An Older Man And a Hooker Walk Into A Motel Room...

( My new 5 Week Writing Your Memoirs Session now is on Wednesday, starting May 26th.)

An old joke; An older man hires a hooker, goes to a motel and lies down on the bed, telling her before he can perform he must have her run the shower so he thinks it’s raining. She does what he asks and comes back to the bed, only to be sent back to the bathroom because he wants her to shake the shower curtain and make the sound of thunder. And then she does and getting exasperated she returns to see him lying on the bed sprawled out and he asks her to turn the lights on and off so it feels like lightning. She is banging the shower curtain, the water is running and she’s turning the light on and off and she yells at him, “Are we going to do this thing, and have sex?” And he shrugs and says, “What? In this weather?”

I read this joke in Marian Roach Smith’s book on writing your memoir and thought it was an apt description of all the excuses people to use not to write. ( or create something new.)

When we want to write ( sing, dance, paint) but we use the weather, the kids or the commitments to not just sit down and write.

We get tossed about my our emotions. We trip ourselves up by over-scheduling our time, make other people’s desires more important than our own, and then we read more how to books rather than show up and do it.

Life is short and if you want to live a creative life you have to try and find a way to make time for those things you want to do.

I find if I really want to do something that is important to me, especially something that may even have a bit of risk, I can’t wait for perfect conditions to start. Because those conditions will never come.

If we want to master a craft like writing we have to use a little discipline and a little constraint of time.

First let’s talk discipline, I carve out time for my creativity every day. Some days it’s only a few moments and others its the entire morning. I have to make the space for the muse if I expect her to show up.

And secondly about constraint. I find if I set a small doable goal for how much time I can write in any given week, I tend to stick to it. Writing out that goal helps with commitment.

Another thing I do is pick a time of day when I have the best energy. For me it’s the morning. I just finished my 4th draft of my book this way. It would have been so easy not to work on this book. There was COVID. No one commissioned me to write it. I didn’t get paid for it but its a passion project. (A passion project is something you love to do rather than a financial reward or recognition.)

We need to hold the space for what we say we want otherwise life passes us by! ( Check out this new writing class)

I also, need to be flexible. One week there is more time to work and the next maybe I have other things to do, so I don’t sit as much. I don’t beat myself up but each week I plan how much time I can devote to my creative projects.

The kind of writing hacks are what I share with my class. They study with me partly with me because they like the class but also because they like holding the space to create. If you come together in community and write together it can be powerful. And hold your feet to the fire for what you want to do.

Our last session for the season, Writing Your Memoirs is now on Wednesday. This 5 week session begins on Wednesday May 26th ! You will write, laugh and have a lot of fun!

Check out my membership page, wth special blogs and videos. Its a cheap way I can entertain you from home and support my creativity in my dotage.