1. The ‘Writing Mindset,’ Debunked

“If you show up for the muse consistently, then she will start showing up for you.”

There is no “writing mindset” — if I waited for that, I would never write. The only thing that helps is sitting down every day, at the same time (roughly) and having peace and quiet, even if it is just an hour, to think, without the pressures of the outside world. I don’t check email or take any phone calls. It is a reserved time, just to ponder and explore various ideas, scenes and characters. Mary Oliver once said something about how if you show up for the muse consistently, then she will start showing up for you consistently, as if the psyche knows that you are writing and preparing, and so after time, you get something back, but you have to be there to receive it, no matter how painfully slow or awful you think it’s going.

I also try to remember not to dismiss any idea, no matter how arbitrary it may seem in the moment, because sometimes the small detail, or phrase later generates a great scene or moment in the story which was unexpected, whereas oftentimes you think writing a certain scene is going to be so monumental and important, and you start to write it, and it falls flat because you’ve built it up so much in your mind. I always try to remind myself that what makes something interesting are the small human details and moments, not the grand sweeping gestures.