The Stories Writers Tell Themselves
Aug 13, 2026 · 5 min · 6 segments
**Episode 10 - When I achieve this thing, then I can relax** Writers spend a lot of time making up stories and not all of them end up in our books. *The Stories Writers Tell Themselves* is a free…
Katherine ColletteHostMaybe for you, the thought is, "Once I publish a book, then I'll finally feel like I can slow down or rest after this book comes out and everything is done." Or even, "If this book does well, then I won't have to push so hard anymore." Interestingly, sometimes the opposite thought appears, too.
But what if resting ruins my momentum? I need to capitalize on this right now.
It's the idea that somewhere in the future, after you achieve this thing, there will be a version of you who is calm about writing, a version of you who doesn't have to worry so much, and, this is the critical point for this story, writes from enjoyment rather than urgency.
Because if you imagine that future version of yourself, the one who has finally made it, whatever that means to you, what would actually be different about the way they write? I suspect for a lot of us, the answer would involve relaxedness.
You'd stop rushing, you'd give the book the time it needed, and you wouldn't panic every time you had an unproductive week or something took longer than you expected.
You'd trust that this book will be good, and that there would be another book after this one.
And yet somehow, we imagine we have to achieve something first in order to earn the right to write that way.
Maybe for you, the thought is, "Once I publish a book, then I'll finally feel like I can slow down or rest after this book comes out and everything is done." Or even, "If this book does well, then I won't have to push so hard anymore." Interestingly, sometimes the opposite thought appears, too.
But what if resting ruins my momentum? I need to capitalize on this right now.
It's the idea that somewhere in the future, after you achieve this thing, there will be a version of you who is calm about writing, a version of you who doesn't have to worry so much, and, this is the critical point for this story, writes from enjoyment rather than urgency.
Because if you imagine that future version of yourself, the one who has finally made it, whatever that means to you, what would actually be different about the way they write? I suspect for a lot of us, the answer would involve relaxedness.
You'd stop rushing, you'd give the book the time it needed, and you wouldn't panic every time you had an unproductive week or something took longer than you expected.
You'd trust that this book will be good, and that there would be another book after this one.
And yet somehow, we imagine we have to achieve something first in order to earn the right to write that way.
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