Writing Intuition
I've set myself up for a difficult end of 2011 and opening three-quarters of 2012 with my quest to write a blog post here every day for 365 days. As I reach the middle of day seven of the challenge, I worry a bit that I won't be able to come up with enough things to say (or at least, enough interesting, worthwhile things to say). Despite this fear, I am going to trust my writing intuition to carry me the rest of the way.
I once struggled with this same issue when I created this blog at the end of 2008. I knew that in order to get people to come to the site, I would need to create content. Fortunately, I came up with an idea that ended up generating over 100 pages of content. This idea was to list out at least 10 writing prompts that readers could use to create their own stories. These were ideas for writing (on my blog) that could turn into endless blog posts or stories for other people. By posting these on the web for free, I was potentially generating a perpetual source of writing ideas for others.
It started with just a page or two but eventually I fully trusted my writing intuition and came up with ideas for over 70 different subjects. Eventually this led to two books worth of writing prompts with a big idea for a third right around the corner.
Too often we stop ourselves from writing because we don't like to trust our instincts. We think about an idea too much and we end up crippling ourselves from ever finishing it (or even starting it in the first place). Sometimes you simply need to let your inspiration take over and don't look back until it leaves you.
I have a friend who once described to me a fantastic sounding novel full of political intrigue and international drama. My heart dropped when he told me he'd been working on it for over a decade and that he planned on working on it for at least another decade. I realize that some authors spend a long time on their work but at some point you have to let your mind free and trust it to do what it was made to do. It's this trust, this intuition that will carry your book through to completion.
The more you trust yourself to do now, the sooner you will have a work to show off to your friends, family and readers. If they ask you how you did it, you can simply say, "writing intuition."
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Written by Bryan Cohen
Bryan Cohen is the author of more than 30 books, many of which focus on creative writing and blasting through that pesky writer's block. His books have sold more than 20,000 copies. You can find him on Google+ and Facebook.
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