Invoke Your Inner Elephant to Overcome Debilitating Writer's Procrastination
Sometimes with a large project, our fear of failure looms like a perpetual rain cloud fogging our minds, favoring procrastination over action. Here's my lens on what I did to overcome writer's procrastination in the writing of my book about taking a year off work tentatively titled Greetings From Lotusland.
When I was looking for images of how to eat an elephant I stumbled upon Ganesha, a much loved and worshipped Hindu deity. According to Wikipedia, he's "revered as the remover of obstacles, lord of beginnings, patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. He is honored at the start of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as patron of letters during writing sessions."
So as I embark on this project, Greetings from Lotusland, attempting to write 108 stories using Squidoo, it is ideal I invoke Ganesha for guidance. Ganesha is often pictured with the lotus, "a flower symbolizing new beginnings and infinite potential with Ganesha as the remover of obstacles."
So How Do You Eat An Elephant? One Mouthful At a Time.
Sometimes with a large project like writing a book, the end goal seems so far off in the distance, a virtual impossibility. Our fear of failure kicks in, scared we won't finish what we've started so instead we freeze in place and don't know how to take a step forward. Below are a couple of inspirational stories on how to break down projects to reach your goal.
Photo Source: "Dumbo" by Esox Lucius on Flickr.com
When I was looking for images of how to eat an elephant I stumbled upon Ganesha, a much loved and worshipped Hindu deity. According to Wikipedia, he's "revered as the remover of obstacles, lord of beginnings, patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. He is honored at the start of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as patron of letters during writing sessions."
So as I embark on this project, Greetings from Lotusland, attempting to write 108 stories using Squidoo, it is ideal I invoke Ganesha for guidance. Ganesha is often pictured with the lotus, "a flower symbolizing new beginnings and infinite potential with Ganesha as the remover of obstacles."
So How Do You Eat An Elephant? One Mouthful At a Time.
Sometimes with a large project like writing a book, the end goal seems so far off in the distance, a virtual impossibility. Our fear of failure kicks in, scared we won't finish what we've started so instead we freeze in place and don't know how to take a step forward. Below are a couple of inspirational stories on how to break down projects to reach your goal.
Photo Source: "Dumbo" by Esox Lucius on Flickr.com
Terry Fox & His Marathon of Hope
Excerpt From Terry by Douglas Coupland
I was feeling sorry for myself struggling with the simple act of stringing one word after another. I decided to read a bit instead of writing, picking up a book I had gotten earlier from the library about Terry Fox, the one legged marathon runner from Vancouver. My struggle paled in comparison to his seemingly impossible feat.
Terry: Terry Fox and His Marathon of Hope
Amazon Price: $17.90 (as of 12/29/2009)
In 1980, Terry Fox did the unthinkable. Keep in mind most marathons are 26.2 miles. Terry, a one legged runner fitted with a prosthesis on the other leg managed to run 3,339 miles across Canada before illness forced him to end his run prematurely from his goal of completing 5,300 miles, the distance across Canada.
Terry Fox's Prosthetic Leg
Terry Fox On Achieving Impossible Goals
Take Challenges One Step at a Time
Distance
Terry's goal was to cross Canada's 5,300 miles by running roughly two hundred marathons in a row (an Olympic marathon is 26.2 miles) with no rest days in between -- all on one real and one prosthetic leg. Along the way, people would see Terry, recognize his cause and donate money for cancer research. Many critics said the idea was ridiculous -- there's no record of anybody ever running even one hundred marathons in a row. So it's easy to see why many people were skeptical.
Intense Preparation. Eat Run Sleep. Eat Run Sleep.
Before leaving for Newfoundland to start his cross-Canada marathon, Terry had run 3,159 1/2 miles.
No Small Change
Terry's core mission was to raise money for cancer research. Terry wanted a dollar for every Canadian, andin his mind the equations were always:
RESEARCH MONEY = HOPE
MORE MONEY = MORE HOPE
24 MILLION CANADIANS = 24 MILLION DOLLARS
To date more than $400 million has been raised for cancer research.
A single dream. A world of hope.
Click here for more information or to make a donation to
The Terry Fox Foundation
Excerpt from Terry by Douglas Coupland
Terry's goal was to cross Canada's 5,300 miles by running roughly two hundred marathons in a row (an Olympic marathon is 26.2 miles) with no rest days in between -- all on one real and one prosthetic leg. Along the way, people would see Terry, recognize his cause and donate money for cancer research. Many critics said the idea was ridiculous -- there's no record of anybody ever running even one hundred marathons in a row. So it's easy to see why many people were skeptical.
Intense Preparation. Eat Run Sleep. Eat Run Sleep.
Before leaving for Newfoundland to start his cross-Canada marathon, Terry had run 3,159 1/2 miles.
No Small Change
Terry's core mission was to raise money for cancer research. Terry wanted a dollar for every Canadian, andin his mind the equations were always:
RESEARCH MONEY = HOPE
MORE MONEY = MORE HOPE
24 MILLION CANADIANS = 24 MILLION DOLLARS
To date more than $400 million has been raised for cancer research.
