Tales from the Creative Wilderness

Have you ever been through a creative wilderness? Where your art feels more like an uninspired chore than a joyful passion? It's a place of wandering, a land of haven't-we-passed-that-dead-tree-39-times? The act of showing up over and over again can get a little angsty. The mind games may even tempt us to quit.

My name is Laurie Tomlinson, and that was my 2017.

My pastor did an extensive sermon series on Exodus, talking about a people group God freed after years of slavery. But instead of going straight to the promised land flowing with milk and honey, they spent forty years wandering, trying to find their own way out, worshipping other gods, even wishing they could go back to the predictable, familiar misery of slavery.

I wish I could give you a foolproof, five-step plan for getting out of the creative wilderness, but I can tell you what I learned keeps us from getting out: 

Being too far into our own head. It can be a season where real-life circumstances prevail over our creative work, but more than likely, it's the result of too much navel-gazing. So much good work is sabotaged by overthinking, and the wilderness is a faulty mind contraption that converts our biggest lies to truths and beliefs we govern our lives by: I'll never be enough. I'm not prepared to do this. Beliefs that don't line up with the promises of God or His call on our lives. Beliefs that give us too much credit in a bigger story that isn't ours to write. This can also look like focusing so much on the bad things happening around us that we numb the parts of ourselves that are vital to creativity. While we shouldn't turn a blind eye to what's going on in the world, we cannot allow it to keep us from bringing good to our corner of it.

Comparing ourselves to others and wishing we were on their level. Sometimes that faulty mind contraption shifts our focus to others. Instead of celebrating their successes, cheering them on, praying for them, and seeing how we can serve them in our mutual calling, we measure ourselves against a ruler that's designed uniquely for them. If resentment ensues, that resentment does nothing but hinder our own progress and keep us in the wilderness.

Focusing on the business side, the whys and what-ifs. Ironically, my wilderness 2017 was the year my first book released. While it's important not to neglect the business side, the wilderness looks like dwelling so much on what we think will sell and what the experts tell us we should be doing that we neglect the beautiful, specific orders God whispered in our souls that got us started in the first place and have kept us going to this point.

Allowing fear to sabotage our work time. The wilderness can have two common denominators: a lot of procrastination and a lot of wondering where to go next. But often that itching feeling of unrest is rooted in fears that are custom-tailored to derail us. What if I'm doing the wrong thing? What does my voice have to offer in a sea of so many good books and talent? Why do this work when there's a likelihood that it won't make any difference? You know the ones. They lose their power when they're named, rooted out, and replaced with the narrative of truth.

In the wilderness, we focus on productivity instead of obedience. We work from a place of guilt instead of a place of worship. 

Some of us have these arbitrary numbers engrained in our minds of where we should be, how much we should have to show for a given period of time, a set of results that constitutes success. But our creative work should first be an act of worship governed by a close relationship with our Father, a familiarity with His voice, and a willingness to change course--and even set our work aside for a while--as He leads.

That's not to say we shouldn't have goals and deadlines; God honors those and helps us with them. Sometimes our wilderness seasons are simply because He wants us in a different place for a time, and we have to be obedient to that. But I can tell you this: when we focus on obedience instead of this picture of how things should be, whatever the Lord calls us to do will ultimately strengthen and better equip us to do our work. Always.

To those who are reading this knowing you've been obedient and your heart is truly in a place of worship when you do your work, I would encourage you not to allow a season of creative unrest to challenge your picture of God's goodness. He isn't an angry god in the sky dangling our creativity over us like a carrot or holding it hostage for a certain ransom. His goodness never changes, and His intention for our lives is not for us to wander.

We, like the Israelites in the Old Testament, may have walked into the freedom He offers, but embracing it and living accordingly is a separate process. The control and familiarity we had before are so tempting and sometimes even comforting, but freedom is better. We don't have to rely on our own devices or carry our fears around like heavy idols. He's constant, He's with us, and He's still good every step of the way.

I can identify the moment I came out of my wilderness. 

There was a morning I was so frustrated and writing felt like such a burden, occupying so much of my brain space that I told the Lord, "I will give this up and walk away if you ask me to." But He didn't ask me to. All He wanted was for me to surrender control and instead, work in His lavish joy and freedom. From the other side, I recognize that I learned how close God really is to us. I'm much better acquainted with the sound of His voice and the fullness of His presence.

I never, ever thought I'd say this, but I'm so thankful for that season of wandering and hope this story encourages you wherever you are. You are always welcome to reach out to one of us when you need to.

