“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
-Leonard Cohen
Sometimes your most painful, seemingly unsolvable creative challenges will yield your biggest writing breakthroughs.
The key is to do what many authors will not do – stick with the problem. This might not mean in the moment because sometimes the best decision in the moment is to keep your creative momentum going, move away from the immediate problem, and revisit it later.
When you do return to the seemingly unsolvable problem later, confront it with an attitude of curiosity, creativity, and problem solving (rather than wanting to throw it through a wall!). It’s all in your approach.
You can see the problem in your manuscript as an annoying leaky pipe, haphazardly slap a piece of duct tape on it and hope for the best. Or, you can see it as an opportunity to improve the plumbing in your entire house. Not the sexiest example but it makes my point.
You can see stressful writing issues in your manuscript as obstacles to slap a quick solution on, or worse, reasons to quit on your book. Or you can dig deeper and look for the opportunities buried in those problems that could potentially improve your entire book.
What lessons can your most pressing manuscript issues teach you? What opportunities for a breakthrough might you be overlooking? What light might the cracks in your book be trying to let in?
PS: Need some help finding the cracks, letting the light in… and all that? Grab a spot on my calendar and let’s figure it all out!
