Writing Advice from the Inside Out

I am a sucker for writing advice, especially at this time of year. Give me an article, a book or a stack of emails on how to improve my writing and I’ll settle in with cup of tea and highlighter.

I know there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a better writer and produce better work, but as I wrestle day after day with a massive and extended case of writers block, I am beginning to suspect that a big part of my problem lies in focusing exclusively on the advice that comes from outside sources instead of sitting down and listening to the quiet voice inside my heart.

My problem with all of that is, being a practical-both-feet-on-the-ground type of gal, those inner directions aren’t exactly presented as a bulleted list of do’s and don’ts  printed up in a slick magazine. They aren’t listed in importance from one to ten or annotated with expert quotations by multi-awarded Big Authors. They are amorphous. They are gossamer suggestions that softly flicker through my consciousness. I am free to ignore them as if they don’t exist because there’s no hard evidence that they do. The twist is though, on some level, I have heard their whispers and I know that they are the truth, the real truth about me and my work and about what I need to do in order to make my writing work FOR ME.

So, for this New Year, my wish for myself and for you, is that we spend less time listening to outside experts and more time intuiting, trusting, and pursuing our inner wisdom in whatever form that might take…wherever that might lead us.