How to Keep Writing When You’re Worried, Upset, Angry, Depressed, or Frustrated
Life gets in the way, but the show must go on
That book won’t write itself. Writing is such an emotional task, it’s closely-coupled with our emotions. Writing is much easier when we’re motivated, up-beat, and happy. We’re human, though. So, how we keep writing during our darker days? We all have them. They effect our behavior.
Everything about writing is an emotional response.
Not only do we craft stories to engage the reader’s emotions, but we contend with our own bundled emotions, both about the work we write and about the external world around our writing.
Maybe our friend or partner doesn’t understand the time necessary behind the keyboard. Perhaps you have a death in the family? Lose your job? Cat runs away? Your printer is out of toner and you need a few manuscript pages on your way out the door?
We’re writers. We’re human. It’s a volatile combination.
I’m a fairly emotional person
Couple that with a few heavy scoops of introversion and it doesn’t take much to throw my writing day off the rails. I struggled with this for years. Part of the problem is I still have a day job. I don’t rely on my writing to eat. But I want to be a full time writer some day, so I must keep writing to earn my place. I can’t let my emotions influence my ability to work.
Recently, I changed the way I look at writing.
Thanks to Steven Pressfield (author of The War of Art) I now look at the craft as a blue collar vocation, not some artsy-fartsy thing I do when the wind blows from the east. I write no matter what. Some days I feel terrible when I write. Some days I couldn’t feel better. I write regardless, because the writing is now separate from my feelings.
It’s time to go to work.
I’m not perfect. There are still days when my emotional state gets the best of me. But I’m getting better. I look at the work through a blue collar lens. I believe we can overcome the inner-demons which hold us back. Some days we’ll rock out 5,000 words. Some days we’ll struggle for five. This is the process — all of it. To ignore the influence of your emotions…
