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B is for Blank Page

The blank page represents the space where you create your art. It can be a computer, studio, canvas, or a literal blank page. When you look behind the page, you’ll see two creatures: the Monster and the Muse.

First, there is the Monster. The Monster feeds on fear and likes to taunt you with these kinds of thoughts:

This won’t be any good.

Nobody likes what you’re doing.

You’ll never be a real artist.

When are you going to give up these silly dreams?

Every time you think about quitting, you feed the Monster. Every time you tell yourself your art doesn’t matter, you feed the Monster. Every time you listen to the naysayers and the doubters, you feed the Monster. Every time you let your dreams slip out the back door of your life, you feed the Monster.

Steven Pressfield calls this force “Resistance.” In his landmark book, The War of Art, he writes, “Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it.”  The Monster feeds on fear, and you must starve it to death.

But there is also the Muse. The Muse is a magical creature that brings out the best in you. The Muse speaks words of life, hope, and beauty:

You were born for this.

You’re making a difference in people’s lives.

There are people who love what you’re doing.

You have amazing potential.

The Muse feeds on faith and it is the wellspring of creativity within you. (As a person of faith, I believe God has an awful lot to do with this.) The Muse gives you the power to inspire, teach, and bless others.

Every time you pick up your pen or paintbrush, you feed the Muse. Every time you put your head down and do the work, you feed the Muse. Every time you improve your skills, you feed the Muse. Every time you serve someone with your art, you feed the Muse.

Look behind every blank page and you’ll find the Monster and the Muse. One feeds on fear. The other feeds on faith.

Which one will you feed?

The post B is for Blank Page – Excerpt from “The Artist’s Suitcase” appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

We can all think of times when we have shrunk back and didn’t work toward those goals. Why not? Is it laziness? Lack of discipline? A lack of talent?

No, it’s usually just self-doubt. Even if the logical side of our brains tells us we can achieve it, self-doubt creeps in and we hold back. The novelist Sylvia Plath once said, “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Self-doubt seems like a relatively mild concept, but let’s call a spade a spade. Self-doubt is just fear in disguise. We don’t doubt ourselves because of any rational thought process. We’re just plain old scared of failing.

So, take courage. If you’re working on a big goal and you have a good plan for achieving it, don’t get sidetracked by negative emotions.

That fear you’re feeling is just a ghost, a mirage, a phantom. There’s nothing it can do to hurt you, and if you ignore it, it will eventually go away and haunt somebody else.

Question: Are you holding back from accomplishing a goal that’s important to you? What would it feel like to start moving toward it even though you’re afraid?

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That’s how the Cowardly Lion felt just before he and the rest of the gang went in to see the Wizard in Emerald City. In one of the best musical moments of the whole movie, he says,

What makes the elephant charge his tusk, in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

What makes the Sphinx the seventh wonder?

What makes the dawn come up like thunder?

At the end of each line, the group says, “Courage!” Near the end of the song, the Cowardly Lion says,

What have they got that I ain’t got?

And the answer, of course… is courage.

But is it true? Is it true that you don’t have courage? Or is it possible that we have misunderstood the true nature of courage?

One of the great American writers, Mark Twain, is helpful here. He said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” This is a key insight. It reminds us that it’s impossible to get rid of fear. Fear will always be with you. Courage just means that you are taking action and forging ahead even though you are afraid.

This is quiet courage. It’s the kind of courage that ordinary writers practice every day. They get out of bed, they face uncertainty, they feel afraid sometimes, but they do their work anyway because that’s the only thing within their control. They resist fear by taking small daily steps toward their goals.

Quiet courage doesn’t get a lot of attention. The courageous writers don’t make a fuss and don’t draw attention to themselves. They show up, do the work, and serve people through their writing.

You don’t win your inner creative battle with a giant explosion every once in a while. You win it by getting into the trenches every day, staring your fear square in the face, and doing the work anyway.

So, the next time you hear yourself asking, “What have they got that I ain’t got?” … the answer is, “Not a darn thing.” You’ve had your courage with you the whole time. You just need to use it.

Question: What could your life look like a year from now if you practiced quiet courage every day?

