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Thursday, August 04, 2005
THE WRITER'S LIFE by Dr. Harriet Katz
Because I have had the opportunity and privilege to talk to and work with hundreds of authors over the years, I know that they can often be faced with remarkable opportunities for transition. This month we offer some reassuring insights into the transition process for authors from Dr. Harriet Katz, a career and personal coach who has worked with scores of creative people and has helped them to achieve their goals.
The life of a writer is a great adventure. It consists of unexpected turns, towering peaks, fertile plateaus, and occasionally, times of doubt. It may come as a surprise to you that the some of the unforeseen emotional spaces you find yourself in are not only predictable, but they are a wonderful sign of growth. Authors can feel over the moon one day and out of touch the next. The writing life is an isolated one. It's easy to feel unappreciated, and perhaps confused. What might surprise you even more is that these reactions are not only common, but they can be harnessed effectively as a career transitions and soars into bestsellerdom.
You might think it a bit unusual to talk about transitional situations in such a cheerful way. In reality, they are a handy way to gain perspective, insight, and a working strategy to move into positive spaces.
Transitions have three stages:
They begin with endings. The world is no longer that way you used to think it was. It has become tired, and possibly dull. It was exciting and workable in its time, but it is inefficient now. When this happens, you can feel disoriented. Everything worked just fine before; why doesn't it work now? You know you need to change, but you don't know how. But take heart. There is good news ahead.
The second stage is kind of like a time-out. There is now a blank space where there used to be certainty. Intelligible patterns and directions will once again emerge, as long as you leave the door open to let them in. This middle period ends when the next new beginning is in sight.
All this pays off in the third stage, when the future becomes clearer and begins to beckon invitingly. Now things start to fall into place. You are now able to figure out how to charge ahead with renewed energy and vision.
Let's walk through the essentials of a transition:
- First, accept that the process is one of death and rebirth. Say good-bye to old habits and attitudes that no longer fit with the secure knowledge that there is new life ahead.
- The chaos of the middle stage is essential to any new creation. Chaos is not a mess. Chaos is a primal state of pure energy that is essential to the creative process. Writers are quite familiar with the chaos of being in the middle of a book and having no idea where it's going. Experienced authors know that this too shall pass. It's merely a stopping place in which the future solutions are percolating. The blank space during the chaos isn't really blank. It breeds space for perspective.
- The creative process is messy. It's supposed to be messy. If you wanted neatness or order, you would have become an accountant. There is certainly a place for neatness and order, but this isn't the time for it. This is a time when letting the messiness take over is good. Embrace it. Otherwise, you'll remain stuck in the old way that isn't working as well as it used to.
Here are four tips to help you forge ahead as you make the exciting leap from the old to the new:
- Shift to manual. When you're in the flow in your life and everything is working, you don't stop to think about what you're doing and why it's easy. You're on automatic pilot and it feels great. When you're in the middle of a transition, you sometimes have to shift to manual. You are learning new ways to think and you are acquiring new skills.
- Take charge of your energy. Break out of your routine. Do something different. When you think intently about something for a long time, you can get stuck on a track that gives you the same feedback over and over again. When you do something different and change the rhythm, the solution to the problem you had been struggling with will jump more easily out of your subconscious.
- Do it anyway. If you're feeling down, persist. One of the key ways to pull yourself up is to let the behavior precede the feeling. If you don't feel like doing anything, giving in to that downward tug will only keep you down.
- Surround yourself with people who get it. These are people who want you to move forward and who may already be there themselves. Not only do they provide positive role models, but they are not frightened or threatened by the change you seek. They become your allies and can see you through the journey. These are not always the people you think they will be. Your rock-solid support system—your spouse, your family, your close friends—may be part of what's holding you back. Of course that doesn't mean you have to eliminate them from your life. But don't ask them for what they can't or don't know how to give you. Find people who can, and who have been there. Your family will be able to embrace the new you even if they didn't know how to get you there.
Don't stop transition from happening. Welcome it. When the time for it arrives, it is one of the most exhilarating of all human experiences. It is essential to growth. Learn to embrace transition for the positive, life-affirming force that it is.
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Dr. Harriet Katz is an experienced Personal and Professional Coach, Licensed Clinician and Trainer. Her current specialty in private practice is personal and career transitions. She co-hosted a weekly radio call-in program in Portland, Maine, Tune In To Relationships, which focused on personal and work relationships.
Harriet received her BA from the University of Michigan, MSW from the University of California at Berkeley, and DSW from Yeshiva University. She has been an active member of the International Coach Federation, Association for Psychological Type, New York Association of Career Professionals, and is certified by the Centre for High Performance Development and Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator.
Click HERE to check her out. She can be reached via email at harriet.katz@workingparnerships.com.
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