A single dream. A world of hope.
Click here for more information or to make a donation to
The Terry Fox Foundation
Excerpt from Terry by Douglas Coupland
Barack Obama On Possibilities
Inspiration Personified - If He Can Do It, So Can We
If a black man can become President of the United States, a feat once considered out of reach, I should humbly be able to write a book, just as countless others who have come before me. Boston.com has a great feature called "The Big Picture" where they tell news stories in photographs.
A Collection of Inspiring Photos of President-Elect Barack Obama
Photo Source: Emmanuelle Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Architect, Basketball Player, Judge
President Was His Back-up Career
Writing a Novel is Like Driving a Car At Night
You can see only as far as your headlights but you can make the whole trip that way.
E.L. Doctorow
Anne Lamott On Tackling Overwhelming Projects
Some Instructions on Writing & Life
Excerpt from chapter on Short Assignments
"Often when you sit down to write, what you have in mind seems like trying to scale a glacier. It's hard to get your footing. Then your mental illnesses arrive at the desk like your sickest, most secretive relatives."
"Often when you sit down to write, what you have in mind seems like trying to scale a glacier. It's hard to get your footing. Then your mental illnesses arrive at the desk like your sickest, most secretive relatives."
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/29/2009)
"What I do at this point, as the panic mounts is to notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments. All I have to do is to write down as much as I can see through a one-inch picture frame. This is all I have to bite off for the time being. I am going to paint a picture of it, in words, on my word processor -- to figure out a one-inch piece of my story to tell, one small scene, one memory, one exchange."
Excerpt From Bird By Bird
Anne Lamot on Short Assignments
"I also remember a story that I know I've told elsewhere but that over and over helps m to get a grip; thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. He was the at kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."
I tell this story because it usually makes a dent in the tremendous sense of being overwhelmed that my students experience. Sometimes it actually gives them hope, and hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances we know to be desperate. Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.
Say to yourself in the kindest possible way. We are just going to take this bird by bird. That is all we are going to do for now But we are going to finish this one short assignment."
I tell this story because it usually makes a dent in the tremendous sense of being overwhelmed that my students experience. Sometimes it actually gives them hope, and hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances we know to be desperate. Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.
Say to yourself in the kindest possible way. We are just going to take this bird by bird. That is all we are going to do for now But we are going to finish this one short assignment."
Natalie Goldberg On Being Lazy
Natalie Goldberg - "Striped Chair" available at Mayans Gallery
Wild Mind - Living the Writer's Life
After a day of futzing around on the internet, reading, watching DVDs, and napping, I kept beating myself up for not writing, promising myself that I'd eventually get around to it. It was a miserable rainy day and I felt like I was letting myself down. If this were a regular job, I wouldn't just fail to show up. By late afternoon I decided to just quit feeling guilty, forget about writing and give in to my laziness. The next day, I woke up refreshed and ready to hit the page. I later read a chapter from Natalie Goldberg's "Wild Mind" where she explains why sometimes it's okay to be lazy every now and then.
Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life
Amazon Price: $11.56 (as of 12/29/2009)
Excerpt From "Wild Mind-Living the Writer's Life"
"All writers have a natural bent toward laziness. That is good. Utilize it. The couch is a good place. Lie there for a whole day in the middle of everything. It is like waiting for vinegar to settle after you shake it up with oil. Let the oil get clear again. You get clear. This is a very wholesome place to write from.
Writing is at the bottom of our life. After you're cleared from lying around, your desire to write will rise up to the surface like a bubble or an old dead fish. Then you can get up for no reason and write a little. You'll just set down one word after another. It will be good. Trust me."
In the English language twenty-six letters, when combined correctly, can create magic.
John Grogan, Author, Marley & Me
John Grogan On Waking Up Early
What Was Grogan's Writing Process To Finish His Manuscript
Do you have any special writing routine?
I'm usually a night owl, but when I wrote "Marley & Me," I forced myself to go to bed early and get up early. I wrote from 5 to 7 a.m. and then ate breakfast and went to work to write my newspaper column. I averaged a chapter a week this way. I began the book in early 2004 and finished the manuscript right after Labor Day. My agent, Laurie Abkemeier, sold it the next month in an auction.
What's the hardest aspect of writing?
The only difficulty is that little part that involves putting words on a blank screen. Other than that, it's a breeze! Seriously, I have little tricks to avoid writer's block. One of them is to create the "official document," which seems very intimidating and sits blank. Then I create a "rough notes" file, which I write in. Since it's meant to be rough - after all, that's the name of the document! - and no one will ever see it, I don't worry about what spills out of me. After I get down a chunk, I let it sit overnight and then go back and work it over. Usually, about 90 percent of it gets used. It's a ridiculous little game, I know, but it helps me. I also keep a faithful journal, which is another great tool.
