Reasons To Keep Writing Even When You Want To Give Up For Good

Reasons to Keep Writing Even When You Want to Give Up For Good

1) Sometimes you don’t really want to give up forever. You just need to take a break, step back, and do something else for a few months.

2) There are stories inside you that only you can tell. There are poems inside you that only you can write. Nobody else can write them for you. Nobody else can say exactly what you can say.

3) Writing is an act of creation. No matter how good or bad you think your work is, you have created something that didn’t exist before. This is important. This is good. 

4) You do not write for anybody else. The only person you write for is you. Nobody else’s opinion should hinder your ability to write for yourself. 

5) Everybody fails. Really. Even the most accomplished writers mess up. This is okay. From every misstep, you learn and you grow. I’ve always found this article very soothing: Falling Short: Seven Writers Reflecting On Failure (my personal favourite section is Anne Enright’s section.)

6) Writer’s block is an opportunity to try new things. Have new life experiences. Experiment with new styles. Writer’s block is that pause you need to reflect on your thoughts and ideas, see which ones work and which ones don’t. Writer’s block isn’t the end of your writing capabilities. It’s downtime that allows you to attempt new techniques. Which leads me to (because I think both are connected):

7) In my experience, much of writer’s block comes from fear or boredom. Why are you afraid of writing? Why does it bore you? Is there a disconnect between your idea and your passion to write? Why? There are reasons for everything. Try to figure out the reason behind this too.

8) You know those vain articles and comments accomplished writers make about “bad” or “amateur” writers? That’s all it is: vanity. It is a reflection on them. Do not let their words get to you. They are giants looking down on us. They’ve forgotten the struggle they themselves have been through. Writing is hard and deeply personal. ‘Making it’ is viciously difficult. That doesn’t mean you do not try. 

9) You will regret it if you throw in the towel now. Write because the future you deserves to know that when things were hard, you kept going! The future you deserves to be proud of the present you. The future you is counting on you to continue. Don’t let them down.

10) Write because you wouldn’t have read through this entire post unless you were looking for a reason to write, even in your darkest and most hopeless hours. Write because this shows you’re passionate about it, shows that no matter how hard it seems, you want to keep writing. That’s really the big secret: you just keep writing.