Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower

Sometimes we go a few days or weeks without writing and feel disconnected and dissatisfied. Try not to despair. Your true creative self is always with if you know where to look.

Nothing we dream exists outside of us. Just like our stories, it starts within us and then we dream it forward onto the page and into the world.

You must be willing to tell the story you most want to tell in the way you most want to tell it. That is freedom. 

Writing is a great way to practice creating on purpose, rather than accidentally or by default. The blank page asks what we want, and only we can answer that.

You need to know your character’s motivation to really understand them and tell compelling stories. You also need to be clear about your own motivation when you sit down to write.

Starting this week, begin practicing how you think when you sit down to write. Practice caring about the story, not what other people think about the story. It’s as important as craft.

I'll be hosting a Fearless Writing retreat January 26 - 31 in Portland, OR. Space is limited! I'd love to see you there. Retreat: https://www.portlandretreathouse.com/fearless-writing-with-bill-kenower Bill's website: https://www.williamkenower.com/

We all have a personal aesthetic that’s unique to us. We can’t control it; we can only obey it. In this way, what we create is not dissimilar to the stuff we love that other people created. 

It can be hard to connect to why we publish aside from money and possibly acclaim. It’s important to remember that if you’re sharing something you love, you’re making the world just a little bit better. 

Writing has taught me, and continues to teach me, that the only thing real in life is love. You can’t manufacture it, you can only see it, find it, notice it, and then obey it. 

When we work with an editor, we will inevitably accept most of the changes they make to our story. It’s good preparation for sharing our work with readers, giving up our complete ownership as the reader makes the story their own. 

At some point, every artist must commit to their work before they have evidence of success. Let your love of the work be reason enough to make this commitment. 

Learning your craft is critical, but all the know-how in the world is useless without the right mindset. Unless we wait with an open heart and curious mind, we’ll never invite the ideas to which we will apply that craft. 

When you’re struggling, when you think you’re no good, when you feel like your story stinks – don’t try to fix anything. Do nothing until the feeling passes and you can make a better choice. 

The point of writing is never the outcome. An outcome is just an excuse to focus in a meaningful way, and when we do, we meet ourselves in a way we rarely do otherwise.

The only real certainty in writing and in life comes when we follow that guidance that tells us what story to write and how best to write it. If you don’t follow that, life will seem random, even though it isn’t.

Two helpful tips to get over our resistance to marketing: make it fun, and offer a conversation. It’s nearly impossible to do anything well that we don’t enjoy, and we don’t so much sell our books as invite readers to join a conversation.

When we write, we’re always seeking the effortless way forward. But we often meet resistance. The pain comes when we try to force our way through the resistance rather than find the better, more natural way. 

You’re an artist. You don’t have to stop being an artist just because you’re marketing your work. Keep being creative in everything you do. It’ll be more fun and more productive.

People deal with death and loss all the time. Yet writing requires us to tap into something eternal within ourselves, something undying that is always seeking expression.

It shouldn’t be hard to be yourself. What else could you possibly be? Yet writing, and the arts in general, have taught me like nothing else that being myself requires as much trust as anything I’ve ever done. 

Sometimes our stories don’t meet our readers expectations of what a story is supposed to be. That’s okay. Our job is always to meet our own expectation. It’s all we can do anyway. 

Whatever we think about other writers, we think about ourselves. Never call an author whose work you don’t enjoy “bad.” It’s only a matter of time before you look at your own stories and believe they stink and that you have no talent. 

Getting feedback from writing groups, beta readers, agents, and editors is just fine. But once the story or book is finished, it’s okay not to listen to criticism. It’s time to move on, and hopefully hear from the readers who liked what you’ve done.

Sometimes in life it can feel like our choices don’t matter. But writing teaches us that all our choices matter, the big ones and the small ones. Those decisions we make are the focus for our creative power.