Trust the Process

Revelation. Flash of insight. Call it what you will, but sometimes the sky opens up, our brains expanding with it, and we find ourselves saying, “DUH!”

This recent one for me was about trusting the process.

I tell writers all the time that process is personal. That there is no right or wrong way to get words on the page. That it’s okay to try on different processes and decide what works for you…or doesn’t.

I talk all the time to my clients, writers, and workshop attendees about using mentor texts, reading writing blogs, attending conferences and webinars, basically, learning from the experiences of others. It’s not so much about standing on the shoulders of giants. As much as you can learn about how to do something well from seeing/understanding how someone else did it “right” (the term being incredibly subjective in relation to the art of writing), you can also learn a lot about what not to do from reading a bad (again, subjectively) book. It’s more about being open to and exposing yourself to opportunities to learn and engage in the writing craft on multiple levels.

That being said, I often have some pretty spectacular revelations when reading and/or talking with others about craft. A recent case in point: I was on a chat with some colleagues and found myself nodding along and paying particular attention to what was being said about resistance when it comes to our writing. And I realized I had the tools to stop resisting and struggling to finish my current (and long-time) work in progress.

I just needed to go back to trusting my own process.

What that often means for me is showing up to the page and just…writing.

Sometimes, I get wrapped up in the thinking part of my writing, and to be honest, my process changes with every new project. That said, having originally started from a place where most of my writing poured out in discovery, I was reminded that when I get stuck, sometimes I just need to write something and see where it takes me.

Keep trusting the process!

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