Write something
When inspiration leaves you and everything but writing seems to be calling, just write something.
We all have times when writing feels hard, don’t we? The last few weeks it has been hot weather, I’ve been recovering from surgery, my daughter has turned 21 and finished her degree and my son has been doing his GCSEs. In addition to that we have been preparing for his Prom, our holiday, birthdays, anniversaries… suffice to say life has been busy. At times like this inspiration often just ups and leaves for me. My head is far too full of plans, ideas and life, there just isn’t any room for imagination and inspiration.
That’s what my head tries to tell me anyway.
It isn’t true of course. It may be harder to get the words down on the page when we are busy or under the weather. Actually this is the time we should be making the effort to write more than ever. It may need to be a different type of writing, but this is when our superpower really comes into play.
The last few weeks I haven’t done any work on my new book, I haven’t created any new resources, I have managed to write regularly here on Substack because that is one of my non-negotiables at the moment. But the one thing I have been doing is journalling. Writing, almost every day (I missed a few days just after my surgery), to get those busy head thoughts out and onto the page. Working through any stress and worry (having both your children in such huge transitional phases at the same time was tense), on paper is the only thing I know how to do. I have been using this as a method of processing and decompressing for as long as I can remember. As a child and teenager I had penpals and wrote diaries. In my twenties I started writing more seriously, and since then I have used blogs, newsletters, and journalling to process everything from grief to mood swings.
Often when you feel most resistant to doing something that is the time you need to dive in most. This is definitely true with writing. Even without a busy schedule and things seeming to fight against us we can have days when we just feel that push back. If you listen to that small voice inside you saying, “you don’t feel like writing, everything you write will be rubbish today anyway, might as well finish that series you started last week on Netflix”, you will never accomplish anything. That voice gains more power, the more often you listen to it.
What can you do when those moments hit:
Take time to meditate or just think about why you are feeling this way. Perhaps you have had some feedback about your writing that has knocked your confidence, maybe you weren’t happy with what you write yesterday and your mind monkeys have come out to play. Get to the bottom of that, you might not want to acknowledge what it is, but it is so important that you do.
If meditation doesn’t give you answers, journal on what is causing you to resist (you might prefer this method to meditation anyway, that’s fine).
Just write something. Even if you know it is rubbish and you will be deleting it the next time you write, let your brain know that it’s ok to write something imperfect.
Get moving. Exercise, dance, go for a walk or a run, but move your body. It’s amazing how much inspiration flows when you step away from your writing and get moving.
Be gentle with yourself.
These times happen. We can’t control them. Know that when the time is right the perfect words will flow onto the page. Sometimes we are just too overwhelmed to write anything permanent. We need to free write or journal to get our intrusive thoughts out but not write anything that will impact our future selves.
If you are hot and bothered, battling your way through personal challenges and have a head full of sports days, leavers events and prom, or business meetings, deadlines and agendas, give yourself a break. Very few writers are lucky enough to write full time. Sometimes our writing feels like the perfect escape from our lives, but at other times it may feel like “just something else to think about”, and that’s ok. Use your writing to support your busy head and forgive yourself for not making the progress on your WIP that you wanted to, just don’t stop writing, that muscle needs exercising regularly.
Hello, I’m Kate, a writing coach, author and mum based in the midlands. My subscribers receive weekly tips, wellbeing reminders and general life ramblings from a menopausal writer. Members get all that, plus access to exclusive members only posts and special seasonal content and juicy personal insights.
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