Defeat the force that stops most writers
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”— Jack London
Steven Pressfield struggled to write his novel for years.
He rewrote, second-guessed, and abandoned the project several times. Every day, he faced an invisible force pulling him away from the work.
It wasn't until he recognised this force—what he later called 'The Resistance'—that he began to see a way through.
Instead of waiting for motivation, he treated writing like a job. He called it 'going pro.' He showed up, no matter what. Eventually, he wrote the story for what became the acclaimed film, The Legend of Bagger Vance.
What he learned through that process led to another of his great books: The War of Art, where he famously wrote:
"Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, seduce, bully, and cajole. Resistance will assume any form if that's what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man. Resistance will pledge anything to get you to stop doing your work."
Every writer battles this 'resistance.' I come face to face with it regularly, but having momentum makes it far easier. I recognise it when it's there, but it soon fades after I start actually writing, even if what I'm writing is crap.
You need to come to expect this resistance and factor it into your career, though it needn't be there as much as Pressfield suggests it can be.
Resistance is that icky feeling you get that makes you want to stop and do something else. It's that pressure in your chest. It's that feeling of boredom and wanting to be somewhere else. It may manifest as slight panic, staring at a blank screen, wondering what you got yourself into.
And all of this stems from fear.
What fear? The fear of criticism.
We're all programmed to feel uncomfortable when exposing ourselves and our words to others. Because by doing this, we risk what we believe to be loss. When someone dislikes what we have to share, which some inevitably will, we view this as bad. We associate pain with this.
That's what we're working against. The problem is that this force has persuaded millions of would-be writers and creators over centuries to play it safe and choose the path of least resistance or avoidance.
When they do, no new stream is carved.
They follow the already-trodden path, the least risky route, and end up at the end of their lives with a stone in their chest. They knew they should have written when they heard their purpose calling.
Don't let that be you. Know that resistance is to be expected. But then learn how to deal with it.
I deal with resistance in two ways:
1. I get into the flow of writing.
I start by writing anything if I can't think of anything.
I free-write whatever comes to mind. I'm willing to put down total garbage on the page for a few minutes. When I do this, my mind interprets this deliberate motion to mean this: 'I am writing, so I am now a writer. I shall feed you ideas.'
Pressfield overthinks it, in my view. Getting loose is what you need. And to get loose, you need to write.
2. I reframe how rejection works.
Resistance comes up because we're scared of being rejected, ultimately. But we're only afraid of rejection because we perceive it as bad.
I now perceive rejection in a new light. Rejection is inevitable, and it won't hurt you. Your ego may quietly protest, but you will remain intact at the end of it. If you want to build a loyal tribe of readers, your work will inevitably push many away, too.
Go full hog and even go as far as seeking out rejection. You find your inner warrior, who is lurking.
If no one criticises your writing, you're not stretching your boundaries.
Think of resistance like a grumpy bouncer at the club of Creativity and Flow.
It'll try to stop you at the door, but the trick is to nod, say 'I'm on the list,' and walk right in like you own the place.
With this, you will manage the force that denies many their dream better than most.
You are now free to make the dream a reality.
Onward.
*The above is an excerpt from my latest book, ‘The Never-Retired Writer: How to Turn Your Ideas Into a Life of Freedom, Income, and Purpose,‘ releasing in a few weeks.
If you’d like to be part of my exclusive ‘Blurb Club,’ where you get free access to books like this, in exchange for writing a quick review, you can fill in a quick survey that takes literally one or two minutes, here.