I have a friend who had traditionally published several romantic-suspense novels, but in 2006, a different kind of book called to her. It was unlike anything she’d ever written.
With fear and excitement, she gave her proposal to her literary agent for feedback.
Her agent hated it. So, did her closest friends.
Still, this woman felt so strongly about this thriller she parted ways with her agent and ignored the other naysayers. Good thing, too. Her new agent sold that novel for six figures. It was her first book to hit the New York Times best sellers’ list and has become a very successful series.
This author’s experience serves as an important lesson for all writers…
Trust your intuition.
We All Need a Jiminy Cricket
In the Disney classic, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket acts as the puppet boy’s conscience and good friend. He’s clever, kind, caring and brave. He will do anything for his friend, even if it’s life-threatening.
Each of us has a still, small voice like that. Whether you call it gut instinct, your muse or God, it’s an inner knowing to guide you in all areas of your life.
If you let it.
The same holds true for writers.
Writing is full of uncertainty. The process requires faith since you’re creating something from nothing.
Many of you email me questions, like:
Should I write this genre or that?
Should I try a screenplay or a novel?
How do I fix my plot problems?
I offer suggestions, but cannot answer those type of questions.
Only you can. You have everything you need to make those decisions.
Just like writing is a habit that takes practice, so is listening to and trusting your intuition.
Feel it in Your Gut
1. Stop and listen – It’s hard enough to slow down to eat these days, much less check in with your intuition. Especially since your gut instinct doesn’t usually holler out the answer to your writing dilemmas (or anything else, for that matter).
A writer’s intuition is quiet. Subtle. You have to listen for solutions without any words.
Different methods of developing your intuition work for different people:
* Sit still and close your eyes. You don’t have to pretzel your body like a yogi, just sit somewhere comfortable for 5 – 15 minutes. Hold a particular writing question in your head, then relax. Don’t force solutions. Your thoughts may run frantic through your mind. Don’t try to control it (you can’t), just redirect your thoughts back to your writing question. Watch it like a movie. Let it be.
* Journal three pages everyday. I learned this process years ago through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s called Morning Pages and I do them first thing everyday about all areas of my life for about 15 minutes. Ask yourself questions, then sit back and marvel at the responses.
If mornings don’t work for you, try them at night or during you lunch break, but try them. They work.
* Walking. Drain your brain by taking a stroll for 5 – 15 minutes. Outside is best. Move at whatever pace suits you — stroll, walk or go faster. Walking connects both the left and right sides of the brain. Many experts believe this helps with creativity and problem solving. Seriously, Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau and Ernest Hemingway practiced this method. If it was good enough for them, then it should be good enough for you.
I’ve done all three methods, although sitting still is hardest for me because I’m a high-energy kinda gal. Journaling or walking at least help me feel like I’m doing something.
Whichever way you choose, be patient. You probably won’t find your answer on your first try, or second. Don’t be surprised if it takes weeks, or even months to find your answers. This process requires patience, which I don’t naturally possess, but it’s who I am.
2. Watch for physical responses – Once you feel an answer emerging, don’t be surprised if you get sweaty palms, butterflies in your stomach or feel unsteady. These can all be literal signs from your body saying, YES! you’re on the right track. You may feel excited to follow your intuition right away, or scared to death because you’re too far from your comfort zone. You could never accomplish such a feat.
You can. It takes small, but consistent steps. So, go ahead, write, edit, query, publish. Whatever your intuition says to do next.
Practice Makes Progress
Believe me, I plan to check my gut a lot this year to help me (finally!) decide the best option for publishing my novel, Pennies from Burger Heaven.
Why didn’t I do this sooner?
I guess I was in too much emotional pain about losing my literary agent to consider trying it. I got amnesia. I needed time and space to heal to even remember I had an intuition. I’m now ready for my answer…whatever it may be.
Do you need to do anything different to trust your intuition more?
Please leave a comment. I’d love to chat.
