I didn’t get a prompt posted this morning, but I wanted to share some thoughts anyway.
I’ve been reading a little disjointedly lately. Part of it is adjusting to the way my reading time is limited. Part of it is that I’ve been having trouble finding something that sucks me in. But, I recently started a book that I think is going to have a lot of gems of wisdom.
The Hero is You by Kendra Levin is a writing book that uses the mythical Hero’s Journey to help you discover your own writing process. I love that it focuses on process. In my experience, process matters more than product when it comes to a writing life.
Process is what gets you sitting down with words on a regular basis. Process is what grows you. Process is what creates the product.
I was struck by a section in the introduction of this book that I’d like to share with you:
When we ask the writers we admire about their writing schedules, or their processes, or what their favorite cereal is to eat and what time they like to eat it at, what we’re really asking is, How can I do what you do, the way you do it?
But here’s a more important question: How can I do what I do in the way that will help me do my best work?
I’m interested to see how the rest of this book works through answering this question, because it is intensely personal. I’m hoping for some insights and prompts and questions that will help me to realize parts of my process that I haven’t been aware of yet. I feel like I’ve figured a few things out over the last 10 days of writing regularly, but I know there’s always more.
I think this applies to more than just writing process. While it is often helpful to hear about how other people accomplish things, simply applying other people’s methods isn’t usually successful. You have to understand your own tendencies, which will help you know what methods might be useful to you.
I’ll keep you posted on what I discover about my own process from this book. But as I discover my process, I’m looking forward to creating some excellent products along the way.