I've realized being a writer is a lot like climbing a mountain. And in the last week, it feels like I've climbed three mountains.
In the last couple of days, I have gone from truly believing my writing meant to something to thinking it was a bunch of junk and back again. This morning those back and forth feelings turned into a full-fledged crisis. I felt paralyzed by uncertainty. It wasn't until I talked about it that I realized what my problem was. When I was first starting out, someone far more experienced than I gave me the single most important piece of advice I've ever been given. She told me to keep writing until I was happy with my story. I thought I understood what she meant. Of course I would keep writing until I was happy with the story. But I understand much better now what that advice means. When I first got into the publishing game, I started strong. I worked effortlessly to prepare my writing. I was determined to write something worth reading and I was determined to have fun doing it. But, over time, it lost its luster. I got caught up in getting work out there and forgot that writing used to be fun. Which brings me to my second point. Deadlines are dangerous. Okay, so I do realize that some people work great with deadlines. And that's awesome. But not me. I realized that in my desire to crank out a couple of books this year, I lost the joy and my spark. I realized that giving myself such strict deadlines was putting massive pressure on myself. It was starting to hurt my body and it was that pressure that led me to feeling like I was going through some sort of crisis. So, I've made a decision. I will not be keeping to a strict schedule. I will write my heart out but I will not force myself to finish something until I am sure it is ready. I owe my readers that much and I owe myself that much. So, here's the point. To all you writers out there, if writing has last its spark and its not fun for you anymore, take a break, take a look at why it's not fun anymore. And if it's because it's because of pressure, like it was for me, slow down. Your readers will thank you.
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AuthorThe blog of Brittany Oldroyd, author of Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Archives
January 2022
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