Resistance to Your Writing Always Has Meaning
Resistance to Your Writing Always Has Meaning
What is it for you?
The Story Writer’s Path
What is it for you?
Are you longing to write but resisting it?
Are you reading reports of people writing like a house afire and longing to be one of them?
Whether or not to be productive during these crazy pandemic times is a personal choice. And productivity includes writing. Let’s repeat: it’s okay to not write during lockdown if it’s too much for you. And if that applies to you, stop reading right now. But if you are longing to be a productive writer and you are resisting, read on.
To Be Productive Or Not To Be Productive During This Pandemic?
Whether you write or not is up to youwritingcooperative.com
What does your resistance look like?
Maybe it looks like this: you wake up full of excitement for your writing, but somehow you never quite get to it. You swear that today’s the day you’re going to get back to it. But then there are all the things that get in the way:
Your day job, most likely now being done from home in less than ideal circumstances
Your kids, and the necessity to homeschool and, oh yeah, clothe and feed them
Your anxiety and fear about the way the world is going
Your worry about a loved one who may be sick
Your worry about a loved one who may be a frontline worker
Your exhaustion at the end of the day
These are all legit excuses. Life is over the top for most people right now. But if you are reading this article, something is pulling at you. It’s a story inside you wanting to be told. Or an essay about an issue of great importance to you (someday soon there will be other topics besides coronavirus in the news). Or a journal entry about the sweet socially distant interaction you had with your neighbor.
You really, really want to write. But something stops you. The desire is there but the follow-through is not.
The many faces of resistance
Allow me to help you diagnose the problem. In my years of working as a coach and teacher with hundreds of writers, I’ve seen a lot of resistance in action. And I’ve experienced it myself. Resistance is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Here are some of the forms it takes, and possible antidotes for the problem:
You don’t know what to write. Perhaps you have so many ideas swirling through your head that you can’t quite settle on one. Because you are interested in everything! And right now, that’s an especial problem. We’ve got so much information coming at us from so many directions, it can be impossible to calm the brain.
Antidotes: I’ve got two for you. First, make a list of all your ideas in your journal or on your phone or somewhere you keep handy. Every time you have another one, make a note of it. And then — decide. Choose one and commit to it. You’ve got all those ideas corralled now so they are not going anywhere. And second, try meditation to calm the swirl of the brain.
You are writing the wrong thing. Especially now, this could be a huge factor in resistance. This coronavirus is a massive reset, showing us what’s important and what’s not. Maybe that novel you’ve been trudging through is not setting you on fire. Perhaps you have another idea that you really want to try but you feel like you should finish the first one.
Antidote: Set it aside. Start something that excites you. Your original project will be there waiting for you, should you decide to return to it.This is not a time to drown yourself in “shoulds.” At the moment, one of my great pleasures is having more time to read. I read several great novels in a row and then hit a couple of stinkers. I struggled to finish them for a while and finally realized that was ridiculous. Now is the time to read what I want! And it is the time for you to write what you want.
You don’t know where your story is going. Without clarity about what happens next, resistance will easily rear its head. Who wants to sit at their computer for hours on end, staring off into space and trying to figure out the next scene? Nobody, especially when you’ve got five million other things to do.
Antidote: Take a break from writing on your manuscript and write around it. Make notes about it, pull it apart a little bit and see what you can find underneath. Discuss with a writing friend if you can. Set an intention that you’ll figure out what happens next and go for a walk (wearing a mask, of course).
Something is wrong with the story. And by wrong, I mean, not working right. Time and time again I find this happens with me. I resist going to the page and I can’t put my finger on why. Then I realize that something is off with the story. It could be that you’re setting the scene you’re working on in the wrong place, or that you need to give a conversation to different characters, or that your chapters are out of order.
Antidote: Again, distance and writing around are helpful here. And also try some what ifs: what if I moved the scene to a new location? What if my antagonist said that line of dialogue instead of my hero? What if the hero’s declaration of love goes at the beginning instead of the end? What if, what if, what if.
Funnily enough, resistance works the opposite way, too, as in:
You start writing and resist stopping. Yesterday, for instance, I had an afternoon to work on my novel. Mid-way through the first half-hour, something started nagging at me. And then I remembered: I had to make dinner ahead because we were going to have a socially distant Happy Hour with friends. But, arrgghh! I was just getting to the good part and I had no desire to stop writing.
Antidote: Sometimes resistance is a good thing. I attempt to make writing my number one priority and remind myself of that often. Do I really have to make the complicated gourmet meal I have in mind or can I do something simpler? What are your priorities, anyway? Keep them firmly in mind.
I hope these ideas help you quit resisting and do the work you truly want to do.