Pick up your FREE copy today of the mystery, The Moon Rises at Dawn (SkipJack Publishing). Read, enjoy, repeat.
I like this. I especially like the idea of morning pages, and walking. I’m also very difficult to pin down for 5-15 minutes of stillness. When it stops being quite so cold (Minnesota) here, I’ll do the walking thing, which I do anyway. But in the meantime, I’m going to try this morning pages thing.
DO try, Morning Pages, Jennifer. I’ve been doing them for 18 years now and they are my salvation! I went back into the post and made the Morning Pages link live to Julia Cameron’s brief explanation of them, but here it is: http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/
I write in a big, fat 5-subject notebook, like I used in high school. I don’t use a pretty, little journal, because I would feel obligated to write lofty thoughts. I whine, groan and gripe….then I start finding answers.
For me, my first page to page-and-a-half are just whining. This hurt my feelings, I don’t know what to do about teens, will I ever find another agent? Blah, blah, blah.
If I have question I want answered, I actually write on a post-it and stick it onto what will be page two of my Morning Pages. That way, I remember to stop whining and to start looking for solutions.
Try it and let me know how it works for you!
So far this has been great. Because a pen is in my hand, instead of typing on a keyboard, it’s like a different thing. Ideas have come to me almost every morning. Wow. So I have been focusing on things I’m grateful for, and it gets me in a positive state of mind, and then things about my WIP’s culture, history, people, etc. It’s awesome!!!
FANTASTIC, Jennifer! I’m so glad this has clicked for you.
I feel so much more connected to myself when I write by hand (like Morning Pages, freewriting scenes with my fiction, brainstorming solutions to plotting problems. However, I have an author friend that does all of the above on her keyboard. The typing connects things for her that writing by hand simply does not.
Everyone is different and there is no ONE solution. However, the key is to keep trying until you find what works for you.
I live more in the North as well, but I was under the impression that Minnesota was always cold. Or is it just that you are used to the chilly days?
Well, in April it warms up – you know, we have summer and all. ??? But now it’s been below zero. I like to wait until it’s about 50 degrees for walking outside. 😀
I don’t even like going outside when it is 50 degrees…goodness! Well enjoy your cold walks when it warms up.
Hey Marcy
After spending two harrowing hours on Tuesday marinated in self-doubt and bathed in tears, I took my second shower of the day and spent one hour just sitting on my bed, watching my pup calmly destroy another one of my favorite teddies!
I turned my head away and let couple more sorrowful streaks kiss my cheeks…and then I just let my mind wander. I wasn’t seeking any answers. I just wanted a break from my misery. I just wanted to pause my overthinking for a few minutes.
As my mind meandered in weird directions, I suddenly felt a whisper in my heart that said, “You should pen a book about your experience with Oreo (my pup)”.
I sat up straight, my heart now pounding, and looked – really looked – at my adorable darling. It felt right.
LOL – a similar thing happened when I was trying to clean my LinkedIn profile yesterday and found – to my dismay – that I could think of any achievements in the last three decades of my life, unless you count an eating disorder (which – I don’t think – will look good on a resume!). Suddenly, I felt mad at myself for putting off the creation of my new website…I was filled with a sudden surge of energy and I swear I could hear my instincts ‘ping’ :P. I hope to hold on to that feeling so I can make this long-held dream a reality.
Anyway, thank you for another reminder that I need to trust my (ever burgeoning) gut 😉
LOVE YOU
Kitto
Thanks for this yet again wonderful post Marcy 🙂 I was being over come with a problem in my book and was so frustrated… then I found your post.
You go Girl! Thanks for these suggestions I will defiantly try them to find the answer to my problem with my Novel. Happy writing!
Hi Miriam!
I’m so glad my post was helpful. Try all three: sitting still, walking and journaling to find what works best for you. Don’t be afraid to switch it up and go to one of your less favs.
In 2015, I need to work more on SITTING STILL! My dad used to say I had two speeds: ON and OFF.
Good luck because that answer IS inside you.
