Transcript for Your Creativity Spark: Fierceness of Your Intent: The Writer’s Oath
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WELCOME TO THE PODCAST
Hey everyone. Welcome back to How to Write the Future podcast.
The focus of this podcast and the focus of my work is to support writers to create positive optimistic stories because when we vision what is possible we help make it so. And part of that visioning is learning the tools of today that help us become better writers for tomorrow.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of How To Write the Future podcast. Beth Barany here. Your host, today I'm going to do something new. I want to talk to you about the Writer's Oath.
Many years ago when I was just starting my business as a writing teacher and coach. I wrote a series of articles that then became an ebook called "Overcome Writer's Block."
And in that book, I wrote 10 articles that became 10 writers sparks. In fact, the book is called Overcome Writer's Block: 10 Writing Sparks to Ignite Your Creativity.
And over the years I keep coming back to the different sparks I wrote.
FIERCENESS OF INTENT
So today I'm going to share one of them with you. It's actually Spark Number Four. I call it "Fierceness of Intent."
I'm going to read it to you and then I'm going to talk about it a little bit and see what is ready to emerge.
I start this spark with a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "The sky is filled by stars invisible by day." That's the quote.
How fierce is your intent?
When you want something badly enough, you can have it provided you are willing to do what it takes.
What does it take?
It takes time and focus, desire, and a dream.
Specifically for writing and all art, it takes sacrifice.
Because specifically, sacrificing inaction and excuses. This is the reality.
To live your dream liberate yourself from the burden of excuses.
How? How do you bring something into being, if you don't know how?
This is the all-important question.
Though, often we start with: I don't know how to do X and leave it at that.
At that point, shift your thinking and ask,"Well then, how do I do X?"
I've written a whole article on this called, "How is the question? The key to action."
This does apply to writing. So bear with me, and yes, of course, this does apply to life too.
Because we write within the context of our lives of living our lives, not outside of. Art and life are intertwined.
The how I'm talking about is the inner steps that you can take to make space in your mind and in your life for writing.
I can talk your ear off about the how and why of plot, characterization, structure, voice, et cetera, but in the end, what really matters is the inner you. Not all that technique.
Don't get me wrong. All that technique is what shapes good writing, good storytelling. What I'm trying to get at here is that to become a good writer. Because if you're writing even a few lines a day, you're a writer. We need to cultivate our intent.
How?
By showing up for your writing daily.
Here's a writer oath to help you do that.
I wrote this one for myself and carry it around with me in my journal. And here's the Writers Oath:
I will show up.
I will write.
I will let myself shine.
I will honor the story and allow the words to serve the story.
I write in the present. Because writing happens now.
We reinforce our intent by our actions. Showing up for ourselves reinforces our commitment. By a very actions, we are stronger.
It is not for us to critique our art at this point. That time will come later.
We nurture our creative inner life by doing our art and we affirm our creative soul.
We are artists.
Congratulations for showing up for yourself today.
And there you go.
That is Spark Four "Fierceness of Intent: The Writer's Oath."
And again, this is part of my ebook Overcome Writer's Block: 10 Writing Sparks to Ignite Your Creativity. Buy links are available in the resource section.
So in the time remaining for today's podcast, I wanted to just reflect a little bit on what I just shared with you.
I wrote this piece back in 2007.
I was in the first year of my business as a writing teacher and coach.
And I was working on my third novel, which became the first novel I published.
And I had already been writing for almost a decade. And so fast forward from 2007 to now, 2023, where I have three series published-- 13 books in fiction, working on my 14th novel, that will be published. I've 16 novels I've written, several of which we'll never see the light of day.
I share all that with you to say that Writer's Oath still stands. I still remind myself that the writing happens in the present. I still remind myself to honor the story and allow the words to serve the story. Meaning, I don't get too caught up in perfection around the words in the first draft. I take care of that later.
I would add something to the Writer's Oath now and that is more about emotion.
To allow all of my emotional self to show up.
I talk about showing up in the writer's oath and I would say bringing my whole self to the story, including all of my emotional ups and downs. That is when truth comes through in our stories.
I'm currently in the middle of finishing a first draft, and I'm confronted every day when I sit down to write on the book with the tug of war between what I think the story needs to be versus what the story actually is wanting to be. And part of what is wanting to be is emotional.
The Way of the Future for An Artist
And that is the work of an artist -- to bring their whole self, their emotional self, not just the intellect, but the emotions, the body, into the work.
So I encourage you to get in touch with your emotional self and bring that to whatever your characters are experiencing in your story or whatever they're doing.
I think the way of the future for artists is going to look a lot like the past in that we're still being asked to bring our whole self to our work.
And I think now more than ever, we really need to bring our humanity to our work, which includes the truth of our emotions.
Science is showing that we need art to be well.
This is something artists have known for millennia.
And now I am looking into the future where there is a time where all children and all adults are given full permission to have their artistic creative selves be fully apart of everyday.
It's actually not healthy for us to not have art in our lives.
So, what can you do today to bring your heart into your work?
So I'm going to leave it at that today. I encourage you to show up for yourself.
And I'd love to hear what that process is like for you.
All right, everyone, write long and prosper.
***
Thank you so much, everyone for listening to my podcast. Your interest and feedback is so inspiring to me and helps me know that I'm helping you in some small way.
So write long and prosper.
Are you stuck and overwhelmed by world building?
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