I wrote the first draft for this post sitting in a mall. Yes, a shopping mall.
It was the first time that week that I was able to focus and get words on the page. Maybe it was because I had nothing else to do while I waited, but it was probably the fact that it was a completely different environment from my home where I usually do my writing.
James Clear put up a post quite some time ago that came across my radar only recently. In it he wrote about changing your environment rather than relying on motivation. I believe he meant to structure your environment in such a way so as to make it easier to engage in the habits you want and harder to engage in the ones you don’t. I don’t think he meant go out and find a new environment, but sometimes that is all that works for me.
Even though I enjoy writing, sometimes it feels like a chore or at least there are no pleasant feelings attached to it when I’m thinking about it. It’s not writer’s block but instead an inability to start. I know that going to a table in mall, or sitting on a park bench, or even getting in my car gives me a change of scenery that disrupts my feelings of de-motivation. Knowing that and taking action on that self-knowledge are two different things.
Those are just my thoughts for now.
A Wren Says 