From the Youtube art video by illustrateria. With some modifications by me 🙂

As a writer and artist, I have struggled mightily over the past decade (long story). And the more Life got in the way, the more difficult it became to get any creative work done, even on days where I had the time and energy to devote to it. Resistance, as Stephen Pressfield calls it, along with a healthy dose of guilt for not finishing all the projects I wanted to finish, have become such a Goliath, that procrastinating seems the easiest road to take (why do something now when you can put it off to tomorrow when you’ll possibly feel less overwhelmed?).

One of the key methods to combat this, which I learned in Dean Wesley Smith’s Productivity workshop, is that I should not think about the end product–that is, the finished book–if I want to actually write said book. Because doing so kills my Creative Voice. Thinking of the End Product shuts down my Muse. But if I focus instead only on the story, I ensure all my energy flows to it, allowing me to enter the magical state of flow, where words bloom from my fingertips and onto the screen with ease (or at least to do so more frequently). This, in turn, inspires more ideas and keeps me energized, even after a looooooooong work day (a virtuous cycle, if you will).

As Jessica Brody wrote in her January 30, 2025 newsletter The Weekly W.R.I.T.E.R. under the section “Wisdom,”

[M]y meditation teachers constantly remind me that the goal of meditation isn’t to feel peaceful and calm (though that can be a nice side effect). The goal is to practice being aware of your experience as you’re having it.
I’d argue the same is true for writing. Yes, the goal might seem to be “finish the novel,” but if it were the only goal, why not just hire a ghostwriter? Because the journey of writing the novel–that’s where the real value lies.

The ups and downs, the plot holes and plot fixes, the “this sucks” days followed by the “wait, I know how to fix it!” days–these are the real treasures of the writing process. Both writing and meditation brush up against something fundamentally human, but if we’re too focused on the outcome, we miss that opportunity.

Incidentally, this is also how I feel about using AI to “create” anything. Even without taking into account the fact that it’s all based on mostly stolen works and destroys the planet while also disintegrating the social fabric (there’s a reason scammers love AI), using such a tool takes away the magic of coming up with ways to share my work with you and the world. Even if my work is imperfect (spoiler: it totally is). And yes, I have so much I still need to learn, and growing can be painful (especially after an exhausting day at the day job). But, as Jessica Brody hints above, there’s nothing more rewarding that the feeling of having accomplished something I worked hard on (warts and all)!