When you sit down to write, just write.

Easy?

Hardly.

Guess who’s also sitting there with you. You know. Your inner critic.

Your ego. Your survival mechanism. It’s thinking up all these other things you could be doing instead.

Cutting your toenails, fixing the loose board on your back deck, reorganizing your bookshelf. Anything but what you need to do.

What you need to do in order to write is to be focused and determined. But you don’t want to force it.

Relax. Truly relax, and maybe meditate for a minute. (At your desk! This is not the time to go find your yoga mat!)

And let whatever comes up flow out.

Leave the floodgates open.

Using a pen may work better for you than typing, or vice versa. There is no right way except what is best for you.

Your ego will want to stop you. Especially if you are writing something deep, profound, or difficult.

Befriend the ego, the inner critic, the voices in your head. If it helps, visualize the ego as a little gremlin.

The gremlin is trying to help you the best way it knows how. The gremlin is there to protect you, and it’s time to get vulnerable, which the gremlin cannot comprehend. All it knows is that someone splashed water on its face.

Set it aside, gently, this mental monster. Dig deep. Open up.