Falling Back in Love with Writing

When motivation is flagging, how do you fall back in love with writing?

The key lies in self-awareness—recognizing your introversion, extroversion, or something in between, and how these traits fuel your creative fire. Our personal stories and practical strategies will guide you to embrace who you are and channel your innate strengths into a writing career that's not just productive, but profoundly fulfilling.

Our quick tips for this week:

1. Spend some time learning about yourself. Take a personality test and think about how the results might apply to your writing life.
2. Review your past. What worked before, that maybe you've lost track of?
3. If you're struggling right now, think about what threw you off course. Is there a way to bring yourself back into alignment?
4. Finish up your obligations so you can give yourself the time and space to create.
5. Work on a palate cleanser: a fun story that you find inspiring but that might not be part of your current series.

Don't forget!

The Writing Romance Mastery Summit will take place from February 19, 2024 through February 23, 2024, and we promise it’ll be a top-notch event. Paula Judith is bringing together the biggest names and most knowledgeable experts to share their best secrets.

We're proud to be included in this year's lineup of guests, talking about how to decide if you should self-publish or get an agent. By clicking this link, we may earn a commission from your purchase, at no additional cost to you.

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The Author Wheel:
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Greta Boris:
Website: www.GretaBoris.com
Facebook: @GretaBorisAuthor
Instagram: @GretaBoris

Megan Haskell:
Website: www.MeganHaskell.com
Facebook & Instagram: @MeganHaskellAuthor
TikTok: @AuthorMeganHaskell

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

Welcome back to the AuthorWeal podcast. I'm Megan Haskell, award-winning fantasy author of the Senyari Chronicles and the Rise of Lilith series.

Speaker 2: 0:45

And I'm Greta Boris, USA Today bestselling author of the Mortician Murders and the soon to be released almost true crime series. In today's quick tip episode, we're gonna be talking about how to love your writing life, Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 1:01

And it all starts, I think, by knowing thyself.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Well, love is all about relationships, so I guess it's a relationship with yourself, right?

Speaker 1: 1:11

It is right. I mean, writing comes from within us. It comes from some deep, dark place or very light, bright place, depending on what you're writing, I suppose but within your soul, within your personality, within you as a person, you are creating the world. Therefore, you have to know why you're doing it. What are you, why are you putting yourself through this? Because it's not an easy job.

Speaker 2: 1:38

That's the truth.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So I have spent the last few years really digging into some of the different personality tests, and this is certainly not a requirement for knowing thyself, but I think understanding better who you are as a person, what makes you tick and why you do things the way you do things, can really be helpful. So the three that I tend to recommend and they all are different and so they all kind of work together pretty nicely. But it's the Clifton Strengths, the personality tests which you take. They're all multiple choice questions on these tests, but for Clifton Strengths, what they're trying to do is rank these different. I think they have 36 different aspects of personality or different strengths, and they rank them for you and the top five are the ones that are the most impactful in your life, that really drive you, and so you can lean into those strengths to build a more satisfying career and find success. So it's less about overcoming weaknesses and more about leaning into your strengths, which is pretty cool. It's a different kind of a little different take on it, I think.

Speaker 1: 2:59

And then the second one is the Enneagram, which is there are nine personality types in the Enneagram and each has a different core motivation or core fear. And so you take that test and you find out sort of what drives you and where you are, on the scale of like, are you healthier and more balanced or are you currently in a situation where you're a little bit more fearful or you have more struggles happening right now, that kind of a thing, and so that one can be really fascinating because you can start to see what. What is driving you really, more than what your strengths are. You can lean into your strengths, but what's driving those strengths? How can you use those strengths to overcome those fears? Again, a little bit different, just a different angle, different mindset on that. Then the third one is the Myers-Briggs personality test, which I'm a little bit less familiar with beyond my own type, but we all know ourselves.

Speaker 2: 4:13

I forgot what I am. Four letters. I know that.

Speaker 1: 4:16

Yes, they're all four letters. There's 16 different combinations, so it's introverted versus extroverted, intuitive versus something else, thinking versus judging.

Speaker 2: 4:34

Or feeling.

Speaker 1: 4:35

Or thinking versus feeling. Yeah, thinking versus feeling and judging versus something else. Anyway, it's an interesting one. We're obviously really up on Myers-Briggs.

