How to Use Mistakes to Inform Your Writing Process

Day 14: 20 Days of Venus Retrograde for Writers

Welcome to this series on how the energies of Venus retrograde can affect and inform our creative journey. We’ll use this convenient and spiritually relevant (40) 20-day cycle to explore how the intersection of science, archetypal symbolism, astronomy, and astrology illuminate a path of exploration into our writer’s soul.

Yesterday we made lists of what we love and don’t love about our writing process. Today, we’ll reframe mistakes into powerful questions to shift our writing process. Are you ready? Have your journal? Let’s go!

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Author’s note: I originally intended to post every day of the 40 day retrograde cycle, but discovered that not only does Substack disapprove of sending daily emails, my muse needs weekends off. As of March 17th, the 40 day intention pivoted to 20 days. Monday and Thursday posts will be emailed, but the other daily pieces (Tues, Weds, & Fri) will only be available online & through the app.

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Good morning, writing friend.

I failed math class multiple times.

The first time was in Jr. High, maybe two times in high school—and definitely twice in college (Remedial Math 050, if you need a chuckle.)

I have joked for over 30 years that the reason I taught reading, writing, and English was because I failed math. It was only a partial joke because, well, see for yourself the truth of the matter.

I’m starting today’s note to you with this because of the error of my math on my own writing series. I’ve already pivoted from writing a 40-day series to now a 20-day series (the subheadings can change. The recorded voiceovers will not), and after publishing last night’s post, I fell asleep trying to calculate the word problem…

🤔…if I just posted Day 13, and I’m going to Day 20, there are only 7 days left…but I said we’d go to April 12th, the actual date of Venus direct, and today is only March 18th…what is the real Day 20? 🤔

We humans don’t easily admit mistakes because we want to be seen as above reproach, but I’m bucking the trend.

I admit it: I can’t count. The calendar I Googled -may have- miscounted, most likely due to user error. Allow me to state this for posterity and the record:

We will finish this series at Day 20, whenever that happens. Til then, we’re gonna learn about Venus retrograde energy and the creative process, ‘k? Thanks.

😅Back to our normally scheduled post. 😅

Let’s use my miscalculations as an example to flesh out yesterday’s post on how to use retrograde energy to inform our writing process through our mistakes.

Did I feel ridiculous for bad math? Did I worry that people will leave hateful comments or unsubscribe because of my number ignorance, or that I changed the series mid-stream?

Of course I did. I’m human, and I’m putting my words and personal work on the internet, where mistakes are never forgotten and rarely forgiven.

But because my original intention for this series is to write it to completion, I owed it to myself to find a way to that self-created finish line.

Instead of getting angry, belittling, or shaming myself for one error that morphed into a stream of mistakes, I reframed it as a problem needing a solution—I screwed up and need to figure a way forward—which shifted my perspective into a meta state of observation of my internal writing process.

I asked questions like: (my answers in parenthesis)

Is the embarrassment of being wrong in the eyes of others more important than my own intention of finishing 20 days of writing? (not really, as I don’t think many people are reading the series, anyway.)

If so, what would quitting solve? (it’s comfortable and safe.)

If not, what next step do I take to acknowledge the mistake and continue forward at the same time? (admit I screwed up, laugh it off, and keep writing.)

Will people remember this mistake in another week or two? Does that mean I’m an awful writer? (some might, and if I laugh it off now, I can laugh it off then.) (Of course not. It means you still suck at math after 50+ years.)

These questions and responses made it apparent that my mind, not my creativity, was the one giving up when facing setbacks. I still wanted to write, period. The perception of the error was deeper than the reality of the situation.

This left me with two choices:

Quit and be mad at myself for not finishing —or—

Change my approach to facing creative struggle and forge ahead.

You can extrapolate for yourself (big math word!) the option I chose.

The energy of Venus—or any other planet—in retrograde is one of checking in with where we want to be in relation to where we currently stand and what we need to consciously shift in order to make progress toward our desires.

In reflecting, reviewing, and refining, we have to face realizations that sometimes, our previous behaviors are keeping us from progress. Using those moments as prompts to question our creative habits and behaviors to clarify, not chastise, creates a process of progress toward our writing ambitions.

If you’re still reading—thank you.

Now, get back to writing.

Beth