This morning I'm headed to an archives collection, where I intend to spend the day with a microfilm machine, reading Laura Towne's handwritten diary. That's inspiration enough to keep me working today, but I'm frequently guilty of procrastination. How about you? Do other things get in the way of your writing? Today Nina Amir talks to us about why people don't write. Please welcome her. Writers write. That’s what makes a writer a writer. But sometimes writers
don’t write. The difference between an aspiring writer and an author is that one has the
desire to become published and the other has achieved this goal. Sometimes an
aspiring writer does everything possible to become an author and the goal
remains unmet; other times an aspiring author says he or she want to become an
author but refuses to do what it takes to become published. That leads to an important question: Why don’t writers write or do what it
takes to become published? When writers procrastinate, this prevents them from writing or publishing
their work. Procrastination leads to the so-called writer becoming a
“non-writer,” someone who doesn’t write or publish their work—someone who says
they want to write but doesn’t. Why does that happen? Why do writers say they want to write and publish and
then not follow through? Ah…for so many reasons. Let me list a few:
Notice something similar about all 15? They all start with “fear.” If you
ask yourself why you aren’t writing, you might actually answer, “I’m afraid to
write.” Why? For all the reasons above…and many more. What’s the solution? Start working on moving through those fears! If you don’t know why you don’t write, don’t attempt to get published or
don’t do the things necessary to become an author—in other words, if you aren’t
in touch with your fear or writing and getting published, you need to ask
yourself an important question: What’s my payoff for this behavior? What does not writing and not getting published earn you? Maybe it’s the
chance to remain anonymous, avoid your fear of success (or failure) or
rejection, or get out of working hard. Maybe deep down in your heart you really
don’t want to become an author; maybe, for example, this was your father’s
dream for you that you adopted for yourself. By not promoting yourself
or writing a word you get to live your dream of not becoming a writer or an
author. These represent negative payoffs. Spend some time answering this question really honestly. Answer it many
times in many ways. Start the exercise by writing, “My payoff for _____ (Fill
in the blank with the appropriate phrase, such as “not writing,” “not promoting
myself or my writing,” or “not attempting to publish my work.”) is….” Once you have discovered your payoffs, you can then begin to work with these
to help yourself achieve your writing goals—if you truly do want to write and
to become published. By eliminating negative payoffs you can begin moving more
easily towards your goals. Now let’s look at positive payoffs—the positive outcomes you avoid when you
don’t write. These, believe it or not, do constitute payoffs for not writing. Once again answer the question, “What is my payoff for not writing? What do
I ‘earn’ or ‘get’ when I don’t write?” Maybe you prevent yourself from becoming
more prosperous than one of your siblings or your parents. Maybe you perpetuate
your belief that you aren’t good enough or qualified enough to be an author.
Maybe you don’t have to face the criticism of your friends and family, about
whom you plan to write. The earlier example of not living out your father’s
dream of you becoming an author could actually be seen as a positive payoff of
not writing as well. Whether or not your payoffs are negative or positive really matters little.
The main point lies in discovering your payoffs for not writing. If you believe
on some level—even subconsciously—that you have something to gain by not
writing, surely you will not write. That means you won’t achieve your writing goals. What I called “positive” and “negative” payoffs previously all constituted
ways to avoid something that might be achieved by writing. In your mind the “something”
you avoided seemed positive or negative. For example, you avoided failure and
your fear of failure. Or you avoided success and your fear of success. Both of these types of payoffs effectively create the same result: You don’t
write. To use payoffs to get yourself to write you must figure out what writing
will get you that you want badly. So, ask yourself, “If I write and publish my
work, what will I gain? What will I get in return? What will my payoff be for
actually sitting down and writing and then going the extra step and getting
that writing published? Fame? Fortune? Fulfillment? Peace of mind? Sense of achievement?
Credibility? Clients? A chance to be heard? Income? The ability to help people?
A way to create change? When you can identify those writing-related payoffs you strongly desire and
around which you have deep-seated emotions, then you will find yourself writing
as often as possible. You’ll want to achieve those payoffs no matter what. Therein lies the key. If writing earns you something you truly desire on an
emotional level, you will write. In fact, you’ll write as if your life depended
upon it. You will become a writer, because writers write. ![]() Follow Nina on: |