Welcome to Monday Motivation – You can do it

I learned a lesson with this last series. I’m not a huge fan of the practical, nuts and bolts Monday Motivations. It feels like work to me, and so I’m going to pivot. 

Today, I’m still going to post on Instagram about tools to help you improve your concentration, which was supposed to be the topic of this podcast. But, from now on, we’re going back to the well, to the thing that fills up my bucket and I hope fills up yours: good old-fashioned short motivations. The entire point of How Writers Write is to be an expression of my heart in a way that inspires and empowers people to tell their story. And this is my heart, in audio form.

Today’s motivation is going to be simple. It’s the message I need to hear, as I stare down the barrel of running out of money to birth the dream that is How Writers Write and as I go into year four with a book that still feels as if I just started it. It’s the message that is sometimes so hard to believe.

It’s this… you and I can do it, regardless of what the “it” is. It might be to write a novel, a poem, or a screenplay. It might be to get going or to finish. You might be afraid. You might be untrained. Maybe you just started writing, or maybe you have been writing for decades. Maybe you got a degree in English from a top university. Or maybe you didn’t. 

It truly does not matter.

You can do it.

But there is one condition. The “it” must be the thing you’ve been called to do. I’m not sure who or what is calling you. Some people say God or the “universe.” He or she... I don’t. That answer is way above my pay grade, but I do know your “it” is special to you. It’s the gift you’ve been given to share with the world. Your “it” is not someone else’s. It doesn’t work if your “it” is what you think you should write. Your “it” isn’t around to make you famous. Or rich, or respected. 

Your “it” is your story. 

By virtue of it being your story, you can do it. You aren’t given an “it” you can’t do. It isn’t more complex than that.

Now, it might take years. It might take more work than you can imagine. It might cost you a lot. It might hurt, you might fail over and over and over. Again, I don’t understand why this is the way things break when it comes to creation, but creation is rarely clean. Creation is always messy. 

So the call is to do the “it” this week. Sometimes it’s the first step, sometimes it is the last step. The key is progress. Keep moving. Keep working. But, no matter what, believe in your “it,” and believe in your ability to do “it.” 

Thank you for listening. I hope you have a wonderful week of writing.

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