Don’t feel like writing? Write anyway!

Gary Bloomer | SHAKING THE TREE #158

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Beginner writer?

This is for you.

Seasoned pro? This is also for you.

Me? I’ve been writing online in some shape or form since 2009.

A great deal of the stuff I’ve churned out has been crap.

I mean, truly awful stuff.

For the longest time, I was in total denial of how bad my writing was.

But now and again, I’d re-read something and think it wasn’t half bad.

Nothing that’s going to win me a Pulitzer, but still, one or two things I’m happy with.

And so, I kept going. Until I stopped.

Between 2010 and 2017, and for various reasons, I wrote practically nothing. My heart simply wasn’t in it.

I’m sharing this because although many writers start out full of enthusiasm to write something lively every single day, there will be times, perhaps days—sometimes even weeks—when you simply won’t feel it.

And it’s on THOSE days that you need to break through. It’s on THOSE days that you need to buckle down and get to work.

It doesn’t matter WHAT you write—it can be a shopping list, a postcard, even addressing an envelope will do—all that matters is that you scribble or type SOMETHING!

ANYTHING!

Even on days when the words feel heavy, even at times when the blank page or the empty screen SCREAMS AT YOU—try to write something-ANYTHING.

A single word will do.

Just write.

When you lose all hope, when inspiration has walked away from you, when your muse seems to have abandoned ship, it's crucial that you write.

Here’s why this matters:

It's during these moments of downtime, it’s precisely at these moments of stark, empty, voluminous resistance that the true power of your writing reveals itself.

Writing is much more than an act of creation. It’s not simply about producing pleasing combinations of related words; it's about going out—and sometimes, going within—and passionately searching.

It’s about actively capturing and wrestling your thoughts, emotions, and ideas into submission, and it’s about memorably wrangling them face down onto the page.

The more we do this—over and over again whether we feel like it or not—the more more frequently we go back to the well—the more familiar and proficient we become with the process and with that process, the more ingrained becomes our habit.

That’s the key: making writing a habit.

Not work. No. A habit.

A habit that calms us and that moves us forward. A habit that helps us and that helps us help other people; a habit that we feel good about because we’re being creative.

We invariably view anything connected with the idea of work as an obligation. As a chore. Which means we’ll grow to resent the process. So we need to push through, even when we’re not feeling it. Even when we’re tired, or ill, or we simply can’t be arsed.

When we force ourselves to write, even when we’re not feeling it, we build discipline and we tap into a deeper well of creativity.

The more often we push ourselves and the more time and energy we invest in the process, the more likely it becomes that we discover hidden narratives, unexpected connections, and surprising insights that we might otherwise have missed.

Sometimes, even if what we’re churning out is a cross between a crappy first or second draft and a self-imposed micro assignment that produces a line or two of something that’s half decent, writing turns into a cross between a daily devotional and a meditative experience of self-care.

In this sense, our creation of a daily writing habit allows us to process our experiences, work through our anxieties, and find endless degrees of clarity and order in the day-to-day chaos.

By putting our thoughts on paper or on screen, we get better at gaining a clearer understanding of ourselves, of our experiences, thoughts, and beliefs, and of our place in the world.

Finally, and again, when we stick to it by making it a part of our daily routine, writing becomes a powerful discipline that strengthens our ability to focus, to problem-solve, and to communicate effectively in an increasingly complex and confusing world.

By consistently focusing and honing and practicing our craft as writers, we develop greater degrees of mental agility and acuity, and we build higher levels of maturity and resilience, all of which are crucial tools in terms of facing challenges and achieving our goals.

Even when the going gets tough—when people let us down or when life throws us a speeding curve ball—it's essential to keep writing.

By pushing through and by writing something every day we become more familiar with the rhythm and flow of language, our writer’s ear becomes more attuned to flow and pacing, and we become both the writers we were meant to be, and the sort of writers the world needs more of.

As always, thanks for reading.

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P.S. Next time on Shaking the Tree … Why you need to stop over explaining.