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“You need courage. Fear of failure is the saddest reason on earth not to do what you were meant to do. I finally found the courage to start submitting my first book to agents and publishers at a time when I felt a conspicuous failure. Only then did I decide that I was going to try this one thing that always suspected I could do, and, if it didn’t work out, well, I’d faced worse and survived. Ultimately, wouldn’t you rather be the person who actually finished the project you’re dreaming about, rather than the one who talks about ‘always having wanted to?’”

There are a lot of writers who fit into this category. I call them “someday” writers. They always talk about how they are going to start that blog or write that book “someday.” But without a clear sense of direction and a firm commitment to doing it, “someday” gets pushed further and further into the distance.

Instead, commit to being a “today” writer. You are going to take action TODAY. Even if it’s just writing a hundred words. Every little step forward gets you closer to your dream. Don’t be one of those sad “someday” writers, who uses fear as an excuse for doing the work and putting yourself out there.

Even if things don’t work out like you hoped, you’ll know for sure and you will learn lessons you can apply to the next project. But more than likely, beautiful and wonderful things will happen that you could have never imagined. Why? Because that’s what happens when you look fear in the eye and start writing anyway.

Daily Question: Are you letting fear hold you back from writing? If so, what are you so afraid of?

The post The Saddest Reason to Avoid Writing appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As a writer, you have to do things sometimes that make you uncomfortable. It might be networking, public speaking, learning self-publishing, joining a writing group, or a hundred other things that seem new and exciting, yet still make you feel anxious.

The business leader and author Michael Hyatt said, “The most interesting things happen just on the other side of your comfort zone.” I think we can all agree that’s true. But how do you step outside your comfort zone when it feels… well, uncomfortable? How do you embrace the fear?

When I was in high school, I was very involved in our school plays. When you are an actor, you embrace the idea that you are becoming another person. You put on a costume and magically take on their identity.

This can also work in trying to move past your fear. The next time you must do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, try this: play a character who is brave. It sounds crazy, but it works.

Think of yourself as an actor who is bravely facing their fear. The wonderful thing about stage drama is that you can become anyone. In the blink of an eye, you can play a version of yourself that is brave. Imagine you were on a TV show doing exactly what you’re doing now, except you are playing a fearless version of yourself.

How do you speak? What would you do? What obstacles would you overcome?

It sounds crazy, but it’s true. Pretending you are a brave version of yourself is a fun and effective way to demolish fear and get on the other side of your comfort zone.

Daily Question: Think of a scary situation you’re facing right now. What does the fearless version of yourself look like, sound like, and do?

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One of the most famous movies of all time, and what many consider to be the greatest movie of all time, is 1941’s Citizen Kane, starring Orson Welles. While it is certainly a great movie, and one of my personal favorites, it tends to overshadow Welles’ other great movies.

One of them is The Third Man, released in 1949 and starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, among others. The Third Man is a British film noir set in postwar Vienna. The story centers around a writer named Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten, who has come to Vienna to work for his friend Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles.

However, when Harry Lime arrives in Vienna, he discovers that his friend Harry Lime has been killed in an auto accident. He is suspicious of the circumstances and decides to stay in Vienna and investigate.

Orson Welles doesn’t appear until halfway through the movie. Holly Martins is stumbling around the streets of Vienna. He sees a man standing in a doorway, mostly obscured by shadows. He thinks the man in the doorway has been tailing him, and he coaxes him to come out.

Suddenly a women turns on an apartment light above the street, and Martins sees that it’s his friend Harry Lime. After a few moments, the light goes out again, and Lime steps out of the shadows and goes running, with Martins chasing him. It’s one of the famous and enigmatic character entrances in this history of cinema.

Holly Martins was the writer character in The Third Man, but ironically, a lot of real-life writers mirror Harry Lime. He was a guy who loved to stay hidden in the shadows. He didn’t even make an appearance until halfway through.

I find that a lot of writers, especially those in mid-life or later, prefer to stay hidden in the shadows. They have a lot of fear. What if they put their work out there? What if they step out and show the world their talent? Will people like me or accept me? What happens if I succeed? What if, what if, what if?

Well, the truth is that you will never know until you decide to step out of the shadows and see for yourself. Most people stay hidden in the doorways of life, never stepping out into the brave, wonderful world that lies just beyond our comfort and safety.

But when you do, you will find yourself in for the ride of a lifetime.

Daily Question: Have you stepped out of the shadows as a writer, and are you willing to make yourself known so you can impact others with your creative work?

