In my Jupiter-in-Gemini write-along, I was asked for advice on something I’m *really* great at doing: GETTING BACK AT IT. Specifically, the question was about how to get back at it when you’ve taken an extended break from your writing, your creative project, whatever you were working on but stopped working on for whatever reason.
Inertia is real. And it’s a beast. So, I’ve got a handy 3-step process that helps me every time!
Step 1. Forgive yourself for whatever amount of time you’ve been OFF the projects/out of sync with it. We spend WAY too much time beating ourselves up for the hiccup and that’s just wasted energy.
Step 2. Choose a planetary hour (using this process, if you don’t already have a favorite app) to frame your needs. There is ALWAYS something to do that aligns with the next planetary hour (examples below).
Step 3. Review your work from before you dropped off. Or answer Qs at your community, reply to emails, edit a blog post… do anything that gets you back in the swing of things with your OWN writing. This reminds the muscle it knows how to do this.
DEFINITELY lavish praise upon yourself for any amount of getting back at it you happen to do! Again, inertia is a beast and that’s why doing a little something every day using planetary hours is so much easier than OFFICIALLY “getting back at it” after a break.
NO SHAME on that break, BTW. Again, see Step 1!! You got out of rhythm with your process for whatever reason and it doesn’t matter one bit how long it’s been. You can do this! Just spend one planetary hour doing something toward your goal.
Here come those examples I promised!
♄ Saturn’s hour = boundaries, structure, pruning
♃ Jupiter’s hour = magic, brain dump of way too many words, flourish
♂︎ Mars’ hour = taking action, following your passion, making decisions
☉ Sun’s hour = being seen/promoting, taking ownership, writing your bio, going on podcasts
♀︎ Venus’ hour = prettying things up, website graphics, cover art, interior format design
☿ Mercury’s hour = talking out your ideas, seeing things in different ways, bullet-point-list-making
☽ Moon’s hour = rest, soak in the tub, allow ideas to come to/through you, refill the well
We’re always doing some PENNING, PUBLISHING, or PROMOTING as we write our books, y’all. Keep it fun!
Share below in the comments… how do YOU get back at it after a break?
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!