Dear Everyone, Today, I want to share a guest post about donning the literal writer’s hat to maintain your writing practice. Emel introduced me to the idea of “writer’s persona” a few months back. I confess it took me a while to get it. My first question was, I’m already a writer, how can I have a writer’s persona? But the more I thought about it, how much the persona would benefit one’s writing practice became obvious to me. When it comes to the habit of writing, many writers suggest writing in the same time same place. Same room, same desk, same hour, they say. I know this is not easy for writers at the early stages of their writing lives. That said, persistence is key. So how do we achieve it?
This is when the writer’s persona comes in. Virginia Woolf says a writer needs a room of one’s own. I now think the room may also be a mind-space. I may go into a room of my own by going into my writer’s persona, in other words, by putting on my writer’s hat, literally. The insistence on the sameness, the repetition, is there to help the writer work through the different days and moods. It is there to make the writer say, Because it is my habit to write at 9 am every morning, I do it in the mornings when I feel tired, moody, or uninspired, too. But the commitment does not have to be limited to an hour or place. I can also know every time I use my writer’s persona, I will write, no matter how I feel on that specific occasion. In fact, I think my writer’s persona will lift my spirits more than the face of the clock or my wooden desk. I named my writer’s persona “writing person.” Read Emel’s introduction to the writer’s persona so that you too can create your own writer’s persona and get writing!
“I've faced my fair share of struggles since deciding to become a writer. My biggest challenge, as you might guess, has been staying consistent. Finding the motivation to sit down in front of my laptop and start writing felt like climbing Mount Everest every single time. Around that same time, thanks to some universal synchronicity, I stumbled upon an article about alter egos and personas, and how many successful celebrities use them. I found out that Beyoncé has been channeling her Sasha Fierce persona before stepping on stage to perform. This insight reminded me that I didn’t necessarily need to be an extraterrestrial like Clark Kent to have a persona with superpowers to do incredible things. I realized that I could become a Superwriter with my hands, stories, and creativity whenever I wanted. All I needed was an alter ego. 😊 So, I decided to adopt Amal the Superwriter persona to write my first novel. My goal is to finish the first draft of my novel by the end of October 2024. To this end, I open my laptop five days a week and turn into Amal the Superwriter by putting on my black writer's hat (with a big W on it), my black and blue glasses, and my white earphones playing binaural beats on to help me concentrate on writing. And, here is the sweet deal: The only way for Amal the Superwriter to go back to being Emel is through writing at least 500 words in one sitting without any judgment, criticism, or editing. My writer's persona is only allowed to write and nothing else. Editing will be the responsibility of another persona that I still need to come up with. 😊” Emel Çetin-Vespasiano has studied, lived, and worked in Turkey, the US, Japan, Italy, the UK, and Belgium. She is a transformational life coach in training and will finish her first novel in October. If you wish to sign up for coaching sessions to reach your writing goals, don't hesitate to get in touch with her on WeChat. You may scan her QR code to contact her, or find her on WeChat by her WeChat ID: ML_LifeCoach.
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