This is another great post, Marcy. I have been making a conscious effort to trust my intuition lately, and things have steadily been improving. With trust in oneself and positive thinking, I’m sure that any of us could achieve what it is we’re trying to accomplish. Thanks again for the uplifting message!
That’s so interesting you’ve already been intentionally doing this, Adan. Great minds think alike!
But, the BEST part is? By trusting your intuition more and you, “things” have steadily improving. LOVE IT!
Thanks and keep goin!
This is a timely article.
Somewhere along the way we have been conditioned not to trust ourselves. We seek everyone’s advice about everything. If they are favorable of our endeavor, we proceed with great enthusiasm. But if they show the slightest hint of disagreement or disinterest, we are inclined to back up and not pursue our course. We were created with an intuition and for me, that’s God directing me along the way. Yes, like many people, I fell off course. With your article along with an insightful conversation I had earlier, I have been rejuvenated to begin again.
Thank you for the message and I’m looking forward to be free of the fear monster.
Wow, Shon, thanks for your heartfelt response. I’m so glad my blog post resonated with you.
I agree! It seems the older we get, the more mistakes we make, so by the time we grow up, we don’t trust our instincts anymore.
We all fall of course, but that’s life. I sure did about my whole losing an agent thing.
But, the key is to keep trying, then suddenly you remember your intuition and feel hopeful to try, try again.
Great advice, as always Marcy!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Jennifer!
Everybody has their own way of doing things. I have three dogs, one cat, three chickens, four acres to tend to, and a wife who has Alzheimer’s. But the good thing about all that, as far as my writing goes anyway, is that everybody, with the exception of the four acres, goes to sleep at sundown. During the day my subconscious seems to attack any problems I might have run into during my writing time the night before, and often has come up with solutions. So by sundown I am so eager to start writing again I need no further motivation. My muse stirs itself, and I write until anywhere from midnight to 2 a.m. It is a blessed quiet time with no disruptions, save for the cat, who occasionally jumps up on my lap, presumably to watch for typos.
Gosh, Dave. You have A LOT going on, but whatever you’re doing to solve all your writing problems, KEEP DOING IT. It’s working.
I feel the same way about my 5 – 7 am writing time. The world is still asleep, so it’s quiet and it’s just me and my writing (no lap-jumping cat to watch for typos.
Wow Dave. I certainly couldn’t do all of that without majorly crashing and burning. I certainly have less on my plate, but I have troubles getting in my writing times.
Helaine, have you asked Mr. Google? He has the answer to everything. 🙂 I just Googled “how to find time to write a book” and got 810 million results, everything from Writer’s Digest to Joanna Penn. All the best!
I was attending a weekly writing workshop at the U3A in Lake Macquarie NSW and I quite enjoyed the weekly assignment of 500 words or so and the feedback from the other “students”. I got a bit busy with my business and I stopped attending the workshops. At the end of last year I was invited to the annual ‘get-together’ for coffee and chat and somebody asked me a question. “What was the one thing about the workshops that you felt had the biggest impact on you?” Without any hesitation and I am sure it was purely intuition that framed my reply, I said, “attending the workshops made me write”. Just being involved with writing and writers seems to evoke the need to write.
I have enrolled for this year and will let my ‘gut feelings’ determine how and what I write.
Thanks Marcy, for helping us to be ‘involved’.
TERRIFIC story. Sounds like you answered the question straight from your gut, “Attending the workshops made me write.”
I know Mudpie Writing helped me put the broken pieces of myself back together and keep me writing. Sounds like your weekly workshops fed your writers soul, too. I’m glad we’re all ‘involved’ together.
Thanks!
I try to write most days, if just as blog posts and email responses. Most of those are all instinctive responses. I have found that writing prompts are the best way to get into your instinct…you have a problem and must come up with a solution that is feasible. Thank you Marcy for listing some other ways to find your muse.
My pleasure, Helaine.
At times, I use the various methods I mentioned to help me find solutions. I guess I’m using my intuition to tell me the best way to connect with my intuition. HA!
