Have you ever reached for a brownie when you were trying to lose weight? Or stayed in bed when you intended to go to the gym? Or put off paying bills because it was "too much of a hassle"?

There are lots of different ways we sabotage ourselves. This is true of life in general and also true of the writing life.

Writing depends not just on discipline but also on the complicated interplay between what we know and what we feel.

I've worked as an editor for just about 30 years (honest, I was really young when I started), and I've noticed there are five key negative feelings or thoughts that tend to shut down our writing—in much the same way that a circuit breaker shuts down electricity. BOOM and the lights go out.

Often, simply being aware of these thoughts is enough to take away their power. At other times, it's important to challenge them head-on. So let's see which ones are disrupting your writing (and therefore taking a bit of your income) and figure out what you can do about them.

1. I'm a lousy writer; I don't have the talent to do this

This is probably the most common negative thought of all. My theory is it's usually born in high school when writing teachers single out one or two people in the class for praise and use their red pens too liberally with the rest. (To this day, when I'm editing, I make a point of never using red to make suggestions or corrections!) And too much of a focus on grammar and spelling in childhood often mean trouble for the adult writer.

But here's the interesting truth: We're all born lousy marketing writers. The people who become "good" are the ones who are prepared to do the following simple things:

  • Read good writing and work to emulate it
  • Write a lot—because writing is like exercise: The more you do, the better you get
  • Spend double the time on self-editing that they spend on writing

If you discover that you're constantly bad-mouthing yourself as you write, replace the inner negative chatter with the following statement: "Writing is about practice. The more I do, the better I'll get. When I finish this article (letter, report, etc.) I'll have more experience and I'll have improved."

2. I don't have the time to write

This is one of my favorite negative thoughts because it's so common and sooo easy to blow out of the water. The writing world is littered with people who quit their day-jobs so they could work on their books. But here's the secret: The published novelists and non-fiction writers are almost always the people who continued with their regular work and wrote in their spare time.

Just as the cactus thrives in a hot, dry environment, writing thrives in the absence of time. Yes, you read that correctly. Writing not only can be done quickly; it is better done quickly. That's partly because, if you're fast enough, you can usually out-run and out-write the negative chatter in your head.

People often make the mistake of trying to set aside huge chunks of time for writing (especially for reports). Me? I love writing in 10-minute bursts. Not only does this allow me to get ideas out of my head and onto paper when they are fresh, but it also gives me a big payback down the road. That's because when I go back to the document I often discover my article is much farther ahead than I'd realized. No blank page. It's a great feeling.

I do like having a decent chunk of time to self-edit—a different task from writing—but I'm talking maybe 30 to 60 minutes. Not all day.

When you're planning your writing time, think in small increments, not big chunks. Remember: If you write 300-350 words a day, you'll have written a decent-length book by the end of a year.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant, a former journalist, is a writing and editing coach with an international practice. She offers a free weekly e-zine called Power Writing. For more information, visit www.publicationcoach.com.