Focused Results

If you write, you don’t really care about finishing a draft, or finding an agent, or getting a publishing contract, or how many books you sell. You don’t actually care about all those results. I know that not only does it seem like you most certainly do care about all those things, but that on some days it’s all you care about. You may find yourself asking, “What am I doing here? Where is all this going? Is this worth it?” Those results will tell you whether you’re wasting your time or not. When you get the results, then you’ll know where you’re really going.

I know. I like good results the way I like rereading a satisfying sentence I just wrote. It’s a nice moment, for sure, a reminder of what I’m looking for when I sit at my desk staring at a blank spot on the wall waiting for an idea to come into focus. I never get tired of that pleasing, harmonic sense of resolution I get when what’s on the page matches what exists in my imagination. How nice when that bell rings bright and round and clear. Nice, but then it’s on to the next sentence, and perhaps more staring at the wall.

Strange as it seems, it’s the staring at nothing that I really enjoy. That’s me focusing. That’s me harnessing my attention as completely as I’m capable on something meaningful and interesting and inspiring. I know what it’s like to focus my attention on something that frightens or angers or depresses me. I know the difference. How powerful I feel when I focus on purpose, when I choose to direct that laser on what I actually want. And yes, how satisfying when I see the fruit it bears.

Nothing makes me grumpier and less interested in being on this planet than believing my focus doesn’t matter. This is often what makes the publishing part of writing so miserable for us all. I know I have certainly forgotten that even when it comes to finding agents and editors and the best venues for sharing my work, my focus still matters. Just because other people are involved doesn’t mean my attention no longer contributes to an outcome. It will always contribute, it will always be contributing, whether I’m aware of it or not. The instant I become aware, I’m back in my own creative power, back where I always want to be.

Check out Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com