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Writer’s Block, the Inner Critic, and Limiting Beliefs

How to Conquer a Lack of Writing Motivation

Lack of writing motivation is one of the biggest silent killers of creativity. I say “silent” because so many writers don’t talk about this issue, and that’s because a lot of us feel deep shame when we can’t get motivated. It’s very common for writers to suffer from this problem and blame themselves, and it’s hard to reach out for help or find support when you’re in a shame spiral about a lack of motivation.

When most of us experience lack of motivation, we usually assume that we’re being “lazy.” Or that we’re not that creative and that inspiration is something we might never see again. However, this is absolutely not true. Lack of motivation is something we can rarely control, and without outside support, it can feel impossible to move past. Continue Reading

Feel Like You’re Going Nowhere with Your Writing?

One of the biggest problems I see writers struggle with is that we often feel like we’re going nowhere with our writing. We may feel like we’re not making any actual progress, or we’ve been working on a project for a really long time, and still, we’re not seeing measurable results. When we’re in this painful place with our writing, we often feel alone and like we lack support, and like we also lack the structure we need to keep going with our writing. Continue Reading

When Writing Isn’t Fun Anymore

I was working with a new client who had come to me because she said she hated her writing life. As I sat with her on Zoom and asked her questions about her writing, I watched her face change as she described how she used to feel about writing when she was much younger, and how she felt about it now.

She looked troubled, and sad. And also confused. Why was writing so hard for her now? she asked. She didn’t understand why it felt like pulling teeth to sit down and crank out 500 words. Writing had always been something she loved. She didn’t understand why it now filled her with so much dread.

As we dug deeper into the layers of her problems with writing, the truth became more and more clear. Continue Reading

Write a Book that Serves the World (This Works Great for Procrastinators!)

Over the years, I have worked with many writers who dream of writing a book that will help serve humanity. Much of the time, the writer has experienced some sort of deep trauma, gone through a healing journey because of that trauma, and then come out on the other side with a unique perspective on everything they experienced. Usually in these cases, the writer realizes that what they’ve learned could greatly benefit others who are currently going through the same sort of trauma they experienced, and that the best way to get this knowledge into the hands of other people is to write a book that contains all of the insights the writer learned the hard way.

However, it can be confusing to write this kind of book that serves the world when you have no idea what direction you need to go in to even start. Some writers feel it’s important to include extremely personal pieces of their own journey (memoir), and some want to focus more on learning strategies for the reader (self-help). Some feel like they might want to do a mix of the two, but they’re unsure about how to pull that all together. Continue Reading

Writers, Listen Up! This Is the Thing You Keep Doing That’s Killing Your Story

A few years ago, I was contacted by a woman who desperately wanted to write down the story of her mother’s life. She wasn’t sure if the book should be in novel form, or more like a memoir, but she knew that she wanted to bring it into being. At the time she contacted me, though, she was suffering from severe writer’s block. She had tried everything, she told me, and nothing worked. She just couldn’t get herself to write the story.

When she signed on for coaching with me, she told me she wanted to share what she had already completed on the project and asked if she could send those materials over to me. I agreed and then checked my email shortly afterward and was astounded at what she sent. Continue Reading