Dear Writer,
So, yesterday, we were talking about Max.
Here’s the thing about Max, and this is also true of your inspiration avatar; if I don’t keep him busy, he’ll run off and inspire someone else. Someone who makes time to spend with him and calls his name and leaves treats out for him.
So that’s what we’re going to learn how to do. And here’s the thing; you already know most of this. It’s not about knowing what you need to do. It’s about doing what you know you need to do.
Like everything else in life, the secret is in the practice.
Inspiration avatars need us, first and foremost, to show up on a predictable schedule, so they know when and where to find us. Otherwise, they pop in at inconvenient times when we can’t properly find a place for what they bring us.
Now, time is a hot commodity and we don’t all have loads of it to spare, so it’s okay if it’s only once a week to start. Just make sure it’s the same day and time every week. Saturdays at 2 p.m., for example. Make that appointment in your calendar and name that time for your avatar. For me, it’s Max Time, and it’s 20 minutes, once a week.
Yep. Twenty minutes. That’s all your Max needs. And all you need to start is to sit with your project open in front of you. That’s it. You don’t have to write a single word. You just can’t do anything else.
Eventually, your Max is going to come bounding to your side, and drop a present at your feet. It might be small at first, it might not even be that useful to your current project, but you’re going to tuck it away in your Max notebook and when you’ve written it down, you’re going to say, “Thanks, Max! You are such a good boy!*”
Tomorrow, we’re going to talk about what treats inspiration avatars like, because the more we treat them, the more they bring us.
Everything,
L
*Or whatever name and message of gratitude works for your inspiration avatar.