Found Voices Episode 8: The Three Things

Oh boy,

Do I dig this music.

Welcome to Found Voices.

I'm Carolyn Ziel.

Episode 8,

The Three Things.

It's November,

And this is,

In my opinion,

The time of year when we literally celebrate gratitude.

And part of that celebration is to express our appreciation for those things,

Those people,

Those experiences in our lives that have been meaningful for us.

And so I wanted to start this episode with a bit of gratitude and a show of appreciation for my teacher,

Jack Rapes.

I've been studying method writing with Jack since 2008.

And when I signed up,

Not only was I terrified,

Yeah,

That's a whole other podcast,

I didn't realize that Jack would become my mentor,

My friend,

And that writing,

Specifically method writing,

Would literally alter the direction of my life.

I didn't know I would wind up teaching Adventures in Writing,

Where I teach Jack Rapes method writing,

To students who I have seen also,

Through this method,

Change their lives.

It's amazing,

And I am just so grateful for it.

And of course for Jack.

And I'm sharing this,

Not just because it's November and it's time of gratitude,

But I am sharing this because one of the reasons,

And there are many,

That I continue to take classes with Jack is because I learn something in each class and with each assignment.

I learn from the other writers in class and I learn from Jack.

And there is always some amazing tidbit,

A tangent that he'll launch off into that will impart such knowledge,

Such wisdom,

That my fingers get tired trying to keep up writing down notes and writing down every word he says.

So in today's episode,

I'm sharing one of these brilliant bits of wisdom.

And as I do,

I invite you to look within yourself.

Really be brutally honest with yourself,

Like I was when Jack shared this little bit of wisdom,

And see if you have or what your levels of these three things,

Which I will mention in a moment,

Are.

What are these three things that you need,

That every writer and artist needs to be successful within their field?

And when I say successful,

I'm not meaning financial success or fame.

This is a personal definition of success.

So they are these three things,

Ambition,

Commitment,

And drive.

So ambition.

Let's look at the definition of ambition.

One definition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something,

Typically requiring determination and hard work.

Well,

That's definitely writing,

Right?

The desire and determination to achieve success.

Desire and determination.

An earnest desire for some type of achievement.

And some of the words that maybe are related to this ambition are aspiration,

Yearning,

And longing.

So let's think about this.

Without ambition as a writer or an artist or both,

Because as writers we are artists,

You can fall into the trap of what others think.

Without ambition,

Without this strong desire to achieve your goal,

Whatever it is,

Whether it's to finish your memoir or YA novel or book of poetry,

Or just to start it,

Whatever it is,

Maybe it's just to be a better writer and show up to writing class with your assignment,

You will need ambition.

This yearning,

This longing,

This desire to achieve your goal will act as a shield to criticism,

To what others think,

To those that say things like,

What are you wasting your time on this?

You're not very good.

You could be making more money doing this if indeed writing is something you're pursuing as a career.

Or worse,

These are some of the things you might be telling yourself.

So you have to have ambition.

With ambition,

You won't fall into that trap of what others think.

You'll be able to tap into that desire and overcome that stumbling block of your feelings or other people's feelings about what you're doing.

When you have this earnest,

Strong desire to write,

Then you must tap into it and write.

This is your ambition.

So let's talk about number two,

Commitment.

You have to be committed.

Here are some definitions of commitment.

The state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity.

I love this definition because this,

This is what we need as writers and artists,

And that is an agreement or a pledge to do something in the future.

An agreement or a pledge.

And in this instance,

We pledge to ourselves.

We make an agreement with ourselves.

In my Facing the Blank Page course on Insight Timer,

I use the term vow.

In her book,

Big Magic Creative Living Beyond Fear,

Liz Gilbert shares her story of how she literally took vows to be a writer.

How she created a ceremony around her vows to be a writer.

And she used the tools of imagination and passion to achieve that vow,

That commitment to herself.

And I would like to add in here that passion is important.

It is also part of the fuel,

The mixture of the fuel to help us move forward.

However,

Passion is an emotion and ambition is a mindset.

So we have to keep that in mind.

So passion may lead you to your action,

But it is the deep seated ambition that will lead you to develop strategies that will keep you going when your passion ebbs and maybe even fades.

So you can already see these three things,

Which I haven't spoken about the third yet,

Are connected and how you need all three.

Ambition and commitment and drive.

So another definition of commitment,

A promise,

A firm decision to do something.

Again,

A promise you make to yourself,

That vow.

The willingness to give your time and energy to a job or an activity.

So you have to be committed because it may take you longer than you think to finish your novel or your young adult book or your book of poetry or whatever it is.

You might not meet your exact deadline,

But that's okay because you're committed and no matter what you will finish.

Sometimes we start a project and we think,

Oh yeah,

I have this deadline.

It'll go smooth and easy and I'll write this many words every day or this many hours every day and by this time I'll finish.

But best laid plans,

Right?

Because sometimes no matter how organized you are,

No matter how you have written out your schedule and you're dedicated,

Whatever it is,

Life gets in the way.

Or worse,

It's not so fun anymore.

You find yourself sort of in that place where you're confused and you don't know what's going on and where your character's taking you and there's a place in the middle of our projects where I hear it all the time and it's happened to me where we,

I hate to use this expression,

Can't see the forest for the trees.

We're lost.

It's dark and we don't know how we're getting out.

We don't know where our story's going.

We don't know what's going on.

And it's those times where we have to be committed and that's where I share with my students.

You have to be committed to the tools,

Not your story,

But that's a whole other podcast,

But you have to be committed.

It's not always going to be fun and it's not always going to be easy.

So commitment,

Ambition.

And the third is drive.

You have to be driven.

So here are some definitions of the word drive.

A planned effort to achieve something,

To provide the power to keep a machine working or to make something happen.

You need to be driven.

You need the power to keep you moving forward.

Someone who is driven is so determined to achieve something or be successful that all of his,

Her,

Their behavior is directed toward this aim.

You have to wake up in the morning,

Find that energy,

That motivation,

That drive,

And know that you're going to move forward with your project.

And listen,

That doesn't mean every day you're writing,

Some days you're editing,

Some days you're researching,

Some days you're reading,

But you're not far away.

You're still connected because if you become disconnected from your project,

You may lose the thread.

You may lose your drive,

Your ambition,

Your passion,

All of it.

You need to stay connected to your project even when you're not writing.

So it is your drive.

This is the power to keep your writing machine working.

And it is this machine,

This drive,

That will take you to your destination,

Literally drive you to your destination of finishing your project,

Whatever it may be.

These three things,

Ambition,

Commitment,

And drive,

They will change your life in general and as a writer and as an artist.

So I invite you to replay this episode,

This short,

Sweet,

Super important episode,

And think about your personal level of ambition,

Commitment,

And drive.

And in the meantime,

Thanks for listening and write on.