The Grasshopper #12: Motivation
Finding the why
I was tempted to dedicate this issue to writer’s block, but found myself thinking about motivation instead, that thing that drives the car. Part of this is that writer’s block, or any other creative blockage, is often about running out of gas.
When you run out of gas the car stops and you can either sit there or you can deal with it. It may be that you have to do both. But when you do decide it’s time to get moving again, you’ve got to find some gas.
Anything that solves that problem of getting moving again is motivation. So I’m taking an odd look at that topic, one not at all like those guys who stand up in front of crowds and yell stuff to them.
They’re selling hot air, and well it may seem like the good stuff in the heat of the moment, it gets stale pretty fast.
Is Writing Therapy?
I never assume it is
“I believe the reason that people cling to their hate and anger so stubbornly is because they’re afraid that once hate is gone, they’ll be forced to face their own pain.” James Baldwin
I don’t do writing groups or workshops. They seem like group therapy sessions to me and I’ve seen new writers handicapped by them, if that is not what they are looking for or expecting. This is partially because I do not think of my writing as therapeutic to me, which may be wildly unrealistic.
But I have a theory.
It used to be really hard for writers to put their stuff out there, even when they really wanted to. This was particularly true of fiction writers and poets. Fine arts programs across the country are cranking out an assembly line of novelists and others who go out and populate the landscape with writing that, unfortunately, often seems like it was assembled by robotic machines designed by academics .
This results in an out of control publishing industry that used to take pride in editing and forming writers, but now simply puts out huge numbers of books hoping one or two will pay for the rest of them.
Even worse, the simplicity of self-publishing on Amazon meant a lot of undisciplined or just plain bad writers could ‘publish’ poorly edited books with a few clicks. Amazon realized that distributing these digital files cost them virtually nothing and they could pick up a few cents from those that sold.
There is no incentive for them to do anything to promote a book. Acceptance of this means marketing and promotion now falls entirely on authors, even in the big publishing houses. And authors promote on the level of bake sales, i.e. by relying on friends and family.
Given all this, it might be useful to consider writing as therapy, since it is unlikely to become a living for most. But I suspect most unknown writers are like most unknown artists. They do it because it satisfies something inside, which is its own reward.
Then there are those of us who want readers. We come in two categories, desperate and pragmatic. Desperate-to-publish writers are thrilled when a tiny publication with virtually no readers who are not writers, accepts their stuff, and then offers either no payment or sends them a few copies to show to their friends. They are published!
Yeah, that is a form of therapy, validation that at least one person in the world found something in your work. The pragmatist in me thinks that is ok if it floats your boat.
I’m in the pragmatist camp. I don’t care if other budding writers read my stuff, I want readers to read it. Some of them might turn out to be writers but they are not the target market for most of my work, excepting this newsletter, The Grasshopper, which is for writers and those interested in what makes writers tick.
This is why I don’t care about workshops, journaling, getting coached, or any other writing as therapy approach.
However, I am intensely interested in how writers I admire, as a reader, work. Where does that stuff come from? For fiction I want to know what depths they had to plumb to surface a story that is both mysterious and satisfying.
For non-fiction I am curious about their passion for a topic and its place in the world.
That’s me as a reader/writer. I never felt insecurity about my writing whether I was writing a novel or an article about cheeseburgers, which I have written about. In both cases I had something to say and some faith in my ability to convey it in a compelling way.
So, online publishing, which is the way this piece will get read, has been a comfort zone for me as a writer. Unfortunately, not so much as a reader.
The ability to instantly publish your stuff, regardless of topic or quality does not create a fertile ground for good reading. You have to forage for the good stuff.
Fortunately there are online indicators that a writer may have something going on. I am speaking, of course, about social indicators; followers, likes, stats, etc. Yes, there are many who work hard to game the system, the so-called influencer thing. But they are easy to spot, especially if you don’t get sucked in by Instagram, where that stuff is out of control.
So, what happened to that musing on writing as therapy? I think all of this verifies the argument that writing is therapy. For some it is validation, for others a social thing, for many just a way to understand challenging things they are facing. And I have to admit that it is all those things for me too.
Like all things, we each have to find our own path. Writing is mine.
The Simple Way Past Writer’s Block
You probably don’t want to hear it
In the film of Stephen King’s The Shining we see perhaps the most famous, and horrifying case of writer’s block, one that leads to insanity. Remember ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ ad infinitum? Page after page that leads his wife to fear for her and their son’s lives.
Writer’s block is not something I deal with much. If I’m not feeling it one day I simply leave off writing, knowing the motivation will return. Part of the reason I am not a victim of this pernicious mental ailment is that I have never suffered from debilitating perfectionism, the perfectionism that says this will never be good enough.
Here’s the thing: writing, until you publish it, and even beyond, is completely malleable. During parts of my life I worked in my brother’s woodshop and woodworkers know that you can make fatal mistakes that can’t be salvaged but must be redone. But we worked with an artisan metalworking business and the difference was stark.
In metal if you screw up you heat it up and beat it back into shape. That’s the definition of malleable. And that is why perfection is not a goal in writing. You can easily fix things or discard them and start over.
But what if you have no ideas?
I know these are cliches but meditation, a long walk, or doing something like cooking are where you should go when things are not flowing. Your subconscious mind will still be writing things through on its own and eventually they will surface.
Is this true? It doesn’t matter, just assume it is. But you have to face the page and start writing while simultaneously not caring a whit about whether it is any good. The trick to this is to set a word count and keep going until you hit it. Then set it aside, don’t read it, don’t think about it.
Take another walk or do the dishes. Come back to it the next day and do that again. But what about that crap you wrote the day before? We’ll get to that but I have to introduce another very important concept.
Never edit as you write. These two activities use different parts of your brain. I write one day, and go into edit mode later that day or the next, before I start writing again. The key is that when you write you shut down your inner critic and when you edit you activate it.
This is important because you may find that the writing you did earlier on automatic pilot, assuming it will suck because you are ‘blocked’ may not turn out to be too bad at all.
But what you don’t want to hear is that when you are blocked the only thing to change that is to do the work, and skip the perfection thing.
“Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it's a shield.” Brene Brown
“Perfectionism and procrastination have such a fine line. You say, 'Well, I want it to be good. I want it to be perfect.' But what you're really doing is not doing your work. You're putting off showing up and being visible because then you're going to be judged, and it might suck.” Jen Sincero
Writer George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) has a great post on money and writing. Like everything in his newsletter, he is right on the money. Definitely worth subscribing to, both free and paid versions.