My work-in-progress is kicking my butt

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."   John Burroughs


I have a confession to make: My current work-in-progress is kicking my butt! 

I'd been doing great with the new writing routine I began in January on the heels of my Get Your Writing Year in Gear workshop. But these habits never stop being tenuous, and when we found ourselves hosts to house guests for three weeks…it all fell apart. (My office doubles as the guest room.) 

Getting everything going again is tough! In early stages like this, the longer I'm away from a WiP, the longer it takes me to find my groove. 

One of the things I've learned to do to reorient myself is to revisit what I call my North Star. My North Star is the "Why?" of my story: "Why am I writing this?" I try to suss out the answer to this question early in the process. And this week I printed it out and posted it by my desk where I can check in with it regularly. It guides me in telling the story, helps me remember why I'm sitting down at the page when temptations try to lure me away, and rekindles my fire when I lose steam. 

If you haven't done this for your current WiP, why not take a few moments and answer this question for yourself?

Why am I writing this story? 

Don't settle for 'I am called to it' or 'It interests me' or 'It's going to make me rich'. Go deep. Feel free to have more than one reason. Don't be afraid to make it personal.

WHY are you writing this? 

Once you've figured that out, take it a step further and answer this: Why would it matter if you stopped writing it?

Worth thinking about. 

Να είσαι καλά. 
May you always be well,