Remembering Why We Write

It is easy to get discouraged, but don’t let that stop you from rediscovering your inspiration.

The year 2020 was tough, and 2021 is shaping up to be full of its own special challenges. Even under the best of circumstances, it is easy for writing to take a back seat to the tasks and exigencies of everyday life. Who has time to sit down, focus, and get into that creative mindset? Trying to write a masterpiece? Good luck.

Maybe you are trying to craft a sentence, develop a character, or write a lyric poem. Maybe you are writing blog posts, trying to achieve that punchy, pithy balance that makes curators take notice. Whatever your project, when we center what we can’t do, instead of what we can, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.

I have been struggling with these issues myself. Though I am an experienced writer, every project presents new challenges. It is easy for self-doubt to cloud my better judgment and make me compare my work and productivity to others’, which is always a losing, dispiriting game.

So, instead of barreling into a new project, I decided to take a time-out and focus on the things that make me want to write. Here are a few suggestions that helped me get out of my head and back to myself.