Are you saving your ideas for the perfect story? The perfect time? The perfect anything?
I don’t want you to rush your ideas, absolutely not.
But I also don’t want you to keep them hidden from the world forever simply because you never found "the perfect moment".
Intuitive timing
Learning to listen to your intuitive timing is a skill about catching the balance between "now is the time" and "this needs more time". It is also the skill of recognising when Fear is trying to either rush you or hold you back.
Today, we're talking about the latter.
More specifically, we're talking about the manifestation of Fear that insists on reaching the perfect conditions for an idea to be worth exploring.
The manifestation of Fear that makes grand plans for what the idea should become, and how amazing it will be once you create it... So amazing, in fact, that no ordinary moment could ever meet the criteria for its start in the first place.
And all of a sudden, any first sentence you throw on the page, any words at all, will simply not be good enough. After all, you had this amazing idea and this amazing vision of how cool the scenes are going to be only to now write stupid things like "The weather was... cloudy?"
The perfect moment
We've heard it before: the perfect moment doesn't exist. While that may be true in some way, I think finding "the perfect moment" is much more malleable than we often think.
Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, we can create one.
Sounds cheesy? Perhaps. That doesn't matter once you see how good it feels to actually do it.
My proposition is this: Instead of preplanning criteria that an idea needs to reach for it to be worth developing, get curious.
Start by admitting to yourself:
I have no idea if this idea is any good. I cannot promise myself glory and fame based on what I have so far. It might be the best or the shittiest or the most average idea anyone has ever had.
And I'm okay with that.
While I have no idea what will happen from this idea, I do want to know what could come out of it. I am curious to see where it might take me. I wonder what will happen if I start playing around with it. I want to discover what kind of writer I am when I dive into the unknown.
How does that feel?
You create the perfect moment by changing what "the perfect moment" means. By changing the criteria for something to be recognised as the perfect moment.
Instead of making it about the outcome, make it about your honesty about where you are right now. Make it about your courage to handle uncertainty and explore new territory.
That way, whatever happens will be okay and fun.
No failure. Just exploration and creativity.
If you've been saving some ideas for the perfect moment, try this perspective shift on them. Not to force yourself to write, but to see how it feels for you. And let me know how it goes!
Have a wonderful week,
Katja
Thank you for being here.
If you're a writer who'd love some personalised support with your project, check out my 1:1 offerings.
If you want to dive into the craft of compelling plot twists, I invite you to check out the Plot Twist Magic workshop.
And if you'd like to join me in deep dives into various aspects of the writing craft, join me on YouTube.
See you next week!
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