Someone recently asked me: “How do you balance learning about writing and applying what you’ve learned?”
I’m addressing this topic in a series of blog posts. You can read here about knowing you’ve learned enough, and about how to apply what you’ve learned here.
Today I’ll specifically be addressing what it looks like to use learning as a way to hide from your writing.
Do you find yourself constantly learning about writing, but you never seem to actually start writing? You might be using learning as a way to hide from writing your novel.
Does this sound familiar?
You’ve read all the books that teach you how to write a novel, listened to all the podcasts, and attended every summit and workshop you can find. You’ve packed your brain full to the brim with useful knowledge that you’re sure will help you write your book.
You tell yourself that you’re approaching this task of novel writing methodically, wisely even. And once you’ve learned what you need to know, then you’ll start to write.
I get it, and this line of thinking sounds like a sensible approach. After all, seeking out answers is how we equip ourselves to do something new. Plus it has the added benefit of making you feel like you’re making forward progress on your book.
But if it’s been months (or years) and you still haven’t begun writing…
If your book is still just an idea in your head…
You might be keeping yourself stuck in learning mode so that you can avoid writing.
This scenario is more common than you might think, and there’s a one word explanation for why writers do it: Safety.
When you’re learning, your novel can remain safely in your mind.
When it’s in your head it’s perfect; it has no plot holes, the characters are witty, and the prose sings. When your book is in your mind you don’t have to face any fears about your ability to write it. Those things are comforting, of course you want to stay in that place!
But once you start to put words down on paper you have to confront the reality that the story is not perfect, and in fact it needs a lot of work.
This can bring up many doubts, like what if I can’t figure out how to make the story work? What if I can’t make the words on the page match the vision in my head? What if I don’t have what it takes to be a writer after all?
Here’s the truth: trying something new, like writing a novel, is always going to be messy.
You aren’t going to be perfect at it. In fact you have to be willing to be terrible at it, and that’s going to feel uncomfortable.
If you’ve read stacks of writing craft books, and listened to hours of writing podcasts, it may seem reasonable to think all that learning is a shortcut to a finished novel. And if you hit a roadblock when you’re writing, you may think the problem is that you haven’t learned enough.
Because learning should make the process easier, right?
Actually… that’s not how it works.
You can watch a bunch of ice skating videos and still fall as soon as you enter the rink.
You can practice a new language with an app and still not be understood in a real-life conversation.
And you can read a stack of writing books and still struggle to write a novel.
The learning process is messy, and the only way through it is to accept that messiness and allow yourself to struggle, make mistakes, and slowly improve.
Writing happens in fits and starts, in adding and cutting words, and in circling around and discovering what you’re trying to say. It’s not linear, it’s iterative.
And that’s scary, because most of the time you have no idea if you’re on the right track.
But that is the process of writing a book.
There are no guarantees that your idea will work or that your execution will be up to snuff. It’s the risk you take as a writer.
The only guarantee is that if you wait until you feel ready to get started, you’ll never begin, and your book will never be written.
If you’re drowning in how-to knowledge, but you don’t have any words on the page to show for it, let me assure you: It’s time to jump in and start writing.
Let yourself try, write a bunch of crap, muck around and figure out what you’re trying to say. And most importantly, give yourself permission to enjoy the process!
Now, this phase of trying something new might feel uncomfortable, and that can cause doubts to creep in. If you’d like some mindset help as you travel this new road, grab my free resource below.