“Don’t throw it all away, our love, our love.
Don’t throw it all away, our love.” ~ The Bee Gees
The wonderful thing about good advice is that it’s usually applicable to more than one thing. Yesterday I was reading a great post called 23 Tips from Famous Writers for New and Aspiring Authors.
One tip in particular stood out for me. This one:
“Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.” ~ Anne Enright
I thought about a particular manuscript languishing in my bottom draw. You know, it’s a rotten feeling having written an entire book, only to stuff it in a bottom draw because it just doesn’t work for you. There’s two years of my life in that drawer but I’ve never been able to work out how to fix it.
So I applied Anne Enright’s advice. What is wrong with this book? What’s annoying me so much?
It’s the ending. I can’t stand the ending and the neat way I tie everything up. Life isn’t like that. Life has ragged edges.
Thanks Anne! I now have a project for November, (NaNoWRiMo) my writing month.
Anne’s advice was so useful that I decided to apply it to some non-writing situations; just a little experiment to see what might happen.
You know what? It works. Her technique helped me spend a lazy Sunday afternoon in bed work-shopping my business, a renovation project and a troublesome relationship.
Have you reached a standstill with something in your own life? Are you stuck and don’t know what to do next?
Ask yourself what’s bothering you about it. Even an “I don’t know how to…” shows you your next move.
Sometimes we don’t even need to fix it ourselves. We can ask for help, or get an expert to do it for us.
Wishing you a week full of revelations, insights and progress!
Much love to you, ♥ Nicole xoxo
