As I sit in my PJ’s and begin drafting this post between breakfast and a writing project and work, I feel the swirl of words sliding through my veins, begging to spill out. (Or maybe it’s the coffee I had this morning providing me with a boost of energy. Either way.) The writing mood has hit me again. If I had my druthers today, I would not open the front door. I would stay parked in my chair, fingers on the keyboard, and I would wing my way to another world.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time. In less than two hours, I’ll head to work. Before then, I need to shower, pack a meal, and maybe work on a little nonfiction project because I have a deadline. The writing mood may linger, but with no outlet, it will settle in the back of my mind and wait for inspiration to stir it up again.
When I come home at 8 pm, my brain will likely be too tired to string together pretty sentences. And so I hold out hope for tomorrow, during which I may have a few spare hours in which to write.
But there is no guarantee that I’ll be in the mood.
During high school, I found ways to write even when the week was full of schoolwork and youth group and chores and other things. I thought I was busy then, but I made the effort to write anyways. I loved it too much to not write.
I feel even busier now. Twenty- to thirty-hour weeks, blogging, social outings, family time, and all the random bits of life . . . Writing happens less often now. I’m coming to accept that, but it does mean that if I want to write at all, I have to utilize my spare time–whether or not I feel like it.
I don’t know how you feel about writing, whether it’s a hobby or something you want to do for a living. If you, like me, want to make it a career, then we must treat it like a job. Not in a joy-sucking, “I’m obligated to do this” sort of way, but in a persistent way.
Your muse isn’t cooperating? Doesn’t matter. Write. Lacking inspiration? Just write. Your thoughts are too bland and listless to arrange themselves nicely on the page? Write out those bland and listless words anyway. Some days you have to give yourself permission to write junk. At least you’re writing.
“I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card . . . and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.” -Joyce Carol Oates
Of course you need breaks. I’m not saying go burn yourself out. You may need that evening off to watch your favorite show, or that week to just read and sketch and wander through the trees and refill your well of inspiration. Please put the writing aside when necessary.
But a lot of the time, when you feel like doing anything but staring at a blank page, that’s exactly what you need to do. The act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keys may be just the thing to wake up the ideas. Muses are flighty creatures. Yours may be off sulking in a corner right now, but if you start writing, it might get curious and slink up to your shoulder again. Then again, it might not. But if you write long enough, whether it be minutes or hours or days or weeks, the inspiration will come back. By writing consistently, you’re forming a habit. The mood might start arriving more consistently then, too.
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” -Louis L’Amour
For me, I’m realizing that ‘consistent’ does not–cannot–mean something like, “On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will write for three hours,” or “I will write a minimum of 100 words a day.” I wish it did. But the way life is right now, very few activities land on the exact same day at the exact time, every time. My schedule morphs on a daily basis. So although it’s harder to hold myself accountable under these circumstances, I have to take stock every day and determine if/when I have time to write. And then I aim to do it. Sometimes other tasks take longer, or I discover upon reaching my writing time that I truly don’t have anything to put on the page. And sometimes I read blogs and check email when I should be writing. I’m human. Discipline is something I’m learning.
The important thing is to show up.
And show up again.
And show up again.
Write. Write glorious pages upon pages of flowing script, or write one measly paragraph that clunks onto the page like an unwieldy cement block. Write passionate, inspired scenes, or write the most boring chapter you’ve ever penned. Whatever it looks like today, write anyway!
(Editing, after all, fixes everything. But that’s another post altogether.)
My muse is always off sulking in a corner, sometimes I can bribe him out with chocolate.
Chocolate fixes everything. Even sulky muses. XD
YES. I need this right now. My life is suddenly so, so much busier then it was. Used to I had TOO much free time, but these days finding writing time is a real struggle. But, as you said, we need to treat it as our job. We can't just wait for inspiration and free time, that's not going to happen often. And I've definitely found that once I've been writing for a few minutes, even if I was completely uninspired at first, that muse eventually comes peeking over my shoulder after a few minutes. (Love how you put that.)
