Recently, several people have congratulated me on my “natural” writing. I thank them and try not to giggle. Why? Because I am not a “natural” writer. I have written and published enough that I found my writer's voice.
Instead of talent, I have persistence. I use that persistence in small, timeboxed chunks. That's part of the growth mindset.
Why? Because I don’t need a ton of time. I can take one thing, explore it, and see how far I can go in just 15 minutes. No writer's block, because it's just 15 minutes.
(Side note: I need a 14-minute block for fiction. I’m not sure where to go once I hit 14 minutes, so I need a break. How funny is that??)
Why 15 minutes? Several reasons:
- Because I can almost always find 15 minutes to write something. (If I can't, I use 10 minutes. Sometimes, I use 5 minutes.)
- That short time allows me to make progress on whatever writing project I have.
- The pressure is off. I made a little progress and I know I can write more later.
- With enough 15-minute chunks, I can finish something almost every week.
Like this secret? Want to use your growth mindset to improve your writing? Please join me in the Free Your Inner Writer Workshop.
This is part of an intermittent series of writing secrets.