path of the storyteller / blog

“I’d love to write. I just don’t have the discipline.”

Oh, my dear storytellers. If I had a nickel for every time a struggling or would-be writer has said those words to me! I would have all the nickels in nickeldom.

But are these words even true? Is “lack of discipline” the correct diagnosis when a writer finds themselves unable to focus on the work for more than a few minutes at a time?

Or stares at the screen and decides to do laundry instead?

Or avoids the writing chair for days, weeks, years on end, until their dream of writing threatens to wither altogether?

Even if these writers are correct, and discipline deficiency is an actual condition they suffer from, it’s not a helpful diagnosis. Adding “more discipline” is not a simple matter of taking a vitamin supplement. Any kind of behavior change is notoriously difficult. 

And what if “discipline” is not the issue at...