Saturday, September 26, 2015

Stealing Time to Write

After my book came out, I had a good number of people ask me if I had any advice on writing a book since they also wanted to. I was kind of stunned since I was either extremely focused or like spaghetti on a wall. What advice could I offer? 

So I gave advice Elizabeth Gilbert offered (which I found myself unconsciously doing already) -write your experiences and inspirations down when they come up. That could be on a scrap piece of paper, a napkin, an index card, anything. Then, when you have time, you can expand upon them or start to put them together. 

Many people also inquired with my schedule how I did it. I can tell you that as I write my second book I've realized that I steal time. 

When I find myself inspired to write -usually when I have a moment to myself - I open a new email on my iPhone and type with my right index finger my thoughts. I'm not skilled like my daughter and she kindly pokes fun at. Then I press send. That's all. 

The work begins when I take all those notes and piece them together. I'm not always able to carve out hours at a time to just sit and write. How many of us do?! It's those 5-10 minutes I can find that I build a new book. 

The only boundaries we have to creativity are the ones we impose upon ourselves. 
What are you inspired to create?