From the website marleyandme.com
I'm usually a night owl, but when I wrote "Marley & Me," I forced myself to go to bed early and get up early. I wrote from 5 to 7 a.m. and then ate breakfast and went to work to write my newspaper column. I averaged a chapter a week this way. I began the book in early 2004 and finished the manuscript right after Labor Day. My agent, Laurie Abkemeier, sold it the next month in an auction.
What's the hardest aspect of writing?
The only difficulty is that little part that involves putting words on a blank screen. Other than that, it's a breeze! Seriously, I have little tricks to avoid writer's block. One of them is to create the "official document," which seems very intimidating and sits blank. Then I create a "rough notes" file, which I write in. Since it's meant to be rough - after all, that's the name of the document! - and no one will ever see it, I don't worry about what spills out of me. After I get down a chunk, I let it sit overnight and then go back and work it over. Usually, about 90 percent of it gets used. It's a ridiculous little game, I know, but it helps me. I also keep a faithful journal, which is another great tool.
From the website marleyandme.com
John Grogan
Words of Writing Wisdom from New York Times Best-selling Author of Marley and Me
Bad Dogs Have More Fun
What's inspirational about this collection of newspaper articles from Grogan's Philadelphia Inquirer column is that the writing is all over the place. The stories themselves are interesting but the writing itself is not nearly as captivating as his book Marley and Me. This was Grogan's day job before he hit it big with Marley and Me which gives hope that if a bestselling author at one time also wrote mediocre pieces, that means its inevitable that the rest of us slogging away at the keyboard are likely to produce less than average gems from time to time as well.
What's inspirational about this collection of newspaper articles from Grogan's Philadelphia Inquirer column is that the writing is all over the place. The stories themselves are interesting but the writing itself is not nearly as captivating as his book Marley and Me. This was Grogan's day job before he hit it big with Marley and Me which gives hope that if a bestselling author at one time also wrote mediocre pieces, that means its inevitable that the rest of us slogging away at the keyboard are likely to produce less than average gems from time to time as well.
Bad Dogs Have More Fun: Selected Writings on Animals, Family and Life by John Grogan for The Philadelphia Inquirer
Amazon Price: $9.32 (as of 12/29/2009)
John Grogan On How Marley & Me Came to Be
Excerpt from Bad Dogs Have More Fun.
"The journey began on January 6, 2003, when I published a column saying goodbye to my hopelessly hyperactive, incorrigible Labrador retriever Marley. That column brought a flood of responses that were highly personal. It was then I knew I had accidentally tapped into something bigger, something seminal. Not a dog story. Not my story. But the story of the journey humans and animals make together, and how the two shape and affect each other and become magically intertwined.
After a dozen rejections, I found an agent who saw the potential in my story. I began rising at 4:30 a.m. to write before leaving for work. Week by week, chapter, the story spilled out, without hand-wringing or self-consciousness.
The book flowed easily out of me partially because I was convinced no one would eveer see it. As the book progressed, my agent kept telling me I was on to something. I kept wondering: Who in their right mind would want to read 300 pages about my ho-hum life? But when the manuscript was done, in fall 2004, six publishers were interested in making offers."
After a dozen rejections, I found an agent who saw the potential in my story. I began rising at 4:30 a.m. to write before leaving for work. Week by week, chapter, the story spilled out, without hand-wringing or self-consciousness.
The book flowed easily out of me partially because I was convinced no one would eveer see it. As the book progressed, my agent kept telling me I was on to something. I kept wondering: Who in their right mind would want to read 300 pages about my ho-hum life? But when the manuscript was done, in fall 2004, six publishers were interested in making offers."
Margaret Cho On Overcoming Writer's Block
"You don't have to look so hard inside yourself for inspiration, because it's all around you."
The Cho Show "Haunt Gina"
Season 1, Episode 106
In this hyper-reality show, beneath all the bravado, outrageous comedienne, Margaret Cho faces terribly debilitating writer's block. "There's so much magic and mojo involved in the creative process", she confides to mentor and veteran comedienne Carol Leifer, "it feels like it could be magically gone". Leifer counsels Cho to dig deeper to find something you want to talk about & take it to a really personal place. Cho has a revelation. Write about what you're experiencing. Problems can be your muse, once embraced, the writing flows freely. Looking past Cho's bawdy episode summation of "clear in the front, clean in the rear", you realize her glib body part metaphors run deeper -- in overlooking the past and being open to the future, your creativity awaits.
- VH1 Link - Click Here to View in the U.S.
- Show Summary
"Follow Margaret Cho and her eccentric entourage through the surreal Hollywood shuffle, where, even in the wild and crazy world of entertainment, they're one of a kind." - The Comedy Network - Click Here to View in Canada
- Episode Summary
"After being told by a psychic that a ghost was living in her vagina, Margaret starts to experience writer's block. Worried that the ghost might be causing it, Margaret tries various ways to remedy the situation."
How Do You Eat an Elephant?
Please share any thoughts you may have on life, love, happiness and realizing your potential. Do you have any tips on overcoming writer's procrastination?
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by Lotusland
Hi. I'm Yukiko, a first-time writer struggling to get my first book out of my head and onto the page. (more)
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