Two Simple Ways to Stick With Writing When You Feel Like Giving Up
Ever sat in front of your computer staring at a blank screen?
You’re there to write, but you can’t find the words to say what you mean.
Even if you finally manage to produce something, the text looking back at you just doesn’t click.
There’s a gap between what you wrote and what you want to say; a divide you can’t bridge.
And then you start lying to yourself:
You have neither the skill nor the commitment.
You’re not built for this.
We’ve all been there before.
And that’s why I’m deeply interested in how we break out of these patterns to become better writers.
In my quest, I have found two things that keep me going during particularly challenging writing sessions:
- Acknowledge that writing is rarely easy for anyone
- The freewriting technique
I hope these strategies can do the same for you.
Accept that easy reading is hard writing
I need your honest assessment of the following passage:
“It was a rat that sat on a mat. That’s that. Not a cat.”
Sound like it’s ripped straight from the pages of a preschooler’s learning to read textbook, doesn’t it?
It might surprise you to learn those words belong to the legendary writer, Dr. Maya Angelou.
In an interview with the Paris Review, Angelou shared her writing process and the resistance she often encountered:
“ When I would end up writing after four hours or five hours in my room, it might sound like, It was a rat that sat on a mat. That’s that. Not a cat. But I would continue to play with it and pull at it and say, I love you. Come to me. I love you. It might take me two or three weeks just to describe what I’m seeing now.”
Angelou’s books spent years on the most prestigious bestseller lists.
But, still, the writing rarely flowed:
“It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy. Of course, there are those critics — New York critics as a rule — who say, Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer. Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.”
So, when you think writing is hard, remember it’s hard for everyone.
After all, writing is a complex challenge.
When we write for an audience, we’re involved in knowledge-crafting, writes Ronald T. Kellogg in this research paper, which was published in the Journal of Writing Research.
Knowledge-crafting is the sum of three distinct activities.
We’re:
- Sorting through our ideas; this might include drawing from our long-term memory
- Making sure the text fully represents our meaning
- Keeping our imagined reader in mind; how they will interpret our ideas?
We’re taking our thoughts — these ideas dancing around in our heads — presenting them to a reader we can’t see, and hoping they’ll understand our meaning.
It’s no small wonder it feels tough, even for people who study the act of writing itself.
Mike Rose is an American scholar and educator who has spent decades studying literacy. He has written several books, including Writer’s Block: The Cognitive Dimension. His research into public education has been widely awarded.
In short, he’s been engaged in serious writing for a very long time.
Yet, the idea that writing is easier for someone like him is a myth.
Rose describes writing as “difficult, taxing, work that seems to slam me constantly up against my limitations”.
“…remember that writing is hard for everybody…I think just even understanding that up front keeps you at the keyboard rather than allowing yourself to give into the feeling of inadequacy, thinking that it’s only you who are going through this awful stuff. It’s more the norm than you think.”
So, no, we’re not incapable when we struggle with writing. We’re engaged in mentally demanding work.
These ideas are expressed perfectly by William Zinsser in On Writing Well, which sold 1.5 million copies. Zinsser started his career at the New York Tribune, before teaching writing to students at Yale University.
“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.”
Assuming writing is easy for everyone except us will only cause unnecessary trouble and feelings of helplessness.
Acknowledge and accept there will be “moments of despair”.
But, by showing up and staying in the chair — even when it’s hard and messy — we’re making progress.
And fortunately, there’s a technique to get words on the page even when we don’t feel like writing.
Write without thinking
Think back to the last conversation you had.
You likely gave undivided attention to your words. You said what you wanted to say and didn’t pause to correct yourself after every second or third word.
Now, think back to the last time you were writing.
Chances are you stopped, started, and wrangled with words before you formed even a single sentence.
That’s one of the biggest challenges facing many writers, contends Peter Elbow, an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Elbow has written several books to help people improve their writing. He’s one of the pioneers of a life-changing writing strategy: freewriting.
‘Freewriting helps you just say it’
Freewriting is the act of writing non-stop for 10 minutes, writes Elbow in Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process.
“Freewriting teaches you to write without thinking about writing. We can usually speak without thinking about speech — without thinking about how to form words in the mouth and pronounce them and the rules of syntax we unconsciously obey — and as a result we can give undivided attention to what we say. Not so writing.
“…most people are considerably distracted from their meaning by considerations of spelling, grammar, rules, errors. Most people experience an awkward and sometimes paralyzing translating process in writing: “Let’s see, how shall I say this.” Freewriting helps you learn to just say it.”
Why is freewriting so effective?
“Freewriting makes writing easier by helping you with the root psychological or existential difficulty in writing: finding words in your head and putting them down on a blank piece of paper.”
Regular freewriting gets you into the habit of putting words onto the page without worrying “about whether these words are good words or the right words” writes Elbow.
Ways to use freewriting
There are practical ways to apply freewriting to your writing practice.
Brainstorming is one example:
“Freewriting helps you to think of topics to write about. Just keep writing, follow threads where they lead and you will get to ideas, experiences, feelings, or people that are just asking to be written about.”
Or, consider using freewriting as a warm-up when you start a writing session.
“Freewriting for ten minutes is a good way to warm up when you sit down to write something. You won’t waste so much time getting started when you turn to your real writing task and you won’t have to struggle so hard to find words. Writing almost always goes better when you are already started: now you’ll be able to start off already started.”
Importantly, freewriting is a tool for keeping you at the keyboard when you don’t feel like being there:
“Freewriting helps you learn to write when you don’t feel like writing. It is practice in setting deadlines for yourself, taking charge of yourself, and learning gradually how to get that special energy that sometimes comes when you work fast under pressure.”
You’re enough and getting better every day
Because writing feels hard, we assume we’re not naturally gifted.
Recognize those thoughts for what they are: self-deception.
High-quality writing is less about natural talent and more a matter of ongoing effort, even when you don’t feel like it.
Each blank page is a promise; another opportunity for us to work on our craft and fulfill our potential.
Right now, we’re good enough, and we’re getting better every time we decide to stay at the keyboard.
