Channeling Writer Zen

If any of you have met Dorchester author Marjorie Liu, you know she's a very zen like person. I would love to have the focus and serenity that she exudes on a daily basis. So when she explained her secret to writing a book in a month, I paid attention. I hope she doesn't mind, but I'm posting her secret here:

1. I sit down at the computer.
2. I let go. I give my mind permission to do its thing.
3. I don't get up from the computer until a) I really have to go to the bathroom, b) the dog really has to go to the bathroom, c) I have to eat or else my stomach will eat itself, and d) it's time to sleep.

Simplistic but smart, right? So I decided to try it today. I wasn't in the mood to write. I wanted to do anything BUT write. I even had the urge to clean my apartment - which shows you how much I just did not want to write. But I had to do 3,000 words today to get back on schedule with The Book that Will Not End. So what the heck? I decided to try it.

I took a shower first, and thought of what I was going to write. I formulated the scene in my mind. Then I sat down at the computer. I let all of the week's stresses go. I didn't reread earlier parts of the manuscript. I started at an empty page. And then I didn't get up from the computer til I wrote my 3,000 words.

I was tempted. I wanted to go do other things. Nap, clean, watch movies, go jogging. But I didn't. Because I had to write my book. And I gave myself permission to do that. To let everything else go and just disolve my conciousness into this imaginary world I am creating.

And it really worked. I wrote my 3,000 words. And now I can go out tonight without feeling guilty. Without feeling all behind in my work. Without worrying whether I will finish my book on time.

Thanks Marjorie!

Marianne