Complexity is my Enemy

I am overwhelmed.

I am scared.

So I don’t write.

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There would be nothing to be overwhelmed about if I wasn’t over analytical wanting to get all the pieces together.

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Here’s the funny thing. Even when I think I have gotten all the pieces together there will always be more.

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Looking at my writing life I have looked for what my goals are for the year. I noticed that all the goals are based on the foundation of practice.

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Since everything was so complex and abstract. I sought to learn from the masters to see how they did it.

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• Stephen King writes 2,000 words daily . Rain or Sunshine
• Ray Bradbury advised we write a short story every week

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If the goal is clear . Then the friction of what to do will be removed.

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The Resistance

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Or Friction

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Or as fondly called Procrastination.

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I need to take care of it .

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In recent issues of the newsletter I talked about having a system for me.

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Here’s what I came up with.

Schedule

Write Monday to Friday

Revise Saturday and Sunday

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Now for the goal,habit and system to work it has to be clearly defined.

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I mean the

• Why
• What
• When
• Where
• How

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Why

To become a better writer so I can write my stories that I would love to read . To become better so I can share stories that connect with the reader.

What

Write 500 words: Weekdays Rain or Sunshine.

When

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8:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Where

In the students’ reading room for now.

How

Using Google Docs in my Phone or my writer’s Notebook.

Output Goal

Write a Short Story Every Week

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You can use them for yours too. I would love to see yours.

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Moving on.

Why did I not achieve my goals in the past?

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No ideas.

Nothing interesting to write.

No tracking.

Solution

When I am not inspired to write . I would write a journal entry of my day in 500 words.

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I can turn it into a story or nonfiction.

Also I am gathering my own bag of prompts.

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When I am absolutely not willing to write. I would use the Neil Gaiman method.

I can work

Or not work

But I can’t do anything else during this period. I can only stare at the screen. The boredom will force me to write.

To Do

Buy a writer’s Notebook

Weekly Prompts

The imitation Game. What I will be doing is take stories and poems from authors I loved and rewrite them from my own concept angle.

Noteworthy

You can watch this video on goal setting. It gives a complete actionable system to setting your goals. You can adapt it for writing. Struthless Goal setting ​

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You also play with the goal setting tool but first watch the video.

​Branch Tool ​

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Until next time, keep writing.

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