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Laurie Tomlinson is an award-winning contemporary romance author and cheerleader for creatives. She believes that God's love is unfailing, anything can be accomplished with a good to-do list, and that life should be celebrated with cupcakes and extra sprinkles. 

Previously a full-time book publicist, Laurie now serves as a virtual assistant and runs a freelance editing and PR consulting business called 1624 Communications. 

She lives with her husband and two small children in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her debut contemporary romance novel, With No Reservations, is now available wherever books are sold from Harlequin Heartwarming.

You can connect with Laurie on her website, Facebook page, and Twitter. 

Writing against resistance: or, How to do what you don’t want in order to get what you do want

Image by Clare Bloomfield, freedigitalphotos.net

Anyone else love that feeling you get straight after exercising?

Your body is glowing. Your muscles are spent but you feel weirdly energised – and the buzz lasts for the rest of the day. You feel satisfied, alert, pumped up, and ready to tackle everything life throws at you. Not to mention that as you continue this habit, your stress levels are lower, you sleep better, your brain functions with more clarity, and your body is healthier.

So why don’t we all exercise more?

Let’s roll back the clock a little and take a look at the moments BEFORE the workout. 

The alarm goes off at 5.30am. Ugh. You are soooo tired. Your entire body cries out to snuggle under the blankets just a little longer. The thought of swinging yourself out of bed and putting in the effort to get to the gym, or go for a run, feels overwhelming. Imagine all the energy you’ll have to expend! You picture your lungs heaving, your body sweating, muscles straining… no, thanks. There is nothing attractive about the prospect whatsoever. It’s hard, it’s daunting, and after all, one day off won’t hurt, will it?

Writers, take note.

Virtually ANY task we undertake that contains long-term benefit, will at times appear unattractive to us in the short term. (click to tweet)

In other words, there’s resistance.

Creatives have toiled against this resistance since the dawn of time. Whether we face a blank canvas or a half-completed manuscript, our greatest battle is often a mental one. And the hardest struggle occurs in the charged moments before our fingers ever hit the keyboard.

Here are five keys to overcoming resistance as you write.

Image by sippakorn, freedigitalphotos.net

1. Don’t debate.

Make your mind up before you begin.

If you write in the morning, set a recurring alarm for each weekday, so you never have to worry about it again. Then, when the alarm goes off, roll out of bed. Don’t think about it. If you think about it, it will all seem too hard. Just set your body on autopilot and get up.

2. Set small goals.

If you start out obsessing over the enormity of the task before you (“25,000 more words by the end of this week! How will I ever get there?”), you’ll feel defeated before you even begin.

Instead, make your first goal to get your butt in your writing chair.

Easy, right? You can definitely do that.

Make your next goal to hammer out 250 words before you do ANYTHING else. That’s right – before you check your email, or swing past Facebook, or send out a Tweet.

James Scott Bell calls it “the nifty 250”. It’s easy, it’s achievable, and with that under your belt, you have the momentum to continue.

Remember, the hardest part is just starting. If you can get 250 words down, it’s only another 250 to reach 500. And that’s halfway to a thousand. Don’t sabotage yourself with other distractions before you even begin.

3. Reward yourself in the short-term

Writing a book is a long-term goal, and it can be hard to stay excited about a goal so far-off you can’t see it even when you squint.

Try scattering small rewards along your path. If you write your allotted 1000 words for the day, let yourself chill out on Facebook for a while. Or watch TV. Or read a book – whatever you do to relax and recharge.

The key is to NOT let yourself do those things before you’ve reached your daily goals. Otherwise your writing time will get sucked into a black hole from which it can never be retrieved, and you will forevermore feel existential sadness each time you ponder what your life might have been had you not given in to the distractions of the internet. ;-)

4. Become a creature of routine.

A kind of magic happens once you set a routine and stick with it. The first few times you have to get up early, or write at a predetermined time, are the most difficult.

Picture yourself on an enormous hamster-wheel made of stone. Trying to get that thing moving is HARD. You pit your body against the rock, muscles straining, the wheel turning almost imperceptibly at first. But then, as you continue, a type of magic happens. Slowly, slowly, the wheel gathers momentum. Your body hits a rhythm. The wheel moves faster and faster. Suddenly, you reach a moment of breakthrough where you’re jogging along, no longer struggling against the wheel but flowing with it in perfect ease, faster than you ever dreamed.

Routine is what makes that magic happen for your writing. The dedication to turn up at the desk, day in and day out, making that wheel turn – to begin with – through sheer force of effort.

