Novelty As A Writing Tool: My Session Today

So, I am about to write today. And each time I write, I try to create a set of tools and rules that are meant to be guidelines for the session. Most of them only work temporarily, and may only last a day, but the point here is to revisit and re-design my tools for each session. Because every day is new, so the set of guidelines needs to have a degree of novelty (something new every day) to them.

Straying away from congruence

The trick to setting these rules if there is such a thing is that I tricked myself into making them. Because if I focus too much on the rules, I will be spending my day only writing the rules. If I don't do these rules or guidelines then often the outcome is the opposite, I start writing in constant fear of not having honored my guidelines, fearing to 'drop out' of writing mode. Further, when I give any session a quick thought beforehand, I've also marked a compass of congruence (harmony), so when I stray away from the pre-marked intention, I'll feel it, and I'll avoid breaking that self-promise because I imagine that I might feel bad if I stray away from it.

Because in the end, it's all about feeling good or feeling bad.

A conversation with my writing

Because in the end, it's all about feeling good or feeling bad. It's just that simple. So I use the fear of feeling bad in the future to keep myself on track (without it becoming a camouflaged self-loathing tool - that is not working so long that I find that I'm punishing myself). Of course, any rule/guideline before a writing session is a distraction device. I look left, and right like I'm distracting a child during a medical appointment. But the best thing about considering it's a writing session is that I am having a conversation with my writing.

Am I wasting my time?

It thrives and dives around a single question; Am I wasting my time? This 'wasting my time' question can be used in many creative ways, am I wasting my time with the content that I'm writing, am I wasting my time with writing in general, and am I wasting my time working on the guidelines? Fun, eh? Maybe, but in any case, I've chosen to write, and I am not fond of making it a Dickensian experience.

My tool today

Enough of that. My novelty guideline or tool for today, comes in the form of a question, I'm going to ask myself on regular basis throughout the session; how would writing today look like if it was fun? And the most important thing here is that I think about or imagine a reply to that question each time. By answering the question, I also interrupt the pattern of any possible internal procrastination attempts that often come with accumulating unconscious internal dialogue. By answering the question, I also interrupt the pattern I thinking that I'm going too slow or that I'll never finish.