I have a confession to make: I am not a fan of organization.

I don’t like planning very much either. I like freedom.

I actually like to make things up as I go more than Indiana Jones.

Some days, it feels like the closest I can get to being organized is playing a game of Tetris.

I know what you’re thinking: how the HECK are you a full-time author, freelance writer, editor and writing coach?

The answer is that I continually strive to make things as simple as possible.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

I don’t write two books at a time, I write one book at a time.

Otherwise, I have a folder full of partially written books. (True story.)

Know what I mean?

Do you have several half-finished books? That’s a tell-tale sign you’re a distracted writer. (The good news is you’re not remotely alone.)

There’s more to it than just distraction, though.

The Underlying Problem

In most cases, the real problem is fear. You are probably afraid you will choose the wrong project.

Fear makes you confused and drains your mental energy.

It’s really difficult to make good decisions when you’re listening to fear.

Fear loves to tell you some extreme scenarios.

Fear says things like that if you land a copywriting gig, all you can ever do is be a copywriter.

If you create one website for a friend, you’re not really a writer anymore. You’re now a web designer, so you can assume you’ll be spending the rest of your days fiddling around with CSS and HTML.

Well, at least that’s what fear tells me.

Sure, this sounds incredibly silly to write out, but these are the kinds of things that fear tells us. And then somehow these off-the-wall thoughts are accepted as truth in our minds.

A wise friend once told me, “Fear makes us stupid.”

To move forward, you must block out fear and do what you want to do in the simplest way possible.

Use Fear To Your Advantage

Here’s the good news: you can use fear as a compass for which projects you should do.

Never believe the lies in your head. A lie with an ounce of truth is still a lie.

When you hear negative voices say, “Hello fear, I know you’re there. I’m gonna do this anyways.”

Those two sentences are fear repellant. Don’t believe me? Try it. Go ahead, talk to yourself. If anyone picks on you, just tell them you’re an artist. (If you’re a novelist, you could always put them in your novel and make something bad happen to them. I kid. I kid.)

So here’s what to do:

1. Pick one thing that scares you, and then try it out.

2. Experiment and set simple guidelines for it.

3. See if you like it.

That’s it. Not too bad, right?

Keep in mind that you won’t be able to move as quickly as you’d like. That’s how it works.

Crawl First, Then Walk, Then Run.

There is no shame at all in starting slow. We have to start slow and practice before we can get better.

If you’re still not sure, try talking things out with someone you trust. Feel free to leave me a note or reply to this post — I’d be honored to help you out.

Getting support for the journey is absolutely vital to your success.

Talking it out — even mentioning your doubts or fears — can propel you forward like nothing else.

Keeping everything in your head often leads to more confusion. Fear loves to attack you with those nasty nagging voices in your head.

When I wrote my first two books with Erik Fisher, we’d talk on the phone for hours and just hash things out. By asking question after question, we would then explain and analyze the content. See if there was anything missing and even plan out what move to make next.

But don’t let talking it out become resistance, stopping you in your tracks.

Once you have a game plan and you have clarity. Next, attack it like Cookie Monster with a plateful of cookies.

Darn it, now I’m hungry.

See cookie, eat cookie. That’s it. Got it? Good.

What Pursuing Several Interests Looks Like

I like to theme my days. What does that mean? It is actually really straightforward. Here’s my week: I have three writing days. I have a personal projects day. I have an admin day. I have two family days.

Each day lines up with the theme. I schedule tasks and work related to each day. I know that not everyone has this flexibility, but even if you don’t, you control the hours you’re not at work, right? Many times you can use your lunch hour to work on certain tasks, right?

Theming my days keeps things simple.

Again, keeping things simple is the best way to go.

I often do some tasks that don’t fit my theme for the day, but that’s alright. There are always distractions and things that pop up. The key is to figure out how your mind works and stop fighting yourself.

Whatever you do, keep things simple.

A Final Word

Simplicity is the ultimate fear fighter. The simple approach will allow you to get more done and craft stories. Need some support so you can figure out how to simplify? I’d love to help you just like I’ve helped other writers all over the world with a StoryCrafting session.