Latest / The Daily Writer / Writing Habit #4: Write Anyway | DWC Member Spotlight: M. J. James

Transcript

Writing Habit #4: Write Anyway | DWC Member Spotlight: M. J. James · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Over the last few days, we've been talking about writing habits.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And today's tip is for all the perfectionists out there.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say that, I'm also talking to myself because yes, I am a recovering perfectionist.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So here's writing habit number four, and that is very, very simple.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's write anyway.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: We writers dream of riding in a beach cabana with the wind softly tussling our hair.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or we dream of having a quiet house with no distractions so we can bring our creative genius to life and summon the muse, and the words will come down from heaven, and we won't have to put that much work into it.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's those are the kind of things that we dream of as writers.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: We just want to channel all this creative energy and not have to deal with the craziness of everyday life.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that that kind of vision doesn't usually align with reality.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're irritable or we have interruptions or the weather is bad or we have stressors in our life or we have a hundred other issues.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that we've just got to get the work done anyway.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can't wait for the perfect situation to actually get your writing done.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is this is the thing that I just see so often where writers struggle because we have this dream of writing this book or building this business or whatever is important to us, but yet we have the reality of, hey, we have 24 hours a day.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: We've got all this things that we're already committed to, you know, family, maybe work or our jobs or doctor's appointments and paying the bills and mowing the lawn and all these things that are a part of our everyday lives.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we're like, okay, how do I actually get the writing done?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: The truth is that you write anyway.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: You write anyway in the midst of all the other stuff that you have going on.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You figure out little pockets to get it done, and everybody does it a little bit different.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: But that's why we're doing this whole series on writing habits, because the habit is what's going to help you plow through all of that daily stuff.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you have that habit established, you're going to be unstoppable.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have the habit, you're going to let the littlest of things stop you.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm not feeling great today, or I've got this thing that came up, or I'm feeling tired, or I've got to take the kids to a ballgame or whatever it is.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And all those things are important, but your writing is important too.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if if it's important enough to you, you're going to have a habit to help you get it done.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quote from one of my favorite authors, E.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: B.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: White, who was the author of Stuart Little and a lot of other kids' classics, as well as co-author of Strunk and White, who many of you will recognize as one of the most important little writing manuals out there.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, E.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: B.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: White said this.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: The members of my household never pay the slightest attention to my being a writing man.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: They make all the noise and fuss they want to.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: If I get sick of it, I have places I can go.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read that sentence again because it's really important.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: He said, A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to write will die without putting a word on paper.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to let that sink in for just a minute.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Think of the incredible gifts that somebody like E.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: B.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: White has given us with his words.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: If he didn't need perfect conditions to write, then you and I probably don't either.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is why God made headphones, right?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, imagine what uh what some of the great authors of the past, like uh E.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: B.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: White or Jane Austen or um Maya Angelou or Hemingway or Steinbeck or Edgar Allan Poe or Shakespeare.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine what they could have done if they just had uh if they had Spotify and a good set of AirPods.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my goodness, they could have blocked out lots of distraction.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But they didn't have those things.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you and I do.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: We have so many tools at our disposal to help block out the distractions.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, man, imagine if if uh Shakespeare would have had coffee shops to go to and get away from it all and to write his sonnets and his plays and all that stuff.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: You and I have lots and lots of options.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know we feel stressed today, but the truth is that we have a lot of options for blocking out these distractions and just plowing ahead and getting this writing done anyway.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you to grab your headphones or your airpods or whatever you want to listen to, crank up some focused music, and just keep on writing.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: The point of all this is we've got to write anyway because life ain't perfect.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's always gonna be distractions.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is that the work has to get done.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're waiting for conditions to be perfect, you're gonna be waiting quite a long time.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And as E.B.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: White said, you're gonna die without putting a word to paper.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And man, that's a harsh thought, but he's right.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So here's today's challenge.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: In the next 24 hours, whatever distractions come up, make sure to get your writing done anyway.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is an excerpt from our free ebook, How to Build a Writing Habit.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can get this for free along with six other ebooks on writing as part of our free Daily Writer Starter Kit.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just go to dailywriterlife.com/slash free.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, a big thanks to today's sponsor, Indie Author University, featuring the Book Marketing Mastery course.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you're tired of being disappointed by your book sales and you want to sell more books faster, easier, and with more fun than ever, sign up today.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Book Marketing Mastery is created by my friend and business coach Henry Corter, who has sold over four million books.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to stop taking book marketing advice from people who've never written or marketed a book.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Book Marketing Mastery is your opportunity to learn from a true master of self-publishing and book marketing.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: To sign up for Book Marketing Mastery, go to DailyWriterLife.comslash bookmarketing mastery and use the code DailyWriter, that's all one word, Daily Writer, to get 10% off.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the things that we try to do in the Daily Writer Club is help people get mastery.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: We try to help people improve not just in their writing habits, but also in their business, in their mindset, in their creative life, and their overall success.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought it would be really fun to do a series of short interviews featuring some of the members of our Daily Writer Club.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So today I am thrilled to introduce you to my good friend MJ James.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to do a short interview and you're going to learn about all the cool stuff she's doing.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But let me take a second to tell you about MJ.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: MJ James is the author of Rest and Renew, a 30-day journey to connect with God.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: She lives in Golden Isles, Georgia with her family.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you can find out more about how she helps people recover from and avoid burnout on her website, theburnedoutbusinessmom.com.