Sometimes being a writer is the most exhilarating experience in the world…
And other times, being a writer can be the most miserable thing ever.
If you’ve written for a consider amount of time, you’ve probably experienced this. Flying…then falling. Having the most amazing writing day ever only to hit rock bottom the next morning. Or, worse, to be having the time of your life one moment, then the next, become incredibly depressed and discouraged about your writing.
Even before I became a serious writer, I still had those ups and downs—days when inspiration came, and days when writing was a joyless task. Last year proved to be especially like that, and for days I wondered if writing was even worth it anymore if I counted how much I stressed about it and loathed sitting at a keyboard to get words down.
I’ll just say it:
Sometimes writers really hate writing.
My question is: why?
Do creativity and inspiration really come and go on a whim regardless of what we do? Is it impossible to be consistently content and joyful as we pursue our craft? Or do we have the power to change our attitude toward our writing, and just aren’t utilizing it?
Questions like this were spinning in my head as I came back from Realm Makers this past summer, determined to fall in love with writing again and see it as a joy, not a duty.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT OUR WRITING
I believe writing becomes joyless for three reasons:
1) we hit a hard spot in our stories and realize that writing is hard work and we don’t feel like doing that hard work (aka editing).
2) we look at our writing and decide it’s absolutely terrible so why bother to keep trying?
3) the magical Inspiration Fairy leaves us unmotivated and uninspired, so we assume writing will be a cheerless task until the Inspiration Fairy comes back.
To tackle the first point, I’ll just say this: writing is hard work. As my mentor told me, there is no magic-bullet for writing. Sometimes (a lot of times) it’s just work. Thinking. Rewriting. Editing. More and more thinking to solve plot problems, bring characters to life, craft beautiful sentences, and remember that stupid grammar rule you keep forgetting. There is no way around that. If there’s no battle, there’s no victory.
You have to ask yourself: is the hard work worth it for me? Be honest. It’s okay if the answer is no—I can guarantee it will be some days, in which taking a break would likely be a good idea. But in the long run, you have to figure out if the hard parts of writing are worth the highs that also come. If the answer is yes—then sit down and write. Being lazy only ever makes people feel powerless and guilty. Push through the hard part and the better part will come if we can just stay patient.
For point two, stop believing lies and believe this instead: writing is a craft that takes a long time to master, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and have the power to inspire people in the meantime. Accept where you on the journey, get encouragement, and keep going and remember why you love this so much.
Point three is harder to tackle. To figure it out, we have to take a look at the Inspiration Fairy who makes writing so easy and fun and sends us loads of plot bunnies.
Remember that magic bullet I mentioned?
The magic bullet is the Inspiration Fairy.
In other words, the Inspiration Fairy does not exist.
(I’m sorry 😛 )
So what is this thing that we think is the Inspiration Fairy?
That, my friend, is your mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
LIFE: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
When writing suddenly becomes “joyless,” we writers often panic. The Inspiration Fairy has left. Our WIP is terrible. No, worse—we’ve lost our writing talent. It’s vanished like the Inspiration Fairy. We can’t write anymore, inspiration is gone, there’s no reason to do this, and we should go collapse on the couch and read cheesy novels for the rest of our lives.
Or we can stop looking so closely at our writing lives and look at what else is going on in our lives. You know: school, relationships, other commitments. Remember them? We often lose sight of them when we’re frolicking through fantastical worlds.
Yet Life is still there, perhaps more so than we realize.
Thing is, what’s happening outside of our writing lives affects us largely when we write. Just had an argument with someone? Of course the words aren’t coming for that scene. Stressed about a deadline? That’s probably why you can’t focus. Stretched thin with a ton of commitments? Well, where do you think your brain is going to get that extra energy from so you can write?
Tense relationships, looming deadlines, lack of sleep, guilt, fear—you name it, and it affects how you write.
So perhaps the question isn’t how to be a joyful writer, but how to be a joyful person.
That could be a whole post (or book) unto itself, so instead I have some tips for how I’ve come to be joyful about my writing again.
1) get your priorities straight. Are you writing when you should be studying or helping out with the family? If your conscience is anything like mine, focusing on writing will be near impossible. Your writing will always be there. Just put it in the place it needs to be. If it’s God’s will that you write, you can guarantee He’ll give you the time to do it, so long as you’re striving to serve Him the best you can.
2) stop attaching your identity to your writing. This is so easy to do as a writer. Our writing is terrible—we’re crushed. We, who have the Holy Spirit Himself residing in our hearts. Placing our self-esteem on something so earthly and fragile just isn’t going to work (I’ll be writing an entire post about this in a few weeks). If your writing is your all in all and the determiner of your joy—yes, you probably won’t be a very joyful writer or person.
3) remember what your writing is. It isn’t life and death. It isn’t the beginning of everything or the end of everything. It’s beautiful. It’s fun. It just isn’t the end of the world if life takes you away from it or you’re unable to do it. Embracing this is so freeing.
It’s terrifying and crushing when writing suddenly stops being a joyful activity. Instead of wallowing in that despair and waiting for the Inspiration Fairy to return, step back and look outside of your writing: your life, your relationships, your commitments. Putting writing in the right place on your list of priorities and being okay with slowing down to keep up with other things in life will help bring the joy back when you can write again.
(Originally published November 24, 2018, on audreycaylin.com)