As we continue the analysis phase of APODS, we’re going to discuss what I’ve called the three Ps:
- Personality Type
- Productive Times
- Present Use of Tim
This month we’ll address the first one. If that sounds a bit intimidating, don’t worry. The goal is not to change your personality but to understand it, since understanding is the first step toward becoming more productive.
How many of you have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment? If you haven’t, I highly recommend that you do so. There are online sites that offer free versions, and while they may not be as complete as the real MBTI, they might give you some important insights into why finishing a book is relatively easy for you or why “The End” seems elusive.
The result of the MBTI assessment is a four-letter personality type. Each of those letters relates to one of four elements and describes your preferences for:
– How you energize yourself (Extraversion or Introversion)
– How you learn about the world (Sensing or iNtuition)
– How you make decisions (Thinking or Feeling)
– Whether you prefer closure or options (Judgment or Perception)
While they’re all important for understanding how you communicate and how you view life, the critical one for getting to “The End” is the final one.
Why? Let’s look at the differences in personalities between those whose preference is J (which stands for Judgment, but not Judgmental) and those who are Ps (Perception).
A person who scored high as a J likes control, structure, and organization. A J wants to make decisions and come to closure. On the other hand, a P is spontaneous and wants to understand rather than control. A P prefers flexibility and is open to new options and gathering more information. While Ps will probably never suffer from writer’s block, they will have more trouble getting to “The End” than a J.
Even if you haven’t taken the MBTI assessment, think about yourself and your approach to writing. Do you find yourself excited and sometimes sidetracked by possible new plot points for your book, or, once you’ve started the book, do you feel compelled to finish it? The answer may help you understand whether you’re a J or a P.
If you’re a J, you may still be challenged to finish a book, but chances are you’ll have an easier time than a P. So, if you’re a P, should you give up writing, knowing it could be difficult to reach “The End”? Absolutely not. As I said at the beginning of this post, the important thing is to recognize your personality type and how it impacts your writing. Strong Ps can – and do – write books. The techniques that we’re going to discuss over the next few months are designed to help everyone, but they’re particularly useful for Ps.
See you next month! And in case you were wondering, I’m an ENTJ with both the N and J being very strong.
(c) 2018 Amanda Cabot
Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.
Her most recent release is A Borrowed Dream, the second in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.
by Amanda Cabot
Cimarron Creek Trilogy
You can find Amanda at:
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