How I get writing ...

...when I'd rather be doing almost anything else.

Confession: There are parts of the writing process I hate. I love writing, and relish reading my MS and editing it — at least six times over — but I intensely dislike transferring my edits to computer. Instead I indulge my latest obsession (painting with pastels), or watch a historical video (a not-writing task that feels almost virtuous), or sinfully fall into the black hole of US disaster news.

But yesterday I finally remembered how I’ve gotten out of this not-writing slump in the past: I set a pages-per-day goal and record the time, page number, and finish time and page number in a little blue book (followed by an appropriate cheer). This simple daily accounting works for me.

If you’re in a writing slump, I recommend this method. It’s important to have a ridiculously easy daily goal to achieve. It’s nice to have a lovely little notebook to record your daily progress in as well. It also helps to have a deadline; for me, an upcoming holiday is perfect. That’s all it takes to get going again, at least for me.

And so now, my daily mission accomplished, here is one of my pastel paintings, inspired by a photo I took at Playa Blanca on the west coast of Mexico.

And perhaps it’s also time to have a look at the illustrated booklet I’m planning to self-publish on the creative process. And what about the memoir I’ve been working on? And today’s quick pastel painting?

It’s nice to be back here, in this comfortable Substack space. I’d love to know your creative self-motivating tricks.