Unfortunately for this would-be writer, I have a tendency to lose sight of the inspiration to write when I’m trying to do other projects. After formatting three books to self-publish eight years ago, I lost all touch with writing for years. I would still write, still compete in NaNoWriMo, but the in-between writing was missing.
Last year, my New Year’s resolution was to really focus in on making writing a part of my life. Not just something that I did in November, but something that I did all year round. It was a good idea, but like most resolutions, it fell into a briar patch about halfway through the year. Thankfully for NaNoWriMo, I never fully lost sight of writing, but come the end of November, I was starting to feel burn out. Burn out from my professional life that saw me make the drastic decision to leave the company I’d spent the majority of my adult life working for, and burn out in my personal life that saw me take the last two weeks of December completely off from all writing tasks except the occasional jotting down of new ideas.
The best part about mistakes is that we can learn from them. And this year, I’m going to set goals, but also set boundaries. I may not be much of a fan of Ray Bradbury, but I have always been of fan of his writing advice. And nothing could be more necessary this year, in order to keep with my ongoing resolution, than to keep sight on what is really important, writing.
I think one of the issues that stymied me last year was that I lost sight of inspiration. I lost sight of searching out the advice of others unless it was to figure out what I was doing wrong with formatting. So this year, as part of the schedule (which will remain flexible to save my sanity), I’ve decided to dedicate one day of every week to searching for that inspiration. It might be inspiration for what to write, how to write, or ideas to add to my WIP. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I keep it in my sight, my mind, my work.
For all my fellow would-be writers, whether you’re just starting off a new story, working on an old one, or staring at a blank page and banging your head against a desk and/or wall for good measure – know that you’re not alone. And as difficult as it may be to see the forest for the trees, we’re all in our own forests of our own making, and we’ll find our way through. We just need to keep in mind why we do this, why we’re would-be writers, and that would be because of the love of writing.
Until next time –
L.E.
Ramblings of a Would-Be Writer 
Still Writing is also a great and inspiring book that helps me when I loss the motivation to write. Thanks for the reminder. Keep writing!
LikeLike