Speaker 1: 4:46

Yeah, really strong in that one. I'm INTJ, which means I'm introverted, intuitive thinking and judging. I know that one. Yeah, but again, you figure out, I'm introverted. So for me, in order to rest and recover, I have to have quiet time, I have to be by myself. I don't gain energy from going out to parties or going out to big events with lots of people. Some people extroverted people they do. They go out to parties and clubs and that gives them this energy to keep on going and they get refreshed from being around other people. And so knowing those different aspects of yourself again can be really helpful for figuring out how to maximize or optimize as best you possibly can your life to meet your goals. So that's where I start is knowing myself so you can figure out what you love, why you love it and and not try to fit your little round peg into a square hole.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Exactly, exactly. Stop trying to mimic or do the quote unquote best practices that everybody else does if they don't fit with your personality. You picking and choosing the things that actually will work for you to make your career sustainable and keep the joy in your writing.

Speaker 2: 6:17

Also, I think it's good to look and this is part of your personality and you can talk more about this but I think it's good to look at what worked before, Maybe even in a different area. So maybe it was at a job that wasn't novel writing, but it was at a job. How did you work best? You know, because some personalities work best under pressure and some don't, and all those kinds of things. Right.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Yes, absolutely. I think. Understanding not even just like a previous job, or even going back to your childhood right, like how did you perform in school? What helped you do better in a subject or not as well? Were you a good test taker or were you better at group projects In work? Did you prefer to be in your office with the door closed so that you could focus on your task, or did you like to wander around the halls and network with people? All of those elements can really impact what you're doing now and how you're doing, how you are creating the writing, how you are fostering that creativity so that you can be satisfied with your project and with your work and what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 7:33

Yeah, also, I think a good thing to look at like so those are the positives, but that's a good thing to look at too is what threw you off course in the past, like what absolutely pulled the rug out from under your feet, like what kinds of things you know just turned you from steady, little productive person that you were to, you know, crashing and burning. So it could be something unavoidable or maybe avoidable, but like a health issue. You know I'm in a health issue. Yes, if you had been eating and taking care of yourself and doing all the things right, it might not have crept up on you. But there are health issues that just absolutely take you by surprise and don't have much to do that.

Speaker 1: 8:18

And sometimes it's not even your own health issues. If somebody else you know your kids are sick or you're a caretaker for an aging parent or all these other things you know can impact your writing as well.

Speaker 2: 8:33

Yeah, we had two different, pretty serious health issues come up in our family this year, and neither were me, but both people very, very close to me and I was part of the you know caregiving team and especially in one situation. And and then the emotional toll it takes when somebody you really love is going something through something difficult. You know, I just did right for three months, yeah, basically I just could. I mean I did other things, I could keep myself going with you know tasks and business and the managerial things.

Speaker 2: 9:13

But it's very hard to be creative when you're going through that, to which I would say you're your boss in this world, in this writing world, I mean, unless maybe you're writing for a publication with deadlines or something like that. Most of us who are writing novels, we are basically our own day-to-day boss. I mean, even if you have a contract with a publisher, you can contact a publisher and say, hey, I need an extension because XYZ just happened and is kind of crazy. But give yourself some grace. When you're going through those kinds of things, it's very difficult to be creative. And if you want to stay in love with this job and you want to love it, you don't want to be a cruel taskmaster to yourself right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:04

So another thing that can throw people off course and I have done this, and I actually I know you've done this too is to overbook yourself.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Yeah, right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:17

Even stuff you like, even stuff that's fun. It's usually the stuff that you like and that's fun because you want to do it all. The problem is and maybe you can ultimately, but certainly not all at the same time yeah, because that takes the joy out of everything.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:35

So it's that learning to say no. I have a hard time even saying it. I'm like here, I'm like just say no, you know.

Speaker 1: 10:46

It's like it's tough, it is tough, it is tough and, like you said, especially when it all seems good a new opportunity. Some author wants to co-write a story with you, or there's a short story anthology, and couldn't you just write a quick 8,000 word short story for this anthology? Which is going to be fantastic for your career, because now you're going to be associated with all these other wonderful authors. But if you're in the middle of trying to finish your novel, which your readers have been begging you for, maybe that's not the best choice.

Speaker 2: 11:19

No, exactly Exactly. And that leads to the third one, which is taking on the wrong projects. Yeah, because you know we definitely have all done that and that is part of overbooking, in the sense that, well, overbooking, sometimes they are the right projects, it's just the wrong time. Yeah, you know it's wrong timing, but taking on the wrong project is always the wrong timing.

