In previous exercises, we’ve talked about adjusting our present course and altering our futures by making conscious choices today.

If your writing isn’t going the direction you’d like or as easefully as you’d like – which is why we’re here, right? – take some time today to redefine yourself and your story.

What has held you back from becoming the writer you imagine you can be?

  • The lack of your family’s support?
  • Your friends’ indifference?
  • A hectic job and home life that leave you little time to write?
  • Publishers and agents without the good sense to work with you?
  • Social media?
  • That television show that’s too good to miss?

You might see where we’re going with this.

For today, embrace what holds you back, take responsibility for it, and make peace with it.

What might that look like?

  • Ask if you really need your family’s encouragement to write.
  • Do you need accolades from your friends?
  • Who is responsible for setting boundaries on your time and commitments?
  • Is a publisher responsible for making your work fit their publication?
  • Whose hand is on the remote control?

This exercise isn’t intended as a punishment or an opportunity to judge yourself. It is a chance to accept that you are in control of your choices. When you realize and accept that you have that power, you can exercise it in any way you choose.

You can give yourself the encouragement and support you need for your writing. You can set boundaries that will allow you more time to create. You can turn off the tv and close your internet browser.

Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on your circumstances. Sometimes, life takes so much time to manage that we don’t have much left for ourselves or our writing. But keep this concept in the back of your mind and make conscious choices every day about how you spend your time.

If you can, start with a small creative goal – fifteen minutes a day or an hour a week. Give yourself the gift of consciously choosing your creative time and see how it feels.