A Table for Two: You and Your Writing
I need to walk a fine line as a book coach. I want to support my clients, but I also have to hold them accountable. I offer flexible deadlines because I understand that, well, life can get in the way, but still… deadlines.
Deadlines help my clients, but how each writer meets those deadlines always fascinates me. One client told me an ingenious idea.
She moved her computer to her dining room table.
She’d had it tucked neatly into a cozy corner in her bedroom, a beautiful office nook ready for writing. And then she’d go about steadily ignoring it. Out of sight, and all that. When a moment came that she’d put her computer on the table and left it there, she’d hit on her solution. Every time she walked by her dining room, which was way more than walking by that nook in her bedroom, she’d be reminded of her commitment. Oh yes, I have to write more pages. So she made the time, sat down and completed her submission to me. Early!
Like all advice I pass on, this may not work for you. (Your dining room table may already be claimed by bills, art projects, junk piles, or, heaven forbid, dinner!) But if the dining room table itself isn’t the solution, then maybe the concept it: put your writing front and centre—literally—so metaphorically, it can be front and centre in your life.