I’ve been struggling with writing. Not lately but on and off throughout my writing years. If there is one thing I’ve learned during my years of writing, then that is, writing is hard. Period.
I have been advocating that we should write only when our inner writer feels like and wants to. Like the one in my post here.
But then there are times when you cannot get motivated to write anything. It could be for any reason, lack of motivation or writer’s block or plain laziness. The truth is you don’t want to write. I didn’t want to write. Until I decided to make it a habit for every day because we all know,
To be a better writer, you have to write every day.
Who was I kidding?
Here is what I decided. With all the tools that I needed, my Mac and iWriter I gave myself an hour to write any damn thing that came to my mind. And I would do it every day. Every single day of my life. This is what happened.
I failed.
Not only did I not write anything. I did not even start writing. Not even a single word. Nada! I had failed before I had begun. Now you may say, how can you fail when you didn’t even start? I had failed not because I didn’t write. I failed because I didn’t treat myself as the writer I called myself to be.
Getting back to reality and not setting too big a goals for myself was the only best thing to do.
I gave myself, only 10 minutes to write every single day. Not for the whole life but for the week. Did I write? Nothing.
One minute was gone. Blank. Nothing. Trying not to make it stressful I asked myself. A simple question that changed the way I looked at my writing. I typed on the screen,
Why should I write like my life depends on it?
Simple. One simple question which got my fingers moving.
I started typing a list to answer the question I had asked myself.
- To become a better writer
- Get more readership
- Get published in various places
And more.
The list went on. A few things seemed to be repetitive, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t want to interrupt my thought process. I did reach a point where I could not find anything else to add to my list. My list had ended but not my writing. I wrote another article for my blog and kept writing for the next half an hour or so.
So in the end, I had a list and a fresh post for my blog.
Even today when I find myself stuck, I take a deep breath and type away without thinking any further,
Why should I write like my life depends on it?
It’s changed my perspective on writing. It will change yours too.
Ask yourself today,
Why should I write like my life depends on it?
Originally published at www.upasanabhattacharjee.com on April 5, 2017.
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I am an entrepreneur and an author. I can be found writing on my blog, LinkedIn Pulse and Thrive Global publication. I’ve been published in other places which can be found here. Follow me on Medium & Twitter or check out my website here.
Originally published at medium.com