The Troubles Of (Not) Writing

For some unexplainable reason I have hardly written a word this year. I am sorry you haven’t heard from me this long and thank you for waiting! But as a lame excuse I must say that ALL my writing has suffered. I guess you could say that life got in the way.

And that’s a problem. Because I love writing. And I think that all of you to some degree love writing, otherwise why would you read a blog about it?
I want to be a published writer with all my heart. I love writing. I love getting to know my characters as close friends and feeling the thrill of those blank pages still lying ahead of you. I love suddenly breaking off conversations because you suddenly had a breakthrough. Or grabbing a notebook in class because you had the most perfect idea in your daydream and need to write it down (and as a bonus your teacher will think you’re finally taking an interest in what they are saying). I adore waking up from a dream in the middle of the night and having to grope for a paper and then try to figure out what you have scribbled down because you were too lazy to actually turn on a light.
Then why didn’t I write?

I’m guessing here that I’m not the only person ever to have to deal with this problem. Maybe you are dealing with it now. Maybe, every day after work or school you come home exhausted, see that notebook or your computer and with a sigh start to watch television. Or you are sitting ready with your laptop but then start checking your mail, updating your facebook and your twitter (somehow for me my blog wasn’t in that line). And then of course, just as you want to write, you’re friend comes online and starts to talk to you and you have to admit that you haven’t ta
lked to her in ages. Or when you promise yourself that you’ll do it next weekend, and somehow you hang out with your friends and it’s Monday morning and you’ve done no writing at all (or homework).

Sounds a little bit familiar?
 Trust me, I kinda hope it doesn’t. Because no matter how great it is that you’re actually out there living your life and being completely addicted to smallville (I’m at the end of season 5 at the moment, having rediscovered the series two months ago) your writing does suffer.
I came to England with the beautiful dream of spending my afternoons after an easy school day (No one told me that three subjects in A-level is about as much work as the eight subjects a day I was used to at home) just relaxing and writing. And around Christmas I would have my story ready to send to a publisher or an agent.

Yeah..... about that. I’m still in the process of re-writing my story and am pushing the idea of publishing out of my mind for the moment. First things first. How do we write?
How do we actually force ourselves to sit down and write every single day? My Art teacher recently told me that I should work under exam conditions more often. In five hours I produced a considerable amount of work of a much better quality then the rest I’ve made these past few months. And remember NaNoWriMo? A 50.000 novel in just 30 days. Wow. Why can’t we do that EVERY month?

For those of you hoping I’ll actually have an easy and perfect solution, I’m sorry but I don’t know. There is a reason that I haven’t written in three months. 
Sometimes you start writing again because the weather changes, or you have a dream about being a famous writer. Maybe a friend asks how your book is going on. Or maybe you watch an inspirational movie or find yourself so bored that you would even go and look up your old story. For me it was telling my friend the story line of my novel and telling her about all the plot twists and plans I had for those characters and the things I still wanted to change and spice up. And she listened and made enthus
iastic comments and told me she loved my idea and I just found myself talking and talking and wishing I could somehow record this moment because it gave me the energy and passion to write for days at an end.

It is because of that moment and probably the nice change in weather and perhaps even the fact that I stayed home because of a migraine that has now slowly disappeared so I’m just sitting lazily on my bed not sure what to watch anymore.

My best advice is to keep your dreams close to you. Take a moment sometime to think about it and really see yourself as who you want to be. Visualise yourself as a published writer. Don’t be afraid, make it good, give yourself a million dollar book deal. Make yourself famous. Pretend those people you’re passing on the street know you and admire your books and are right now wondering if it’s ok to approach you to say hi. Get excited!

Because no matter how many rules you set yourself and hours in which you should write, the only thing that can really let you sit down and write those words is dreams and passion. Lots of it.

Because you might think that life is getting in your way. But really if you’re serious about it, writing should be a part of your life. A big part. And the only thing getting in the way is yourself.

Keep Writing!

Xx LordKiwii