Creative Writing Wizard

There is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle;
it’s just a matter of finding it.

Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Do you have a hard time finishing projects? You’re great at starting a new creative effort, but finding it tricky to follow it through to completion?

Allow me to share a bit of self-reflection and what I’ve learned on the subject in hopes that it might help you as you go out into your creative efforts.

Over the last few decades, I’ve dabbled in many different creative projects. I know how to start projects but I always seemed to struggle with how to follow through and finish them. It has only been recently that I’ve found ways to not only start a project, but stick with it to the end and complete a given creative project (as can be seen by the children’s book I illustrated, or the short story I got published).

Pick a Lane

The first thing that I learned is that when I try to do it all, I usually end up finishing none of it. Not only do I want to work on my WIP Fantasy novel, but I also want to illustrate another children’s book, while at the same time I also want to record a music album (to name a few). I want to do it all, but there’s only so much time in a day (especially as a working parent of young kids).

There may come a day when I can spend my whole day working on several creative projects. For now, if I want to finish projects, I need to focus my energy on a single project (or a select few). This decision alone has helped me immensely. It might sound simplistic, and maybe it is, but by making the active decision to focus on a single project has increased the chances that I’ll finish it by a significant margin.

Something that has helped me to pick a project is understanding my why. Once I have an understanding of my why, I then list out all the projects I want to work on and how much time or effort they’ll take. I ponder on this list and prioritize them based on several areas, like aligning with my why, to then choose what my primary project is.

Stick With It

The second thing that has helped me is to not get distracted by shiny new projects. There are times that new ideas continually pop into my head one after another, and I can easily get distracted by something ‘new’. I love new projects! The planning and research, the dreaming of what it could be as I look forward, etc.

One of the best tricks I’ve learned to help with this is to take these ideas and write them down. I used to dismiss them, but this always left me feeling a bit lame about it. I already have my primary project, so I place this new idea into a list. I might spend a few moments to add a bit of details around what the idea is or why it excites me, but I have to force myself to not get too deep into the idea that I hop projects. Prioritizing my list of ideas can also be a way to give me something to look forward to after I’ve finished my current project, which also helps motivate me to finish.

Go With the Flow

The third thing I learned is to try and work with the ebb and flow of life. There are some things I can control, and I need to accept that there are some things I can’t. If you haven’t heard the Serenity Prayer, it can be a good mentality to think about.

Let me have the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Life can be chill and life can be chaotic. As a working parent of two little ones, life does seem to tend more to the latter at this stage and season of life. I can’t really change that, but there are strategies that I can put in place that help me to make progress in my creative efforts. While at the same time, adopting a “go with the flow” mentality also helps me to not get frustrated when I’m not able to work on my projects for one reason or another. (If you’re a creative and a parent and would like me to write about some of the strategies I’ve found helpful for parents, let me know in the comments!)

If I have picked my lane, and I’ve committed to sticking with it, I hold fast to this as life happens. If I can hold on to it, I’ll find moments along the way and be brought back to working on it. The hard part is accepting that there a times when I’m not able to work on my creative project or my plans don’t go quite as I have planned.

Conclusion

I don’t have it all figured out and I still have moments where I fall into the old patterns of doing too much and burning out. I have, however, found ways to minimize creative burnout, and discovered ways to aim for a more balanced approach to creative efforts.

I will also say that a lot of what I’ve said came through a lot of trial and error (with a good helping of failures). But just like Captain Picard, I believe that every challenge has a solution. I may not know all the answers at this moment, but I push forward in the hopes that I will find my way!

I hope this helps you in some form or another. Maybe just knowing that there are other people out there like you who are working through similar things will give you a sense of hope.

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