Story Is A State of Mind: Writing and the Art of Creative Curiosity

Instead of I don’t like this feeling, it’s I don’t know how to be with this feeling.

Rest should be the foundation of your writing life. Move your attention toward it. Take naps. Stare out the window into middle space. Act as though you have all the time in the world to write your book. Actually tell yourself: I have so much time.

“Why are you making your creative decisions into problems?”

Practice

How you create a book and how you create a life follow the same general process: you set out with an intention and move toward resolution. You may hold a vision of an outcome in your mind, but you don’t know exactly how to navigate your way there. You pay attention and try to make good decisions. You show up regularly, course-correcting as you go.

When you’re writing a novel, you have to learn to tolerate the confounding wholeness that comes from simultaneously knowing your entire story and only pieces of it.

You have a hard time finishing your work because you’re afraid you won’t meet your own or external expectations.

You feel anxious, depressed, ungrounded, or distressed when you’re not actively writing.

You feel deeply jealous or threatened when you hear about another writer’s success.