Are you puting off your writing..
like you put off your tax?
Dear Writers, Readers and Creative Friends,
A warm welcome to new subscribers and followers! I am currently posting from two writing projects: a cancer journal, Letters to Leftie Bestie (My Left Breast) and a satirical flash fiction novella: The Everyday Musings of Louisa Greene. And you can find all eps of my travel memoir Looking for Duras, a Mekong Journey, here.
As a writing teacher and mentor, I also I write on the process of writing and how to stay motivated on the creative journey. I’ve filed these away for your perusal under Tips. Here is my latest…
Tax time is coming, in Australia anyway. Time to get out all your receipts out of old wallets and shoe boxes and tally them up. See how many expenses you can squeeze out of your faded, crumpled dockets. For many it’s a dreaded task, to be put on the TO DO LATER LIST, alongside a few other things we won’t mention.
Like WRITING! Is writing on your TO DO LATER LIST too?
The thing is…
As soon as you finally get down to it — be it tax or writing…
You’ll remember how much you love it!
Love doing your tax!!?? Come on, you’ve got to be kidding!
No, it’s true, once I start sorting out all my dockets, piling them into categories, stuffing them into their own used envelope with their name and year on the front (‘cos I’ve usually put it off for a year or two!) then add them all up on my old fashioned, oversized calculator from the two dollar shop — I find it very enjoyable.
I feel sorted, organised, everything in categories, everything in its place.
Like a detective, I can travel back in time and trace where I was, when, what I bought, where, and whether it turned out to be a complete waste of money or not.
You can relive your travels — which restaurants, accomodations, plane flights you loved or didn’t love.
You can be reminded of your book addiction and count up how many books you bought in a particular year.
I discovered that in 2020, the year of the Great Lockdowns, I doubled my spending on reading and writing materials, bought more fancy stationery (in the form of Moleskin notebooks and fast rolling pens) than ever. It showed me that I was capable of doubling my reading input and my writing output. Good info to have!
And for those who have both Tax and Writing in the TOO HARD BASKET, you could try combining them. Instead of filing all the receipts away you could put them in a scrap book to see what kind of story they tell.
It could be a great way to write a memoir of a particular year or a murder mystery set in an accountant’s office.
Or simply use them as writing prompts for warm ups at the beginning of your writing day. For a few moments contemplate a different receipt or docket then describe in concrete detail anything it suggests. Here’s some examples:
a description of a purchased item
the setting of the purchase
the character buying it
the character selling it
the associated soundscape
associated smells
associated textures
the weather that day
the emotional atmos
circumstances surrounding it
conflicts ensuing from it
and so on
You get my drift?
Whatever you end up doing — be it finally tackling three years of overdue tax or sitting down to write that scene you have been putting off for ages, I can guarantee you will feel released and energised.
For as I say in my Avoidance Buster Manual, when we start to tackle all the things on our TO DO LATER LIST, we unleash all our stuck NON DOING energy and feel free as a bird!
If you would like to get a digital copy of the AVOIDANCE BUSTER MANUAL to start busting your procrastination habits, let me know in the comments I will send one your way.
WRITERS JOURNEY NEWS
DRAFT BUSTERS ONLINE — Currently in session from Monday, June 24 at 10 am AEST. Motivation Mondays (1.5 hrs) for one month. Set your goals for the week, discussion on various aspects of writer’s craft plus a meditative writing exercise. Feedback Fridays, 3.30 - 5.30 pm AEST. Readings and feedback on up to 1000 words of your writing project. Workshops are held on Zoom. Contact Jan if you would like to join or book direct here.
FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP — On the third Sunday of the month at 4pm AEST we meet to introduce our writing projects and do a meditative writing exercise. Open to all— beginners, experienced, published, non published. Next one falls on July 21. Contact Jan if you would like to join.
MENTORING — I have a number of mentoring packages available which can be tailored to your current needs. If you need a procrastination coach, someone to look over your manuscript or set ongoing deadlines, see here for what’s possible.
UPCOMING JOURNEYS in 2025
Haiku Walking in Japan, March 2025. Currently considering the temple town of Nara for our next haiku journey for artist and writers. Staying in traditional inns and temple accommodation we will venture out each day exploring pagodas, shrines and historic sites, sketching/writing haiku as we go. Daily workshops on the art of haiku, haibun and haiga. More info coming soon. Limited places, let me know asap if this appeals to you.
Creative Immersion in Ischia, Italy May 3-10, 2025 for writers and artists. 7 nights, 8 days. We begin the journey in the Port of Naples before catching a ferry across to the volcanic island of Ischia. Daily creativity workshops at our seaside hotel offer inspiration and guidance for your creative work. As we immerse ourselves in the island’s healing thermal waters we do a deep dive into our work, employing creative journaling, paper art and collage to further our creative goals. An ideal environment to bring the senses into your writing and art making and really progress your work. In collaboration with the Create Escape. Booking and info here.
Celebrating Twenty Years of Writers Journey!
2024 marks 20 years of international travel with Writers Journey. Since 2004 I’ve led retreats and journeys for writers and artists in Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, Myanmar, Japan, Fiji, USA, Italy, France, Morocco, and more.
Have a look at our gallery of photos on Flickr here.
Joy Dahl
Joy’s Substack
just now
Astounding level of organisation and planning which seems paradoxically to open spaces by drilling down into detail. Taking time to do all this seems to paradoxically create more time to do more. How to learn to do this and apply to life?
Astounding level of organisation and planning which seems paradoxically to open spaces by drilling down into detail. Taking time to do all this seems to paradoxically create more time to do more. How to learn to do this and apply to life?