Psyching Yourself Out

Tip of the Day: Leila Austin at YA Highway gives us 33 things to do when you are feeling a bit angry with your novel.

I've been taking Vinyasa Yoga classes, and I find a lot of the lessons very applicable to writing. For example, I can't balance. Any pose that requires me to lift one leg, I shake like a blender and topple over. As soon as I know it's time to balance on one leg, I think, "Ugh, this is going to be hard."

And my instructor tells the class: You can't go into a pose thinking this is going to be hard. Maybe it won't be, maybe it will be. The point is to live in the moment, not worry about the next moment. Maybe the pose will be easier today, or maybe it will be harder than ever before. But you have to experience it, not label it.

I try to think of this before I start writing. I want to say, ugh, the chapter I have to write today is going to be so hard! And querying is hard, and writing a synopsis is hard. After all, I'm not wrong. I know I can't balance on one leg and I know querying is tough on my psyche. But I'm not doing myself any favors by telling myself how hard it's going to be before I start. I just have to go through the experience, taking time to curl up in a fetal position when needed.

So when I think, like today, "I don't want to write today, this scene is going to be hard," I try to counter with "Why don't you try it and see if it's as hard as you thought? Maybe the universe has something else in mind."

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages