Showing Up to Creativity

It’s ironic to me that I have read Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way, do my Morning Pages faithfully and even bought additional Cameron books on writing yet I still believed I could muscle my way through without adhering to a regular practice of just showing up regularly to write.

Of course, in my all or nothing mind, I thought it necessary to write daily.  When I couldn’t get to writing daily, I found that weeks would slip by and I had written nothing except my daily journal pages.  So, instead of doing the same thing but expecting different results, I am making a change in my world.

I will now expect myself to write on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  I will focus on a paragraph for the blog each appointment and then work on a larger-scaled project.  Hopefully this will allow me to show up for creativity, forming a routine writing practice, but not fall prey to the all or nothing mentality.

So far, here are the things I’m learning about myself and writing:

1.       Once I force myself to put ink to paper (yes, that’s correct, I still hand

write everything) the words flow more easily and even when I do struggle, at least I’ve got a draft on the page and everyone knows it is easier to edit than go from a blank space.

2.       Stop doing the same things but expecting different results.  Thank you Dr. Albert Einstein for defining insanity for us!  For too long now I have continued to behave in the exact same way but expected different results.  So, I guess I thought that not spending time writing would somehow result in written material.  Go figure.  I’m a little slow on the uptake.

3.       Do not fall prey to all or nothing thinking.  Something is better than nothing. I am trying to transfer this thinking to other areas of my life also such as diet/exercise/health!