Julia McCitchen: The Writer's Journey from inspiration to publication - The writer's Journey, From inspiration to publication

Writing a book is a ’whole person’ journey. This means that all aspects of ourselves are involved in the process – physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. 

When these are in harmonious alignment, the well of inspiration overflows with ideas, the words meet the page effortlessly and rewarding connections are made with publishers and readers.

Yet maintaining this state of being ‘in the zone’ isn’t always easy and the reality is that the path to publication involves finding a way through many different challenges.

One of the most challenging aspects of writing a book for publication is the emotional roller coaster we discover ourselves to be on.

And there are times when we wonder why nobody told us quite how hard the whole creative process can feel sometimes!

So how do you survive the emotional roller coaster?

First of all I recommend that you remember you are not alone in experiencing intense feelings which can swing from excitement to despair – and back again – in a very short amount of time.

All authors know about the ups and downs of writing a book. In fact, everyone involved in bringing forth a creative project will have experienced something of what you might be feeling right now.

The best solution overall is to accept totally that this is a natural part of the creative process and simply go with the flow.

Instead of fighting or resisting what you are feeling, or losing confidence altogether and giving up, the answer is to accept and honour your emotions fully, and keep going anyway!

Learning to surf the emotional wave is a skill that is well worth aquiring if you want to succeed as a writer.

Here are 5 tips to strengthen your emotional survival skills:

1. Set the intention, take action, then let go! Being clear about your intention is very important as it will shape the action you need to take in order to achieve the results you are aiming for.

So write your intention down and then just do it!

Proceed with writing that difficult chapter even if you think it is ‘not good enough’ or make the phone call to an important agent you have been putting off for days.

Once you have taken appropriate action, let it go and move on to the next step in the knowledge that you can always go back and edit later or find another agent to speak to if your first conversation led nowhere.

2. Maintain your vision & remember the ‘why’. Having a vision is crucial as it brings the big picture into the mix and enables you to gain a perspective on the details.

Often it is the details which are responsible for causing the emotional swings which can be so uncomfortable.

So when you feel you have temporarily lost your way, write about your ultimate vision of publishing your book or make a vision board to inspire you to complete your journey.

Remembering why you are writing will connect you to a greater sense of purpose which can smooth the path and move you forwards.

3. Release the pressure by writing in your journal. I recommend that everyone does some journal writing whether it is morning pages, night time reflections or midday meanderings.

This is your chance to say everything privately that you might not want to say outloud, even to your closest friend.

Feel free to rant and rave if you need to release how you are feeling.

Get those emotions onto the page where you can see them in black and white, and keep doing so daily until you feel a shift back to feeling more balanced again.

4. Find at least one person to offer support. Ideally all writers would have not only a muse but also a mentor, someone to be there to offer support and advice when times are tough.

There is no doubt about it that having personal and/or professional support with writing a book does make all the difference in the world to most writers.

Even if you are naturally a solitary type, as many writers are, I recommend that you find a friend, writing partner, supportive colleague or ideally a combination of all of these to be there for you.

A skilled coach or professional mentor who genuinely knows the inside story of the creative writing process can literally mean the difference between achieving your intentions – or not as the case may be.

5. Don’t be too attached to the end results. When all is said and done, letting go of the end results is the final piece of the jigsaw.

This is easier said than done, especially when you have a clear vision that you are working towards.

Yet there is more than one way for your vision to manifest in the world and realising this simple truth is a liberation for many writers.

So adopt the attitude of passionate detachment and see just how much freedom you ultimately feel as a result.

Once you have got used to adopting these techniques on a regular basis, and discovered others that suit you as an individual, you will find that riding the emotional roller coaster is a skill like any other.

It can be learned and applied successfully in support of you achieving what you set out to achieve, whatever form that ultimately takes.

Enjoy the journey!

Tags: alignment, author, creative process, inspiration, journal, mentor, publication, publisher, readers, Writing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Creativity, Publishing, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.