Boundaries Abound

There are days when the muse just speaks. Shouts from the top of Mount Scott and makes its way past the artillery fire at Fort Sill all the way to my little house. From my office, I can feel the juices flowing. On those days, it’s easy to feel like my creativity is limitless. I’ll rewarm the same cup of coffee over and over because there’s just so much to type and there’s no time to drink!

But those days don’t always happen and when the muse is absent, or when my fingers are raw from the previous day’s lift and ALL I want to do is curl up with someone else’s words, I force myself to remember a few things.

One: Almost all creative work is crafted alongside limitations. There are always going to be reasons why I can’t, or I don’t have time, or the energy just isn’t there, or I’m sure that my work in progress is pure garbage.

Two: There’s too much pressure. Read – there’s too much competition and there’s no concrete way that my stories are going to stand out amidst the rest of the world’s greatest writers. Too much weighing on me to actually sit down and get to work on my newest manuscript. There are other deadlines to meet, chores to be done, trips to be planned, friends and family to talk to, and the list goes on and on.

Both of these are self-imposed limits, borders that I’m putting on my time and my creativity. Both are reasons that help fuel that voice that tells me to stop going, to forgo this plan of being a writer, to return to the world of work (in the conventional sense) and hang up my typing fingers. But at this point, I just can’t walk away. What I’ve learned to do is to create boundaries. A boundary can be anything – a time limit, a self-imposed deadline, a list of things that must be done every day. Boundaries help take the wide expanse of the creative world and make it less scary.

Earlier this month, I published my first novel. Truth is, I have little idea what I’m doing, how to actively promote it, how to reach my audience, and how to make it work. Couple that pressure with the fact that I’m pretty much going into this blind at limes leaves me feeling like I’m stuck. I lose myself daily in the labryth of information about publishing, book marketing, the do’s and don’ts of this new world. And in the midst of all that, it’s really easy to forget that this should be a joyous time. I just published my first novel! It’s a dream come true, something I’ve been working at for decades. So why do I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything? Because I haven’t set limits. I haven’t asked for help from those around me and I haven’t made clear deadlines. I’ve let the wide open world consume my passion and leave me breathless. I’ve forgotten that I’m here to create, to inspire, to tap out truths of this world as I see them.

So the last few weeks, I’ve started making daily lists of what absolutely needs to happen and divided the list into book promos and current work. Now I’m super clear on how much social media work I need to do every day as well as how many words I need to write on my work in progress to finish it by my own deadline. Seeing it all written out helps me focus, compartmentalize where I need to concentrate my efforts, and helps me feel like I’m not spread so thin. Writing a new novel while trying to promote the one that just published is tough, but I’m sure I’m not the first writer in the world to do it.

So the TL;DR is this:

Name your boundaries.

Be clear about your goals.

Negotiate with those around you.

Create deadlines.

How have you used deadlines to help your own creative work? Join the conversation here, on Twitter, or on Facebook.