This may veer off the path a bit, but your article reminds me my research. Ironically, I have learned best to trust my intuition from studying how other writers put words together by trusting THEIRS. When I do a stylistic analysis of a poem, I am looking for connections made in the language — and as I’ve been told by my adviser many times: When it comes to the choices we as writers make, it all boils down to intuition.
The other day, Robyn came to me with some prose poetry she’d written, and she mentioned wanting to change a word. And I asked her, “Do you know why you want to change that word to this word?” I could deduce, based on my own education, why she wanted to change the word. But for her? A feeling. Intuition. It sounded right. And that’s SO important for writers.
My example of course is on a much smaller, more individualistic level than the bigger issues you mentioned here, but I think intuition is a huge part of the writer’s arsenal — for those larger choices as well.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling comment! Great ideas. Since I walk everywhere I go in Estonia, I tend to think about my writing a lot. It really does help me sort through my thoughts. And I’m really happy to read that you’re going to be making some decisions about publishing your books! I know that when the time comes, you’ll know the right decision. 🙂
OH MY, Michelle!
You did not ramble at all. I LOVED this. Especially, what your advisor says, “When it comes to the choices we as writers make, it all boils down to intuition.” Brilliant!
You gave such wonderful real-world examples that were so helpful. THANK YOU!
The walking part makes SO much sense to me. Back in the days before computers and phones took all of our attention, people would say, “I need to take a walk” so they could think about their problems. By the time they got back, they’d usually come up with a solution they were pleased with. I’d completely forgotten about that until I read this post. Thank you!
You know, Suzanne, you bring up an EXCELLENT point I hadn’t really considered until your comment. We’re all so much more attached to our cell phones, social media — etc. it’s no wonder we’re disconnected from our intuition.
I’m curious how much of a factor technology plays is our instincts almost being foreign to many people?
Hmm….what do you think?
The more you use technology, the less you think for yourself. You let other do the thinking for you. Need to know something, ask google, ask bing. True ideas are not found on google or bing. They are in a person’s mind and because of social media, the internet and youtube we don’t think for ourselves anymore.
Marcy, you mention three ways to get at you gut instinct, but I think a fourth should be mentioned – Dreams. Most of my best ideas come from dreamland. I think this is because you can’t run away from dreams and when you wake up you know exactly what you dreamed. I believe that God directs my subconscious and forces me to realize and think on subjects that I don’t usually think of.
You are SO right, Helaine. I thought of this after the fact, but didn’t include it. That’s great your dreams are so powerful and you can remember them so well. Keep dreamin’!
I like the idea of journaling each day which I typically do. In my case, my journals are notes I will use to write an inspirational book, hopefully this year. I didn’t think much about it before reading your suggestion, but I need to take advantage of that momentum and move forward on my fiction. Thanks, Marcy!
Oh, DEFINITELY try it with your fiction, Jack. It just helps to unlock so much. When I’m writing something a new scene – I’ll freehand write in a big notebook, then read it out loud, then start typing the scene on my laptop (referring back to my big notebook)!
I LOVE this process!
Hi Macry
I believe this is a very important to aspect to any creative pursuit. There’s a whole science these days that quantifies the heart-brain-gut connection.
I highly recommend The Morning Pages as a daily creative process that seems to swipe through the crap and lead to some gems. (Well most days.)
I also find a gentle swim loosens all the tensions from my body and I am more alert to the messages emanating from my tummy: excitement, fluttering, contracting.
And I know I’m on to something really BIG and POWERFUL when I need to suddenly dash to the toilet. Ha ha… Oh the excitement gets all a bit too much for my belly.
And dreams, oh yes dreams. When I can remember the vividly or even conceptually I allow myself to settle into the feeling and get a sense of, intuit, the story that wants to be heard.
Most of the time though, once I actually start writing it is intuitive, something takes over and I just have to keep up.
Love Dawn
As always, Dawn, your comments are insightful, wonderful and so heartfelt. This is full of your usual gems. Thanks!