Dean Wesley Smith had a section in his latest blog post about (not) celebrating writing achievements such as finishing a book and I started to post a response, but I remembered my post about content on other people’s sites and I cut the response before I posted and pasted it here instead. :D I almost forgot about that little decision… and yeah I know, I’m really not surprised. I forget lots of things five minutes after I decide them.
I didn’t really see what the big deal was with celebrating until…
“You are telling your brain it is better to not be writing, to be finished, than to be writing.”
At which point my brain gave the inside of my skull a little kick and said “Ah! It’s a trap!”
And maybe it’s a trap I’ve fallen into more than once. I think I’ll skip the “oh how great it is to be done” talk when I finish this time. Maybe I’ll just say “yay! I get to start another book today” instead.
I’ve discovered over the years that self-talk is powerful stuff, and I wouldn’t put it past my brain to think that my excitement in finishing a project means that finishing, reaching the end, being done, is the reward for writing. And if that’s the reward, what does it making continued writing? Yeah. Punishment. Something incomplete. Something to be avoided.
I sure don’t want to internalize that attitude! (Although it’s possible it’s too late and now I’m just going to have to work on excising that attitude.) But I love it when I have these little sparks of realization. I just wish I could remember them all when I need to. ;)