When A Writer Isn’t Writing

The Misery of Not Putting Pen to Paper (And Cures)

The Misery of Not Putting Pen to Paper (And Cures)

Photo by Drew Coffman on Unsplash

I haven’t written in a couple of weeks, and I’m miserable.

I’m not cranky, exactly, just unhappy. The world isn’t right. Something feels off. The ease has gone from my life.

Okay, so I’ve actually written recently, but not written written. I’ve written posts for Medium, I’ve written my newsletter, I’ve written in my journal.

But I haven’t worked on a story.

And that for me is real writing. I miss it.

Here’s where I’m at:

I finished the draft of a novel the last day of June and set it aside so I’d have fresh eyes when I return to it. I had plans — big plans — for what I’d do next, story-wise. Those plans included returning to a half-finished novel I wrote last year. Playing around with writing some romance short stories.

I haven’t done either.

Instead, I’ve:

— Made a stab at organizing my office, which so far has consisted of moving piles of books and piles of papers around.

— Spent a couple of hours making more big plans for quarter three. So many things I’m going to accomplish the next three months! (Never mind that I’ll be teaching in France the entire month of September.) Of course, because I’m not writing, I got discouraged and abandoned the project.

— Knit a lot. (Which is a grounding creative outlet for me.)

— Read quite a bit, too. Which is part of the job description of a writer!

But none of that is writing. And none of it makes me as happy and fulfilled as writing does.

So, in the interest of helping writers everywhere, since beginning this post, I’ve pondered deeply about what has gone wrong and how to fix it. (Fixing it means, of course, starting to write again.) I’m using my own misery to help you avoid yours. Let’s see if any of these help you (and me).

Know Your Own Rhythms

Remember that the creative process is a cycle and you can’t always go full out. When first I began this break, it felt good. It was nice not to constantly think, I should be writing. Nice just to tend to the other details of my life without constantly pondering story. It’s just gone on too long. The fact that I’m itching to get back to work means it is past time. It’s good to take a break, but mine has turned into procrastination. Don’t let yours — don’t confuse following your natural creative cycles with putting off the writing.

Refuel Yourself

I harp on this a lot, because it is important and we writers easily forget it. When you are working on a long-term project, you are investing a lot, let me repeat, a lot, of energy. Even if you are only finding an hour a day to write, you’re pouring yourself into it. You’re probably battling to protect that hour, which requires yet more energy. You need to refill the well once in a while, because you can’t run on empty forever. Go for a walk, go to a museum, garden, do an art project. Find something that you love and do it. Without feeling guilty.

Kaizen It

Kaizen is a Japanese theory that means “continuous improvement.” Part of this is making progress through small, steady steps, the idea being that those baby steps add up quicker than you think. To apply this to writing, you could tell yourself all you have to do is open the file. Later on that day, you can read the first paragraph. Another example would be to set a timer and write for five minutes. On the one hand, these small steps do build to establishing a practice. On the other, once you write for five minutes you’ll probably keep going.

Just Do It

God, I hate this one. But the truth is, there’s no better way to get back into the work than, well, to jump into it. I’m a terrible hill climber, so when I’m hiking up an incline, I double my speed to get to the top faster and get it over with. When I get in cold water, I dunk my body all at once, rather than sticking in a toe and getting it used to the cold and so on. And that’s what I probably need to go and do right now….open the file of my half-finished novel.

It’s time to get going again.

It’s time to write.

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