But, as you said, the most important thing is to just keep writing, no matter what.
Thank you for this reminder! It was so very timely.
Isn't it just uncanny how we seem to be on the same page with things? I love it.
It definitely is a struggle in these busy seasons, but diligence is key! Just keep swimming–er, writing.
So glad this arrived at a good time for you! ^_^
Nobody likes to sit staring at a salt-white screen, fingers immovable over the keyboard. But you're right, that shouldn't scare us away.
My muse is of the night owl nature, but I'm trying to get some writing in during other times of the day as well. I find that making character charts and plot structure helps. That counts as writing, yes?
Your comments are poetry! 🙂
A night owl muse… I can't decide whether that would be fun or inconvenient. Anytime I write past my usual bedtime, I suffer for it the next day. 😛
Charts and such definitely count as writing! It's all progress.
Oh, how I can relate! You really seem to read my mind. (Seriously though–how do you do it? I'm convinced we are somehow telepathically communicating. XD)
It's all too easy for me to shove writing aside, saying "I don't feel like doing that right now. I'll do it later." Oftentimes that later never comes. I reallllly need this reminder. Sometimes we just gotta write! It may look like a complete disaster, but hey, at least there's something on the page!
By the way, I LOVE those two quotes! So true and so inspiring.
I secretly have telepathy, activated only through blog comments. >:D (Ha. No. Not really.)
At least it's a WRITTEN disaster, right? A written anything is way better than an unwritten something.
They're great quotes! I need to turn them into art and hang them up by my desk, methinks. 🙂
You wrote it beautifully and I found myself in every sentence. A while ago I watched Neil Gaiman's interview where he said that if you write only when you have inspiration, you can be a great poet, but if you want to write a novel, you have to write even when you don't feel like it. It's really truth. Yesterday I was feeling a little bit sad because I haven't been writing for a while and I didn't really know how to continue in the story but despite that I sat down, opened my word document and tried. At the end I came up with a really good chapter.
I'm at uni so I probably have more free time than you but sometimes it's really hard to just sit and write. Then there are moments when I have to study and my imagination goes crazy and there's nothing I want more than just to write.
I'm glad that I'm not alone in this so thank you for this inspiring post. 🙂
Thank you, Simona! (Greetings and salutations, by the way! I noticed via Bloglovin' that you're from Slovakia–very cool. It boggles my mind to think that someone across the world could be reading stuff I write.)
Very true! We have to learn to write even when we feel uninspired. Isn't it amazing how something good can land on the page anyway? 🙂
Oh goodness, I'm sure you're even busier than me if you're at university! o.o Way to go for finding time to write amidst that craziness.
We writers have to stick together. It can be a lonely business. Glad you found this inspiring!
I was thinking about this just yesterday. I was in an amazing writing mood, and actually ended up writing instead of doing my calc homework. O.o But then there are other days when the last thing I feel like doing is writing, but I actually have time for it. Like Christmas break. So much time and I wrote about three blog posts and that was it. It's all about finding a balance, as you say, between consistency and not burning yourself to the ground. Great post! 😀
Telepathy again… *waggles fingers mysteriously*
I'd take writing over calculus any day. XD Ugh, isn't that the worst? When you don't have time to write, you want to; and when you do have time, you don't want to.
Thanks, Sarah! 😀
Great post, Tracey! I agree, we need to write even when we don't want to. Funny thing is, I say I agree, yet I don't tend to do it … huh. Maybe this should change :D.
But really, when I don't feel like writing, it tends not not be I-really-don't-feel-like-writing (though of course, that IS how it is sometimes), it's I-don't-feel-like-writing-this-particular-story-right-now. And, since I'm unpublished and get all the privileges of being so, I put said story down for a bit and come back later feeling (hopefully) refreshed and ready to go on :). Unless I get caught by the plot bunny while I'm taking a break. THAT is when problems arise.