Speaker 2: 11:45

It's always the wrong timing and then you know it's like sometimes it sounds good, but that's where I'm sorry folks, I know you're. So I'm going to start saying CSI instead of Clarify, simplify, Implement. This is when CSI comes in and you need to get the forensics team out to examine the crime scene. Like, did I take on the wrong project here? Like, and how can I avoid doing that again in the future? Like, how do I finish that? So? But what do you do If you took on the wrong project and you're feeling kind of miserable because some of you are probably listening, going yes, you have just described what I did. I've overbooked myself, I've taken on some wrong projects. Now what do I do?

Speaker 1: 12:31

Yeah, well, and so now it's all about, you know, first off, finishing up those obligations, right? If you promise a story for an anthology, to use that example, right, then write the story and get it ready for the anthology, because they're kind of counting on you, right? Don't leave people hanging.

Speaker 2: 12:48

Hold your nose and get it done.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Yeah, exactly, you do have to finish up those obligations. If it is really an obligation, if it isn't something that you didn't commit to, maybe you can still say no, maybe you can back out. But if you've already committed, if you've already told them you're going to do something, you finish that up, because that's just part of being a professional and treating this job as a professional career. You kind of have to meet those obligations. So do that. But once you've finished up those obligations, make sure you take a look at again, go back to you know, understanding yourself, figure out why you're writing, what are you doing? What is your purpose? What drew you to this career? Clarify that. Going back to the system, clarify that so that you can choose the projects that will ultimately bring you joy, that will make move your career forward, that will satisfy your readers, that will, you know, achieve the goals that you've set for yourself. So make that new plan, simplify that down to a new plan. And sometimes that means changing your focus too. I mean that's that's certainly been true for me in the last year.

Speaker 1: 14:06

I've always said I wanted to be a six-figure author. I have never quite hit that six-figure goal for my fiction, but I realized I was putting too much pressure on that fiction as an income earner. It was taking the joy out of writing for me and out of that creativity. And instead I realized, while I want to continue writing and I will continue to write, this is a long-term career for me, a long-term goal. I'm never going to not write. But the income pressure I could move onto a different focus. So, rather than trying to make the fiction my six-figure earnings, focusing more on the author wheel, this podcast, on the newsletter and the other aspects of my professional personality, giving the income weight to that has changed my strategy. It's just a shift in priority. It's a shift in mindset, a shift in focus. I'm still doing all the same things I was otherwise doing. To be totally honest, I really haven't cut anything out.

Speaker 2: 15:15

You've just added some new projects.

Speaker 1: 15:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:21

I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 15:24

But I've changed my priorities and that has given me so much mental, emotional relief that now the creativity is actually flowing better, which is sort of interesting. Right, because I changed. You'd think it would be less because I changed my priority, but actually the creativity is flowing more. I'm having more fun with my fiction and I'm still I'm finding that joy again in all the things that I do. So it's just given me a different perspective on my career. So sometimes you do, you have to make a new plan, sometimes you have to change your focus, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you love to write, you're going to write. So find the joy so that you can continue to write in whatever way, shape or form that looks like for you.

Speaker 2: 16:12

Right. And then I'm going to bring up just one more point about. So say, you're in the middle of a long project and it wasn't the wrong project, it was the right project. But you've just been doing it for a very long time and starting to get a little dry. One thing you can try I did this is a palette cleanser. So I was right in the middle of the seven deadly sins and I'm getting a little dry. And you know, it's like they're a little bit more serious stories, a little grittier, and we were coming on COVID and life was serious and life was gritty and I just needed to do something different. And you know, and that's when I wrote To Die For the first mortician murder book and I had so much and it's funny I had so much fun writing that book. I would like laugh out loud at my own jokes. I was just like I am hysterical. I'm the funniest person.

Speaker 1: 17:13

I know so much fun. You know like that's bringing the joy back and falling back in love with the process.

Speaker 2: 17:20

Yeah, and then when I did go back to write the last few seven deadlies I really enjoyed writing those again. So it was just that palette cleanser and the mortician murders are doing really well. So you know, sometimes it's just, like you said, finding that joy, whatever that means for you.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:38

So that is it for this week's quick tips. So this week we talked about love, and falling in love with our writing is all sweetness and light and butterflies, and next week we're going to talk about disappointment, and it's unfortunately many forms.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:56

Until next time, don't worry about the disappointments. We're going to help you out with them. Just keep those stories rolling.