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: That is the burnedoutbusinessmom.com.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, there will be a link in the show notes.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and check it out.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: She's doing some really, really cool stuff.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, her book is really, really good as well.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a link in the show notes for that as well.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, here's my conversation with the amazing MJ James.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: MJ, welcome to the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing this interview.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um let's start here.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Share a little bit about yourself and your writing.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks so much for having me.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate the opportunity.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um a little bit about myself.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I am MJ James, the burned out business mom.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh I homeschool full-time and I write full time, and I love it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: I just published a devotional last year and will be working on more devotionals in the future.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: I do a lot of nonfiction writing, um, but I am dabbling a little in fiction as I move forward.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what is that fiction gonna look like?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is that short stories or novels or uh parable type books?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I wrote a long, like a 40,000-word um fiction book years ago.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's literally been sitting and staring at me.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And my my 15-year-old encouraged me a couple months ago.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: She was like, You really should pick that back up and publish that.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't really know.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have time.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: So her challenge to me was for this summer for me to pick it back up and look at it.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was complete back then, so that's her challenge for me to pick it up this summer and look at it again and decide what I want to do, and by September, either publish or have a plan on specifically what I want to adjust to publish it.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that was her challenge, and I feel like I really have to rise to that.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: That that's really, really cool.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, do you have anything you can tell us about it?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Any story points?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a Christian fiction book.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just about somebody's journey kind of post divorce.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's a little bit um it's like I want it to be a lighthearted, speachy type of read.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: So nothing heavy, nothing, nothing too deep and depressing, but all all good vibes.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you share?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what would you share with people who are because you are the burned out business mom, you know, that's uh kind of your platform and and you help a lot of people with that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any tips for people right now who are feeling kind of burned out and they need to kind of get themselves together or they just need to maybe take that first step toward not feeling so burned out?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Anything you could offer them that would be something really practical that would be helpful?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think um figuring out ways to add deep self-care into your day.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be long.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: It can be just five minutes of taking a breath outside.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: It could be five minutes of sitting in the quiet listening to music that you really enjoy.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Really small baby steps to help cultivate moments throughout the day, right?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like one stop for five minutes is is gonna help a little bit for that time period.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're really in a situation where you're heading into burnout or you're in burnout, you need to learn how to maintain long-term effective ways to feel less burned out.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So five minutes every couple hours, taking that time to really cultivate a moment of self-care, a moment of rest, read a Bible verse, read something funny, um, change your scenery for a minute, go for a walk, do some jumping jacks, dance to a silly dance, anything that can take you out of your stressful responses and put your headspace in an area of a positive moment.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the more of those that you can cultivate over time with each day, it leads to better self-care overall.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's particularly helpful for those of us who are writers because we spend a lot of time kind of in the same space in front of our computers, you know, doing email or doing administrative stuff or editing or writing or, and it's kind of easy, like when you feel when you sort of feel bad or when you feel discouraged or depressed or burned out, the more that you're kind of in that mode, it's almost like it feeds on itself and the worse that it gets.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd love your advice on doing something different or going outside or doing some jumping jacks or or something to to do a change of scenery.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think that tip alone could make a big difference for people.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Something silly.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like last night I just went with my kids to the park and I sat on the swing for two minutes.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I'm 42, so I get nauseous sitting on the swing for too long.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So five minutes was more than enough time.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: But what a difference that makes to your mental health.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a good one.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't I don't want to boast, but in in junior high, I did a really mean moonwalk.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that was my when Michael Michael Jackson was really popular.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if I take a break and do moonwalking, does that count toward that?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it counts.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like at the upcoming Daily Writer retreat that we have, I'm gonna ask to see that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you can practice.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: It will, oh gosh.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've let the cat out of the bag.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: That will never be seen in any public forum ever.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I I could do it once, but you know, it's probably, you know, my hip, my hip or something like that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um any advice that you would give people who are thinking about writing or who are considering their first book and how they might get started?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Every day, every day.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Just pick a sentence, pick a word to start with, something to give you inspiration for that journey for whatever the topic it is you want to write about, and write every single day.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't have to be long, can be five minutes, can be 15 minutes.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard people who write 20 minutes a day for X amount of months and they end up with a whole book.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So just dive in with something simple.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Start, don't overthink it, and um move yourself along each and every day.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then join us in the Daily Writer because we'll teach you how to do it.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what this whole thing is about, anyway.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, where can people find out more about the burned out business mom and your writing and all the cool stuff that you're doing?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I have a website.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's called the burned outbusiness mom.com, and all my things are there.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, MJ, thanks so much for leading our writing sprints every week here in the Daily Writer Club and all the cool things you're doing to inspire and encourage people.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate you and appreciate you taking time to do this.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Kent.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I love the Daily Writer.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my writing wouldn't be the same without it.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, thank you.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed my conversation with MJ.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and check out her site at the burnedotbusinessmom.com and make sure and grab her book, Rest and Renew a 30 Day Journey to Connect with God.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's really good.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you're gonna love it.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.