Just as those last few pounds are hard to drop, those last few chapters, and especially those last few paragraphs are hard to write. If you want to keep your passion project passionate you should have some trusted habits to loosen up and let yourself NOT work on it.

That’s right, step away from your desk and put the pen down. There are certain kinds of breaks that actually help make the work better. When I’m stuck, experience has shown that there are several strategies I use to help me let go, before I get going again. Six to be specific:

We're all insecure about the one qualification we don't have. Maybe it's a degree, or website numbers, or some other random inadequacy we habitually use to compare ourselves to others.

This can be exhausting. I know. But in our heart of hearts we realize that people don't connect to your qualifications, they connect to something far more important.

When I begin working with an author, they often struggle to find their "expert voice." I tell them to stop. Don't try to be an expert.

Take a look at your own book shelf, do you see a panel of doctors and experts? Or is it a loving group of friends? Which feels more comforting? Honestly, which helps you arrive at your next right action?

Jealousy is a gremlin that hangs around all the great stuff in life. Ahem. Or I should say, it hangs around all the great stuff that we don't have... yet.

It's true. For all of us authors out there, envy lurks around any and all success in writing. However starting now, whenever those little whimpers of envy flutter around another writer's success, I want you to consider them butterflies! That's right, when you feel jealousy, get excited because that's exactly where you're headed, sister!

Jealousy is a big blaring road sign that shows you where you want to go, and these four steps will show you how to get there (and be a lot happier along the way). So let's get started!

Okay, you’re ready. You’re going to write the book you were meant to write. After all, this is what you want to do with your life, you’ve always wanted this. So you find thirty minutes, sit down and…

Nothing.

Pressure builds and you can’t find your voice. It’s like a first date and you wonder, “Why can’t I just be myself?”

Turns out, there’s a reason this happens. I just read about it, and there’s even a solution too.

Apparently, too much significance clogs your brain. Sian Belock, a psychologist at the University of Chicago did a whole study on it. She calls it, “stereotype threat.” When a talented person can’t do the thing they’re meant to do because they’re bogged down by the idea of themselves doing it.

Be honest with me here. When it comes to creativity, do you ever ask yourself, “Why is there never any time?” “Why am I always behind?” “Why can’t I get some help around here?”

I learned a fun trick that goes a long way to solving exactly those problems.

When frustration builds around a specific issue such as never having time for your creative writing process, it’s natural that some version of “Why me?” will echo in your mind.

The thing is that those are all negative questions, and at a subconscious level they will keep generating negative answers: There is never any time to write because… I can’t get this done because…. My family doesn’t support me because… Then come the answers:  work, kids, dishes, clients, and weekends full of assorted obligations.

But there's a very simple way to flip this around.

One of the most exciting parts of the creative writing process is finding synchronicities: those moments when you get a sign that is specifically meaningful to you. Someone calls you just as you’re thinking of them, or you see a symbol that gives you a nudge forward.

It’s also a magically efficient way to move your creative writing project forward because so often synchronicity gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. Especially if what you need is a sudden burst of inspiration. Synchronicities are my secret specialty. I love increasing luck, serendipity and significance in my author’s lives.

The first secret, I’m bursting to tell. It can’t even wait to get to my list. If you want to get up early and write, don’t do it every day. Do it once a week and make it a special treat. Alone time for yourself.  So many people never get up early, because they think they always have to do it.

I suggest you just do it once. Make it feel exciting like you’re getting up to catch a flight for an exotic adventure. Because you are.

Have you ever been asked how you accomplished something and answered, “I don´t know, it must have been luck!”

I haven’t.

Why? Because every time I’ve accomplished anything I’ve put in the hours, dealt with rejection, re-strategized and put in more hours before crossing the finish line.

You HAVE to journal. Yes you. It engages you in your life, making everything more exciting. And if life starts to get too exciting, you already have this calm and faithful habit to help you work things out. Journaling is a natural metabolizing process for our thoughts, and therefore your wildest dreams. In fact it´s kind of weird that we don´t have little journals tucked into our brain cells next to the mitochondria.

So, how does it work?

Recently I had the time and energy for a serious writing streak, and it got me thinking about inspiration. What does it feel like? How can we keep it going? What is it made of?

This got me thinking about inspiration as a unique state balanced between meditation and work. So I decided I want to initiate an on-going experiment, reflecting upon the relationship between meditation and inspiration. 

Problems and desires are catalysts for everything great that is ever created. They set our normal life off balance and send us tumbling toward the next big thing. The first guy to light a fire had them. They were hidden in the sparks. Find the problem and desire within the anecdote and it becomes a story. Something that will captivate the attention of your readers.

If you want your story or essay to stand out in a crowded market, these are literary concepts that will transform your writing by maximizing depth and power.

These are the real game changers. They captivated people in Ancient Greece, and they’ve been mastered by Hollywood, but they are also the mark of great literary fiction and creative nonfiction. ln fact, they’re so juicy I’m not even going to introduce them anymore. Here they are...