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We writers often talk about the reasons we write. But what are the reasons we don’t write? What keeps us from writing?

Several things probably come to mind: procrastination, not enough time, and not feeling creative, among others. But at the end of the day, there is one main thing that keeps us from writing.

The novelist Erica Jong hit the nail on the head when she said, “I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.”

We’re all writers here, and we all understand each other, so let’s take a moment for some honesty. Is there someone in your life you’re afraid of disappointing with your writing?

Maybe it’s a parent or a sibling. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a friend of yours who has a popular blog or has had some books published.

Imagine that you put your writing out there and they don’t like it. Maybe they express some disappointment or even leave a bad review on Amazon. Then, they move on with their life and promptly forget about it.

But that’s about the extent of it. At its worst, being judged by someone just means our writing is not for them.

Yet in our minds, we are terrified of not being liked, or of disappointing someone. We let this fear of being judged by one person keep us from writing what 99 other people will love.

So finish your writing. Do the work. Chances are pretty high that the 99 will love it. And the one person who might not like it? That means it just wasn’t for them.

We like to think of this person as the one we should convince, the one we should try and bring into the fold of our readership. But you must let them go. Don’t worry about the one that got away. Instead, focus your energy on the 99 who enjoy your work and want to support you.

Nobody said this was easy… but learning to let go is an essential part of being a writer.

The post Most People Will Love It appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Think about some of the most important achievements in human history. These would include such feats as Amelia Earhart flying solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, Magellan setting sail around the world, and many thousands of others who faced their fears and took action anyway.

You and I are no different. We have challenges and scary things staring us right in the face every single day. You can probably think of something that intimidates you as a writer. Is it setting up a website? Publishing a book? Pitching an article to a large publication? Writing and publishing a short story?

Whatever is it, run toward it. If you want to do it, but you feel scared, that is your subconscious mind telling you it must be done, no matter how you feel about it.

If you only do what feels comfortable, you won’t make any progress. You won’t grow. Progress and growth are predicated on the act of doing what scares you. So put on your big boy or big girl pants and start moving forward. You’ll figure it out as you go along. And as soon as you overcome this challenge, there will be a bigger one waiting just behind it. But this time, you’ll be better equipped to face your fears head-on.

The post Doing What Scares You appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why we sometimes don’t do the things we really want to do?

For many years, statistics have shown that at least 8 out of every 10 people want to write a book. Why, then, do so many not follow through on their writing dreams?

But the problem is not just out there. It’s in here, too. We can think of times when we shrank back and didn’t follow through on our goals. Is it laziness? Lack of discipline? A lack of talent?

No, it’s usually just self-doubt. Even if the logical side of our brains tells us we can achieve it, self-doubt creeps in and we hold back. The novelist Sylvia Plath once said, “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Self-doubt seems like a relatively mild concept, but let’s call a spade a spade. Self-doubt is just fear in disguise. We don’t doubt ourselves because of any rational thought process. We’re just plain old scared of failing.

So take courage. If you’re working on a big goal and you have a good plan for achieving it, don’t get sidetracked by negative emotions. That fear you’re feeling is just a ghost, a mirage, a phantom. There’s nothing it can do to hurt you, and if you ignore it, it will eventually go away and haunt somebody else.

The post Fear is Just a Mirage appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

It’s not unusual for writers to remain hidden. There is something about writing that attracts people who don’t want to be on camera, on stage, or behind a microphone.

The writing world is also home to many ghostwriters, who by definition are hidden behind someone else’s name. And then there are novelists, who create characters and worlds that exist apart from the writer’s identity.

All of this is well and good. If you’re a writer who likes to stay a little bit hidden, more power to you. That being said, I challenge you to let the world see your true self a bit more. Even though you might feel more comfortable staying hidden, what would it feel like to challenge yourself and put your voice and face out into the world a little more? Is there perhaps something you’re missing by indulging your shyness?

E. B. White said, “All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation—it is the self escaping into the open. No writer long remains incognito.”

You’ve made a difference with your words. Now imagine the even greater difference you can make when you take a step outside your comfort zone. This might mean doing podcast interviews, creating videos, or even hosting your own show.

By challenging yourself and coming out into the open a little more, you might encourage someone else to step outside of their comfort zone as well. Strange and wonderful things happen when we confront fear and do the thing we’re afraid to do.

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