All of Life Is the Writing Life
We still need to sit down and do actual writing, string together the words and sentences and paragraphs, but all of life is the writing life.
During the 7:15 a.m. SDW Co-Writing Session this morning, the participants and I had a wonderful conversation about all kinds of things, including how all of life is the writing life. (So much can happen in those 15-minute writing life discussions at the end of our sessions! Participants aren’t always in the mood to chat much, but sometimes they are! Either way, I love how these SDW Co-Writing Sessions help me feel less alone in the writing life. Y’all are the best.)
You can read more of my thoughts on how all of life is the writing life here and here. And there will be a whole chapter in the Spiritual Direction for Writers book.
And if you ever attend a SDW Co-Writing Session or a SDW Four-Hour Retreat or do One-on-One Spiritual Direction with me, you may hear me tell you this directly when I sense that you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to produce too many things.
Also. Shoutout to the 9 a.m. SDW Co-Writing participants. We had our own lovely conversation about other writerly things, and someone got something done they needed and wanted to do and said showing up to be with us helped them do it.
So, it’s not bad to be productive. If we never write, we aren’t writers because writers write.
More than one thing can be true at the same time.
Maybe you have an unhealthy relationship with productivity. That’s okay. Most of us do. Move toward developing a healthier relationship with productivity (and with rest and play and celebration) and see what happens next.
Also. Related: I’m staying at this hotel another night because I’m getting so much done. And I’m resting well, too!
Hang in there. And think about what it might mean for you to believe that all of life is the writing life. How can that idea move you towards freedom and away from oppression?