And yeah, editing fixes everything. Even the really awful, makes-you-want-to-bang-your-head-on-the-desk-messy things XD.
Thank you! I have definitely had seasons like that too, where I talk about writing more than I actually . . . er, write. XD
That can happen too–we get tired of a certain story and need to change gears, if only for a little while. Art feeds off art, so creating something else often gives us that inspiration we need for the original creation. 🙂 Those dreaded bunnies! I think we need a plot bunny pound to send them to.
EDITING, YESH. Hard work, but verrrry necessary.
This is so very, very true 🙂
I'm starting to think everyone I follow is on the same mental wavelength- January everybody?
I just wrote a post about music getting me past writer's block, because I'D BEEN SUFFERING FROM THIS SAME MALAISE myself.
If I have no time to write – it's all I want to do. All the time to write? Binge watch YouTube videos instead (something I normally don't do, but when I was sick over Christmas and New Years -mostly what I did)
You are 100% right about art feeding off of art. And that you somehow find time to write during school, but not during work, etc. I'm always so tired!!
Show up, and show up again – very good advice. Writing is like any other skill, if you don't work at it, it doesn't ever grow. Great post!
Haha, maybe it is a January mood hitting all of us. A combination of determination and fresh goals, along with some cynicism born from previous failures, perhaps?
It is SO easy to waste time on the internet when you should be writing. We're too good at sabotaging the writing time we do get. 😛
Seems that way, huh? During school, I had structure in my days, but not so much that I didn't have time for writing. Work takes a whole different kind of energy, leaving me zapped for creativity some days. Glad to know it's not just me. 🙂
Very true! Thanks so much, Rebekah!
Yep. I needed to read this. Having just finished one monumental project, I thought maybe I could ride that wave-crest of excitement right into the next big mountain of editing I needed to do… but alas, such was not the case. Thankfully, I have another project to outline/plot out and that has been a good break between editing chores.
My muse is extremely flighty (and a night owl as well), and has a bad habit of appearing right when there is absolutely no way for me to sit down and write, or even jot notes. Sigh. But I press on.
Rebekah, I'm exactly the same with the time-to-desire-to-write ratio… the less time I have, the more inspiration and desire to write I have… the more time I have… the more I just want to sit down and watch an entire season of Leverage or something. LOL
Thanks for the encouragement, Tracey! 🙂
Well, I'm glad that this came at a good time for you! 🙂 Riding the wave from one project to another doesn't always work, unfortunately. Especially when one has a ginormous pile of things to edit/fix. It's a bit daunting, isn't it?
What is it with muses? Really! Can't they see that we're serious about this writing thing and that they should, you know, *cooperate* for once? XD Keep pressing on, yes!
(I keep hearing about Leverage. Mainly from Deborah at "Road of a Writer." 😉 )
Glad to provide it! ^_^
Great post, Tracey! So true. If we write only when we're inspired we won't write at all and writing a bit is better than writing nothing. 🙂
storitorigrace.blogspot.com
Thanks, Tori! Every single little bit counts. It does add up eventually. 🙂
This is even a great encouragement for me – someone who doesn't write other than on her blog. There's little, or big, moments all throughout the week I could be working on my blog post, but very often the evening of posting arrives and I sit there and cram. When inspiration hits, and even when it doesn't, I need to make my writing more of a priority.
Heheh, that happens with me too, more than it should. I have little bits of spare time when I COULD be putting a post together, but then all of a sudden it's Friday and "Oh goodness, I'm supposed to blog tomorrow." It's all in the time management, I guess!
(By the way, I deleted the duplicate comment, but now that little "this comment has been removed by the blog administrator" message makes it look like I had to take down something bad. 😛 Sorry!)
"Show up, show up, show up, and after a while, the Muse shows up too." — Isabel Allende, THE QUOTATION BY WHICH I LIVE MY LIFE.
Great post!
That quote is IMMENSELY appropriate. Love it!
Thanks muchly, Emily!