Using Emotion as a Tool
An Honest Source of Motivation
Writing every day can prove to be a cumbersome task. Some days the words spill on the screen naturally as if Dumas were narrating your thoughts. Other days, the opposite happens — sitting down to write seems more uncomfortable than sleeping in a wet, sandy bathing suit.
As a writer trying to improve, writing every day can vastly improve your skills. As noted in a previous post, writing has nothing to do with motivation. It’s all about persistence and dedication to the craft. Write, write, and write some more. If it sucks, who cares? If it’s decent, still, only a few will care much.
Although motivation should never act as the primary reason for writing, it can drive your writing at times. And for me, emotion is the sole motivator I experience — whether I’m angry, sad, happy, or nostalgic, I want to write. The cause and specific feelings do not matter. All that matters is that I sit down and utilize that fire, or gloom, inside for good.
Some of my best writing has resulted from either anger or annoyance burning inside me. At times, sadness can help, but I tend to prefer fire to the rain.
When the goods come, I’ll sit down, half laughing at the absurdity of whatever has pushed me over the edge, half encaptivated by passion, and I stab at my keyboard for 20 minutes. Maybe I’ll even text a friend to let them know I’m on to something juicy.
Next thing I know, I have something, hopefully, half-decent staring back at me. Of course, it’s rough, ugly, and has traces of an asshole behind it, but that can all be edited with a clear mind.
Passion drives rashness. Falling victim to emotional thinking can result in poor decisions. That’s why it’s important to be mindful of your mental state. Knowing how to distance your intentional thoughts and actions from your emotions is a vital skill all should have.
On the other hand, letting emotions flow can lead to something beautiful if channeled correctly. To write with emotion is a skill, as some emotional writing can result in something toxic if not done with care — trust me, I’ve written appalling content plenty of times.
I will not act like I’ve perfected that skill because I’d be lying. But I try. I use my wildly fluctuating emotions to take put weird thoughts to paper and see what happens.
