Writing is an adventure with a destination. To write freely and creatively a writer needs to have a clear mind, inner joy, and a path to travel.

Here are some steps to take you on your trip.

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Clear Your Mind

A mind full of outside pressures and worries about work, family, or deadlines will have trouble settling down and maintaining the focus needed to spill words across the page.

Prepare yourself

• Write down the tasks hanging over you and then put the list aside to tackle later.
• Set aside a time and place devoted only to your writing.
• Enter that place. Breathe deeply. Select a topic or focus or section of your work.
• Warm up by free writing about that focus for a few minutes or till you reach the end of the page.

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Find Inner Joy

If writing down stories and ideas does not give you inner joy, then finding the freedom to travel the writing path will always be elusive. Forced writing is painful. Something will always be more tempting. Writing well is hard work with many different steps and challenges to reach the end. It takes concentration and dedication. You can fail. You can give up.

But you can also succeed.

Analyze why you are writing and uncover what it is that has caused you to choose this way of communicating. Figure out what will motivate you to push on to that moment of joy when you arrive at the end of your trip.

Look Inside Yourself

• What is your goal for this piece of writing?
• What do you dream it will be like when you are done?
• What part of writing it makes you happy?
• What difference will this piece of writing make in your life? In the life of others?
• How will you feel if you don’t finish it?
• How will you feel when you do?

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Plan a Route

Total freedom seems like a writer’s ideal workspace. But writing is not like paint thrown on a canvas. Writing is a linear process – a journey from a beginning to an end. Once your mind is clear, review your pathway using one following

Set a course

• Make an outline.
• Create a mind map.
• Graph a character arc.
• Draw a series of pictures.
• Make a sticky-note story board.
• Write a short synopsis, blurb, or pitch

Celebrate Success

When you have reached the end. When you are satisfied. Take time to enjoy what you have accomplished.

Celebrate

• Lean back and relax.
• Share with friends.
• Walk a little taller.
• Do something fun.
• Plan your next writing trip.

What Writing Journey are You Planning?

In the next month, I will be planning my 2021 NaNoWri writing novel. The mind map above is the first step. What writing journey are you going to take next?