Ahhhh, it's October. Other people are thinking about pumpkin spice lattes, but I'm thinking of 50,000 words.
I woke up this morning with this thought in my head: What if I lived my life as if I already had all the things I say I want.
I know, it’s not an original thought, but it landed with me in a new way. Specifically, I asked myself the following question:
If I were a writer with a three-book deal, how would I spend my day.
Here’s my list of ten things I would do differently (not really in a particular order, but 1. is always first).
1. I would sit down and write first thing. That means I would not go to Instagram or Facebook or What’s App first.
2. I would spend a little time on social media giving positive interactions to people who visit me.
3. I would exercise because I’m more productive when I move, and I would do a little yoga because yoga makes it easier to sit in a chair for 7-8 hours a day.
4. I would meditate because meditation gives me some space in my brain.
5. I would spend some time focused on my ten-year intentions.
6. I would eat well because when I eat too much sugar, as I’ve done the past week, I’m not able to focus as well.
7. I would neaten my space when I finish work because I like to work in a clean space.
8. I would efficiently do the work that currently pays the bills, and I would set limits. If I’m only being paid for 8 hours of work, then I will do eight hours of work, no more, so the work I produce may have to be good enough. I used to talk to my students about choosing to give 80% effort to some classes and being okay with a B. I can remember that pep talk myself as I do my consulting work.
9. I would spend time thinking about and tracking my goals, including building my brand online.
10. I would congratulate myself for work well done; I would forgive myself for any failings because shame makes it hard to show up tomorrow.
It’s a good list, right? Yours will probably be a little different, and mine may change as I think more about it (I know that a few of these items are actually two items). But I like the question. I’ve heard writers talk about this, and the writers I admire often talk about living this way before their first book deal. I just never thought of it like this. I never really felt it as a deep truth the way I did this morning.
So, today, I did a few more of these things than I did yesterday. Tomorrow, I hope to do a few more, and when I fall, as I know I will, I will dust off my ass and get back up. And when I succeed at some if not all of these things, as I know I will, I will have a dance party in my own honor.
In a way, living like the writer you want to be is the power of National Novel Writing Month. For one month, we live like writers. We let other people cook dinner, wash the dishes, walk the dog. We let our outside commitments slide a little. We give 80% at work instead of 110%. We prioritize writing.
We do what we would do if we had a three-book deal and an editor breathing down our necks. We make a life where writing is what we do.
So, hold me to this. I’m going to live like the writer I aim to be for the rest of the year. Not just in November, but starting now and running until December.
Also, I’m going to send those finished manuscripts into the world so that I can actually be that most cherished of things: the writer with a three-book deal.
Good luck to you as you figure out how to make NaNoWriMo work for you. Let me know what mental tricks you use to get the work done each day.
