Yes, I Am a Writer. No, I Don’t Write. Is There Something Wrong With Me?

Tell me if this sounds like you:

“I have an idea. I open a document. I write a couple of the worst sentences. I daydream for an hour about the idea. I close the doc.”

“I start to search out some details about the time period. I get lost in Wikipedia for a couple of hours. I am only in the first paragraph.”

“I get inspired by a writing prompt. I open a document. I Google something related to the writing prompt, get lost on Google for an hour. I haven’t finished my third sentence.”

Do you think things like:

“My favorite thing to do is write, I’ll write half a sentence, get distracted, then come back to it months later.”

“I should be writing right now, but I’d rather look at Instagram.”

“I daydream about writing my stories, but then I don’t write them.”

“I want to write, but my anxiety and depression catch up with me when I try to create.”

If you’ve done, said, or thought things like this, you are absolutely NOT alone.

Many people struggle with these same writing blocks.

The question is: is there a way to beat it? Yes.

Is there a magical pill to swallow? No.

And this won’t help everyone. It might only help those that are willing to try.

Hopefully this helps you.

Read to write. Don’t just read.

One of the best and worst writing advice tips is to read if you want to be a writer.

Well-meaning people go to read to write only to end up reading for hours and writing nothing. What happened?

In actuality it’s some of the best advice, but only if used correctly.

The real way to read if you are wanting to find inspiration to write is to know you’re putting yourself in danger of enjoying reading more than writing.

How do you beat that temptation?

The better way to give this advice would be to read with the intent of writing. Not with the intent of just enjoying reading.

Lots of people that love reading thinks they would also enjoy writing. This isn’t necessarily true. Reading is just pure consuming. Writing is pure output.

You do have to mostly consume in order to put something out, but if you are not EXTREMELY PURPOSEFUL about your reading, you can fall into a time-wasting trap.

Instead of reading for an hour, and calling it researching, read just to write.

Read until you find some words to write.

Writing exercise:

Here’s your writing prompt,

10 Ways to get rid of loneliness.

Now Google ways to get rid of loneliness.

You’ll see a bunch of articles. Choose 3 quickly. Don’t read them yet.

Choose one and browse its subheadings. Pick just one subheading you like. Skim some of the text. Do you think it’s a good one? Write 3 sentences summarizing it. Boom. Rinse and repeat.

When you read to write you are looking for information to write. We are not looking for information to ONLY READ.

This is vastly important when it comes to researching and writing.

You can make a “notes” page and just copy and paste stuff into it that you like, but I don’t recommend this.

The sooner you are writing about what you were just reading a moment ago the better.

This type of reading to write stuff might seem like work at first but the more you do it the faster you’ll get and it will become enjoyable if you really do enjoy writing.

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Know that we are addicted to our distractions.

As humans we often get addicted to things.

We get addicted to,

games
Movies
Tv
Social media
Reading
Etc

Be very aware of your addictions and say no to them during your writing time.

We can’t expect to be and to sit down and write if we have our favorite tv show on in the back.

You can’t write and surf Facebook. I can’t write and read Reddit subs.

Whatever it is that pulls your attention from writing, just cut it out during that time.

Try these things:

go somewhere else for a while, like a coffee shop or library
Do NOT look at social media while trying to write.
Do not try to write in front of the tv
Don’t look up things you’re curious about that have nothing to do with what your writing
If a thought pops up that you want to come back to write it down quickly and get back to writing.

Plan “NO DISTRACTIONS” writing times.

Time won’t just open up for a good time to write. We have to actively plan it out and step into it. Make it a priority to start something today after you read this.

I recommend starting small. If you never take the time to write don’t start at an hour for your first session.

Try 5 minutes. No distractions just writing. If you can’t come up with something to write, look up a writing prompt then start a 5-minute timer AFTER you’ve found one (don’t waste 5 minutes finding a prompt and think that counts as writing time. I see you out there.)

Once 5 minutes doesn’t seem like enough time, keep bumping up that timer until you’re writing out full chapters at a time.

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Don’t overthink your first draft of ANYTHING.

Many writers are “planners” by nature. We like to stop and think out a bunch of things all at once.

The good of this is being able to plot scenes and moves, the bad thing is overthinking…um… just about EVERYTHING in our lives and that includes our writing.

We want it to be perfect the moment it exists. This is an exercise in futility. It’s not a good way to actually write.

It’s better to get our ideas out there shabby and ragged and then go back later and fix things up and make them all pretty.

So don’t overthink your first draft just get what you’re thinking down so that you have something to work with later.

Write about what ails you.

If you suffer from depression or anxiety go ahead and write about it.

Try to put it into words. What does it feel like? How does it prevent you from doing what you want? Is it keeping you from life goals? What small steps can you take to start your way out?

Instead of thinking, “I’m terrible at writing,” just write stuff that only you will read for a while.

Spend a year writing for yourself in this way and you may find that you love writing and that after a year of writing for yourself you might be ready to submit something to someone else.

Writing anything down will give you a boost in good feelings as you start to see a pile of your writing stacking up.

Write fictional characters that suffer from the same things you do. Get it out and give your fictional characters hopes, dreams, and aspirations too.

Making fictional characters that have similar struggles to you will be interesting writing exercises for yourself and maybe others will resonate with those same fictional characters.

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Write many short stories.

One of the easiest ways to actually start writing is to just write a bunch of short stories.

It is a normal practice for famous writers like Niel Gaimen to have books filled with short stories.

Short stories are great because they help us give great ideas legs and if we really like them we will find ourselves giving them even more thought and writing than the ones that phase out.

Just try to write out ideas and turn them into short stories so it’s not so overwhelming and it’s more fun and rewarding than trying to write out every complete story idea we have.

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Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.

Try it for free now.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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