I’ve just come off a writing sprint as I try to bring my first novel to life. I wrote 45,000 words over six weeks, roughly half the book, starting from a blank page.

Let’s just say it was intense. Hence, this newsletter will be shorter than usual.

The sprint was part of a class focused on writing fast. It was a skill I knew I needed. My normal style is to edit as I go, writing and rewriting until my thoughts are clear. That’s okay I suppose when you’re writing short little newsletters, but I knew it wouldn’t serve me for an entire book.

But there is no way to out-write one’s fears. The speed of thought is measured in milliseconds. Turns out I’m not that fast of a typist.

What helped me overcome my desire to endlessly edit rather than moving things forward was the suggestion that I not share my writing with anyone. No workshopping! This is counter-intuitive. When we’re consumed with doubt, our natural tendency is to seek reassurance.

That reassurance, assuming we get it, may make us feel good in the moment, but it also keeps us focused on excellence too early in the process. It keeps our mental critics active and relevant.

By eliminating external feedback, I was able to silence my inner critic whenever she was displeased by telling myself, “I’ll fix it later.”

That created space to be more creative. I let go of the need to know what came next. I came up with characters, conversations, and plot lines I hadn’t planned. I surprised and delighted myself.

That spark of surprise, the best evidence that creativity is at play, is addictive. It expands your focus from approval (extrinsic motivation) to deeply enjoying the process of creating (intrinsic motivation). The more I wrote, the more invested I became.

My instructor shared a story which summed up so well what I learned about tackling meaningful, and therefore scary, projects. She described how a student at a writing conference asked a well-known author if he thought he had what it took to make it. Looking for some sort of affirmation or confirmation of his potential, he asked, “Do you think I should keep writing?”

The author, taken aback, replied, “If you think you can stop writing, then by all means you should.”

What the author should have told the student, in my opinion, is how important it is to create the conditions for your intrinsic motivation to grow and blossom.

Because it's your intrinsic motivation that will keep you going over the long haul, when things are hard and the end isn’t in sight. Intrinsic motivation won’t let you stop creating.

Your doubts aren’t so tough after all. Maybe you can’t outrun or out-type them, but you can put them to sleep.

That’s all you need to get going. To get enough miles under your feet, you wouldn’t dare quit before getting to the finish line.

Maybe I’m mixing my metaphors there. Don’t worry. I’ll fix it later.