Mindset

Writing stories is hard. It’s a really complex task that requires you to imagine whole worlds, characters, and sequences of events from nothing. It requires a lot of words, a lot of revision, keeping a lot of information in your head simultaneously.

It’s no weakness to struggle writing consistently or finishing stories. But it’s absolutely vital that you do. In the end, your body of work only consists of the things you finished. And if you want to make this your career (or earn some income from it), you need to consistently finish stories as well.

This chapter, therefore, provides a few tips and ideas about how to cultivate the right mindset and consistently produce stories.

It’s risky, right?

Writing, like most creative endeavors, is often called too risky and too hard. This external pressure, added to internal doubt, is often what causes writers to hesitate and never finish their stories.

The truth? Yes and no.

Yes, it’s risky. Creative fields require more luck and perseverance. Even if you do succeed, payout can be low.

No, it’s not that risky. Of the people who regularly finish books, most actually get published and earn a living from it.

That’s the gatekeeper, if you will. Consistently finish stories. The difference between amateur writers and professional writers.

If you finish your work, you’re already far ahead of most. (Just in the Netherlands, a poll showed that one million people—about 7% of the population—dreamed of writing books. Guess what? We only have a couple of hundred published authors, and that’s being generous.)

If you consistently create stories, you …

• Get better and better over time
• Remove the self-doubt, as you prove to yourself you can do it. (Finishing your first complete novel is the tallest mountain to climb. After that, you’ve proven to yourself that it’s possible, and have an easier time.)
• Have more and more work to present to the world, increasing your chances of being found, published and/or bought.

This fact alone should be a big motivator. If you just put in the work, your chances increase and increase with every story. Even if your first 10 books do not sell, they were necessary to give you the experience to write that next bestseller.

Most importantly, however, I’d recommend decoupling productivity from success altogether.

The best mindset (for creative people)

It’s a very bad idea to couple your mentality or self-worth to something you do not control. You can’t control whether your books sell. You can’t control whether a publisher decides to publish you. You can’t control how people perceive or review your book.

What you can control, is your own enjoyment while writing the stories.

Define success as loving the PROCESS of writing.

Yes, quality matters, so does earning an income if you want this to be your career. (Though most creatives have backup plans or jobs on the side. I do too.)

But it should not be your definition of “success”. If you define success as “earning money from my books”, you either never reach it, or you’ll hate all the years leading up to it. All the time you’re not earning money, you feel like you’re not being productive, like you’re a failure. While writing that next book, during that whole process, you’re never satisfied or enjoying it.

That’s no way to live. That’s not the right approach.

Instead, cultivate a mindset that enjoys the work, not the end result.

A mindset that enjoys just writing stories, regardless of quality or speed. If you can do that, you’ll actually keep writing stories (at a consistent pace). And, if you trust the process, this will naturally lead to increases in quality or earning.

When you’re just starting out, or young, this might seem weird or unnecessary advice. When you’re full of hope, dreams, and energy—who needs a good mindset!?

But this advice comes from experienced writers. This advice comes from me, after trying to create many creative projects, and hating my life because I had the wrong definition of success.

Being a writer is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. The only way to consistently finish stories, is to love the process of doing that, not the end result (and whatever comes next).

Great and all, but HOW do I achieve this? That depends on what’s holding you back at the moment. But it’s mostly about removing the unhelpful thoughts.

Thoughts like “I’m a rubbish writer, this story isn’t any good”—that’s about the end result, isn’t it? So it goes away!

Thoughts like “I really don’t feel like writing, but I have to finish this story and hope it earns money”—that’s about the end result, isn’t it? Delete it from your mind!

Whenever you’re in doubt (or hit “writer’s block”), simply stop all those thoughts and write the next crazy thing that pops into your head. Because you’re enjoying the process of writing a story, instead of enjoying the prospect of having finished a good story. And if you do that, blocks and gaps in motivation do not exist.