Forcing Yourself to Write, Even When You DunWanna

The reason you’re not writing right now is because you’re not writing. But if you do write, you’ll surprise yourself, every time.

Thing is, before that cathartic moment of surprise can come, you’ve got to actually open a document and work on it. No two ways about it, I’m afraid.

“Writing a book is hard. Forcing yourself to sit down, brainstorm, write, edit, rewrite, edit, cut, add, rewrite, workshop, rewrite and rewrite some more until you’ve got somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 words is grueling work. Most can’t do it.”

– ??? (Quoted all over the internet, but no one ever seems to cite it.)

Think about all those times you were stuck somewhere you didn’t want to be for hours on end, wishing you were writing. NOW is the time to make up for that.

“Procrastination is the arrogant assumption that God owes you another opportunity to do what you had time to do.”

– Rosie O’Neal

Rosie’s quote hits me hard. Every day is a blessing, and I’ve let so many slip through my fingers. No one owes us another day, and tomorrow is never guaranteed.

If I’m engaged in an activity I truly believe in, time passes meaningfully. If I’m not being productive, time passes quickly and I’m left wondering where it all went.

I have to be more stubborn than all the countless writers who failed to write their first novels before they died.

One of the hardest things for me to learn was … you can’t wait around for inspiration to come.

Waiting to be inspired trains you to be lazy, so even when you’re lucky enough that inspiration does happen to strike, it may not lead to motivation. In the worst situations, I’m inspired by this great idea that will make my story sing, but instead of opening the manuscript, I figure I’ll just remember it. Until I forget.

Right now, I have my health. I have two hands and ten dexterous fingers. I have my youth. I have a computer that works. I have a comfortable place to live and a steady job.

The moment my computer breaks down, I find myself wishing I’d spent all that time writing and not screwing around. I wind up frustrated that I can’t write RIGHT NOW, but after the computer is fixed, I take it for granted again.

I don’t want to feel regret when I die. I don’t want to take each day given to me for granted. I want to do something meaningful. I want to complete my story.

This could be your moment, too. This could be the day you start writing again.