Description
In this episode, Leslie and Clark talk about the internal genre for your journey as a writer. As writers, we face resistance in different forms (we hit a snag in our project, life throws us a curve ball). These unexpected events are opportunities to become derailed or renew our commitment to our work. Leslie and Clark explore what you can do to stay on track.
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Show notes
“Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give and that no one else has but us. Resistance means business. When we fight it, we are in a war to the death.”
“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North—meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing. We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.
Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we feel toward pursuing it.”
Additional resources
Leslie attended The Story Grid Workshop last weekend. The tagline for Shawn Coyne’s book of the same name is What Good Editors Know, but the book, podcast, and blog cover more than editing. It’s about story: the one you're writing as well as the one you’re living. You’ll find lots of supportive resources here.
Steven Pressfield is the author of Gates of Fire, The War of Art, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Knowledge. He understands the daily struggle with resistance and urges us to Do the Work! You can find out more about him and his writing here.
Editorial Mission—What Do You Really Want?
Today we want you to explore what you really want for your life. This is a difficult exercise for many because they feel they don’t have real control over their lives. Maybe they’ve made too many commitments and compromises, and it is too late to change direction.
It is never too late! This is your life and you deserve to live the one you want. But you have to make some choices.
The first thing I want you to do is imagine that you are alone in the world. You have no commitments, no family, no friends, no bills, no job, no boss, in short nothing. What you have is a blank canvas and a fresh start to create your ideal life. What do you look like in that blank space? Take a look at what you want for your body, your mind, emotionally or spiritually.
What in your life is actually stopping you from doing that?
Commit to change or accept that this is the way it is. What do you need to make that change? Take one step every day in pursuit of that goal. No matter what.
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