Then, after a while, you’ll notice that the effort has become less. Soon it’s such a part of your life that showing up to write each day is a reflex, like breathing or smiling. You’re in the flow.

5. Don’t stop and start

What happens if you jump off the wheel? If you let your routine become interrupted?

The wheel slows. Leave it long enough, and it stops. If you step back on at this point, you have to start all over again, straining and heaving to make inching progress against a mountain of inertia.

Make your routine work for you. Then, instead of spending your energy fighting the same battle each day just to get to the desk and focus on the task, you can expend your effort where it counts – in dreaming up new ideas and word pictures for the page.

On a scale of “I always face resistance when I write” to “I never face resistance”, where do you fall? How do you make yourself do what you don’t want in order to get what you do want?

Tweetables:

5 keys to overcoming resistance as you write – Click to Tweet

How to do what you don’t want in order to get what you do want – Click to Tweet

Creatives always face resistance. How to break through the barriers that are holding you back. – Click to Tweet

Karen Schravemade lives in Australia. When she's not chasing after three small children, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website and Twitter.

The reasons you write

Have you ever struggled with the daily commitment to writing?

Image by m_bartosch, freedigitalphotos.net

Perhaps you started out strong, but the middle has become a hard slog, and you feel like you’ve lost your way. Perhaps you’ve received negative feedback from people whose opinions you value, and you wonder if the whole thing is a waste of time. Maybe your characters have fallen down a plot hole and you can’t see any way for them to climb out. Perhaps your life circumstances have changed (new job? New baby? Elderly parent to care for? Fill in the blank) and your writing routine has been thrown so badly out of kilter that you’re scrambling to make any time to write at all.

I could put my hand up for all of these things. I’ll be honest: the book I’m working on right now has become a struggle. A mental, emotional, physical, spiritual struggle.

 

Recently I’ve been reading “Platform” by Michael Hyatt. Great book. Hyatt suggests writing down seven reasons for why you write, and reviewing these daily.

I did this. I actually came up with eight. Today I’d like to be completely transparent, and share them with you. These are very personal, very intimate reasons, and while it makes me feel quite vulnerable to share them, I hope my honesty might help someone else who may be struggling just as I am.

Eight reasons why I need to finish my novel.

1. To finish what I started. “I want to suggest that you finish what you started to do… Let your enthusiastic idea at the start be equalled by your realistic action now.” (2 Cor 8:10-11, TLB) Finishing when it’s tough takes character. I CHOOSE to be a woman of character, no matter how I feel.

2. To experience pride in my accomplishment. The results of not writing? I feel defeated, useless, inadequate. The results of writing? I feel energised, completed, purposeful. This state of mind flows out to every other area of my life.

3. God wants me to finish this book. A pastor once stopped me after a service and spoke this word over me: “You’ve sometimes thought that writing is your dream and your desire. But God wants you to know, it’s His desire.” I love him so much, and writing for God is my expression of love to him. It’s my daily sacrifice of praise.

4. Writing is my purpose in life. If I want to live a life that’s purpose-driven and meaningful, I need to walk within my purpose. To walk outside my purpose is to live a half-life, an incomplete life that doesn’t fulfil my potential.

5. I want to impact others. My biggest prayer has always been that I might produce fruit for God’s kingdom. God has given me a voice, and writing is my platform. Through the power of the written word, my sphere of influence will expand to reach countless more people than I could ever reach alone. My greatest privilege and joy in life would be to impact many others for God. 

6. I am a better mother when I follow my dreams. Following my dreams feeds my spirit. Do I want to feel begrudging and resentful that I don’t have time for myself, or do I want to make that time, and then mother with generosity and joy, out of an overflowingly abundant heart?

7. I believe in this book. I love my story. I love my characters. Those who’ve read it so far have found it gripping and compelling. I believe this story has the potential to be a success.

8. I choose to live my dream. Writing is what I’ve always wanted to do, ever since I was a little girl. The dream will not happen on its own. I alone have the power to make it happen through my daily choices.

The power of a reason

I’ve begun a practice of reading over my eight reasons at the start of every writing session. It centers me on the purpose behind the task. Gives me a bigger perspective. Inspires me to continue when it’s tough.

What are the reasons YOU write?

28-Day Challenge check-in:

For those participating, how is your new habit coming along? Don’t forget – double entries for the Amazon gift card in two weeks’ time if you’ve stuck with your habit every day!

Karen Schravemade lives Downunder and likes to confuse her American friends by using weird Australian figures of speech. When she's not chasing after two small boys or cuddling her baby girl, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website and Twitter.