Getting Out Of My Own Way

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.”
 

― Ray Bradbury

I love learning about the writing process, and I spend as much time as possible working on my style and voice. However, I recently hit a place where I couldn’t push forward with my novel. So many new ideas and concepts where swimming in my brain that the pages I was attempting to write were suffering. Where once I could sit down and write with ease, it suddenly became a fierce struggle to place my ideas onto paper.

What was happening to me? I wondered.

I sent the new pages to my editor and he picked up on what was going on right away. “You wrote your first drafts on instinct, so don’t abandon that now,” he said.

Blink! A light went off above my head - if anyone was in the room with me at the time I’m sure they were blinded. My desire to not make a mistake was stalling my creative energy and distorting my words. The story wanted to come alive organically, and I needed to step aside and let it.  

Much like when Obi-Wan said, "Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke." I needed to keep calm and trust my training.