. It’s the journey, not the destination. The metaphors could go on. The main take away is for me to tell you that how you are working, writing, creating, the speed at which you are doing it, is 100% OK. As long as you are making progress, it will always be progress forward.

5. You are capable: I’m going to leave you with words that, I think, are the most important and what were said to a room full of strong women after a long bout of us sharing in our doubts, bringing many of us (definitely me) to cry. And that is to say that you, yes you, reading this right now, are capable of doing whatever you are dreaming of doing. You are smart enough, strong enough, tenacious enough, creative enough, to do that thing. The fact that you are here right now, trying to learn more, be more, means you have always been capable. You are capable. You are magnificent and I’m so excited for you to share your magnificence with the world!

We’ve come to the end, but before you go, I’ve curated a list of some amazing creative podcasts. Most are specifically tailored to authors, but all are great creative motivators. Highly suggest a listen!

Recommended Podcasts:

Jacqueline Mellow