Hi all! Misha here. It's been a loooooooooooooooooong while since I've posted here. Mostly, I've had a long bout of about three months where I had a very unreliable Internet connection, but there's a bit more to this story.
The bit more is where for the whole of 2014 and a part of 2015, my life, to put it nicely, sucked.
I did, however, keep writing through most of it. This was mostly done by force of will. I couldn't do much else, so I was determined to write a much as possible so that I could at least have something positive to show for my time.
But no matter how good the intention, those creative gears do eventually lock. One can only write in the midst of suckiness for so long.
Does that mean I beat myself up about it? Heck no. Quite the opposite. My life wasn't nice, so writing was my escape. If I had beaten myself up for not writing enough, or not well enough or whatever... it would have turned my escape into a jail cell.
That's not to say that I don't set myself some steep goals. I do. You only need to check out my other blogs for proof. Those goals aren't the be-all and end-all, though.
They're more of a guide to what I want to achieve.
And every step I make toward those goals takes me that much further along. And every single step is worth celebrating.
What do you do when life gets in the way of writing?
11 comments:
I still write. Only not as much. I look at what I've accomplished at the end of the week. Much easier to do it that way when adding up seven day's of work than looking at what I'm doing day by day.
I'm sorry life has been so sucky for you lately. Hopefully things will start to turn around and you'll get a lovely respite before the next trial hits you.
When life gets crazy and I can't sit to write, I do a lot of writing in my head. A LOT! It seems I can only live in this world half way no matter what I'm doing. So, I'll be going about real life business while having conversations with my characters about what they're doing or should do when I finally get to write.
Often I'll go through several "drafts" of parts of the story in my head. The hard part is when things fall into place and I still can't sit to write. I'll try to jot some notes so I don't forget, but it's often not as great as if I could write during the glow of a brilliant idea. You know?
I'm in a brain drafting mode right now. Hopefully it will make the writing move smoothly and quickly when I get the chance.
Good luck Mishe!
Stephen, I know what you mean. A week's worth of short writing stints can really add up to a lot.
Charity, I know exactly what you mean. Having something fall into place while in brain drafting mode can be terrible if you can't actually start writing.
I know all too well about life getting in the way. After setting my goals for this year, life did just that and sent my goals searching for rehab lol!
But I kept my mind on my priorities, making sure writing was part of the top-tier.
Life is still in a bit of sucky-mode, but I'm slowly getting a chance to re-integrate writing into my days.
I've lost my desire to write, after being fired for it. But I have not been enthused for a couple years. However, I get the writing bug after reading a very good book, or even watching a movie with excellent dialogue. Gives me stylistic ideas I need to try out.
Glad you were able to keep writing during your internet debacle. Hang in there Misha.
I write about the sucky part and incorporate it into my novels.
makes the stories more real, LOL
I'm sorry that things haven't been great for you. I hope they get better soon, and that you have more time to write.
Life, or rather, my dissertation, (which has become my whole life) has gotten in the way of my fiction/creative nonfiction writing. It always feels like something is missing when I'm not able to write. One thing I've done is let myself take short breaks, even just one a day, because what I was doing was working through the day without breaks (except for meals and sleep). During those breaks I can usually write at least a page or two in my journal, where I vent about what I'm feeling and going through, and sometimes it helps.
I've had a hard time writing as of late myself. I try to not beat myself up about it and know that eventually I'll get back to it. It just takes some time.
And I spend a lot of time plotting things out in my head. When I'm ready to get back to it, I'll know where I'm going.
Angela, life does that, eh? Just when we think we're at cruising altitude, something happens before we can really focus on what we should be doing.
Dolorah, are you serious?! Why'd they fire you?
Hahaha Carol I do that too.
Neurotic, that's not a bad way to work. I've also found that venting in a diary does help me cope.
Liz, it does take time. I think a lot of us put way too much pressure on ourselves, wanting to be super productive in a short time. It happened today as well. I was upset because I haven't been hitting my monthly targets, until I added up my totals and realized that in the three past months alone I've written half of what I wrote in the entire 2014. It all adds up.
I admire you for how hard you work and how you strive for your goals despite having a hard time.
I give myself a break when things get tough, and I just do whatever I can (writing only 100 words at a time, for instance.) Then, when things start to turn around, I make up for it and work harder.
That's how I work too. Even little bits add up. Thanks for stopping by, Shelly. :-)
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