How to Disable the Disabler and Write What’s Truly Remarkable

As an editor, I love to encourage.

It’s one of my favorite parts of my job. But all the encouragement in the world doesn’t matter against the Disabler. Eventually, he finds everyone. He slithers over and hisses in your ear, planting thoughts…

“I don’t have what it takes.” “I’m nothing special.” “I don’t have anything to share.” “I don’t know enough.”

Have you heard that stuff? What’s your response? Do you fight back?

Maybe you decide to sit back down at your desk anyway. But once you get there, then what?

I’ve been there, searching for treasure in the trash pile. I was there this week, in fact. And then I had an author hit the wall and I heard myself telling him what I needed to hear: “You have what it takes. Just show up and let God demonstrate that your worth isn’t what’s important.” Worth? I thought.What’s writing have to do with our worth? Isn’t writing just a job–you show up, you do the work, you go home?

Yes and no. It’s work, but it’s work that requires special motivation. And “being special” is an addictive drug I remember only too well. How special we are is not what matters. What matters is what we’ve been given. It’s not about what we know or what we can do–that comes in due time. All that depends on us is our willingness to invest. We’re all of inestimable value, including readers, which is why we must seek the treasure and invest it–for them and for the one who made it all.

I wanted to tell him all this, but I had to learn to understand it myself first. So I wrote about it. Because everyone knows the best way to learn is to try teaching it.

Every author needs to grow before their work can be all they really hope. We all need to first learn from what we’re writing for it to speak well; the book has to first teach me what I’m missing, what I tried to say but didn’t quite. That’s where every book starts and why we need others to help point it out. If we can accept where its limited and see that clearly, we grow. And then the book will be what it needs to be–truly remarkable.

This is the treasure: to go on this journey. That perfect ending is out there, the one that encapsulates the truth you couldn’t have said any other way. It’s hidden right now. But if you’ll go on the journey yourself first, you’ll see. That’s the reason you’re here writing, searching. This is how to write remarkably–by first living remarkably. Humbly. Learning.

I say, don’t write what you know. Write what you want to learn. Then don’t stop until you learn it!

Now I know the truth is I don’t have what it takes. I never will. And that’s why I write. Because this is how the real treasure is found.