Six Simple Reasons Why Writing Is So Hard

Writing need not be a hard thing to do, but it is so difficult to write.

Writing is hard. Some people sail through it writing a 1500-word article in no time, while others spend hours over a 200 words snippet. I adore writing, but I also agonize over it. From the time I force myself to sit down to write till I press the ‘send button,’ the journey feels much like pulling your teeth out, only in this case, pulling out the exact words that make the perfect sense.

Most people advise it gets better with practice. Yes, writing sure gets easier with practice. You get a better flow of words and ideas. Still, the very idea of sitting down to write gives me a panic attack. I never get that much resistance from any other task than making an effort to write.

As Hemingway said,” There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”

Writing is a simple act of putting your thoughts and ideas on paper. It requires a quiet place and a pen and paper or a laptop, and you can fill up the pages with great written pieces. Then why does it feel so complicated and intimidating that days can pass before you can sit down to make an effort of writing?

Here are Six reasons why writing can be difficult for you:

1) You are a perfectionist-

Any creative endeavor exposes our inner self to the outer world. It means having to take considerable risk of letting people know how we think and feel and giving access to our minds and hearts. That can be unbearably painful if we are too concerned about being perfect in thought, idea, and diction.

A perfectionist attitude can stifle your creativity and obstruct the flow of words making writing difficult.

So, you want to write about things no one has written before in a style that is gripping with content that will blow your reader’s mind. Great! That is why you are stuck at the first line of the first paragraph!

A perfectionist attitude comes from a fear of shame and judgment. No one wants to be labeled as a bad writer, and such criticism hurts.

“Healthy striving is self-focused: “How can I improve?” Perfectionism is other-focused: “What will they think?” ― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

People are different in their views, beliefs, and attitudes towards life. Nothing is as perfect as it seems in this world, and so our writing cannot be flawless in its form and ideas. Sure, we must make sure the words and formation of the article are grammatically accurate, but at one time, we must present it to the world with all its shortcomings.

Being too meticulous and perfect can hinder your creativity and stop you from exploring the wonderful idea of expressing yourself through writing.

Remember, you can present the best version of yourself, not a duplicate version of others. You are all you have at this moment, so make the most of it.

2) You lack motivation-

We all like to be great at absolutely anything we do. Remember when you wrote your first article? How excited you were to present your creation to the world. How you were looking forward to a shower of accolades or at least some appreciation for all the efforts you had put in those 1000 words or so. Then as you waited with bated breath for the likes to grow, all you got was crickets.

The silence questioned your ability to write. You bashed yourself as no one would ever dare to and a sense of dread set in the place where it was happiness and sunshine a minute ago.

All your motivation and commitment went out in a flash as you struggle to come up with another written piece.

“The secret of it all is to write… without waiting for a fit time or place.” — Walt Whitman.

Writing is a lifelong learning experience. You cannot give up, and every time you fail, you have to dredge up that last bit of strength and motivation to keep you going.

Writing requires persistence and courage under fire. To come up with such creativity on a day-to-day basis requires you to commit to the process. There has to be motivation and a truckload of diligence to walk along the road of self-doubt and failure before you begin to see the early signs of success.

3) You procrastinate-

Procrastination is the direct result of fear and a lack of motivation. We want to bring our ideas into the real world, but fear of getting criticized makes us overthink them. Days go by when we stew in our insecurity about our writing skills and our ideas’ relevance.

Writing requires you to step out of your comfort zone. The fear and insecurity of being judged by people can make you postpone writing forever. If you let the fear of failure get to you, sitting yourself down to write can be a painful process.

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

Writing makes us expose our authentic, vulnerable selves to the world for scrutiny. So, we keep on postponing the actual act of putting our thoughts on paper while we go about our business; the idea of writing is always a few days ahead of us.

The solution to procrastination is the idea of doing it anyways. So, you fear ridicule but do it anyway. Yes, people might not even read your stuff but still write it just because you want to.

4) You don’t practice -

Writing, like all other skills, requires consistent practice. What appears effortless comes from constantly grinding away at one’s passion in life. Writing is a skill that is a little different from other talents like playing a sport or an instrument. The idea of organizing and putting our thoughts on paper is quite vague and difficult to implement daily.

The act of writing looks deceptively simple as it does not require any gadgets or strict rules to follow. It merely requires you to put your thoughts on paper. But when the time comes to do it, we realize how difficult it is and how much command is needed over language to streamline the wild thoughts to organize them into rational ideas on paper. That requires practice that few people want to do.

To have a consistent flow to your writing, practice it for at least 30 minutes a day. Put a timer on if you want, and get down to write. At first, you might manage a few lines, then paragraphs, and soon enough, your words will start flowing.

Set aside fixed time every day to let your creativity flow. Writing is like any other habit. Do it religiously, and it would get easier every day.

5) You lack focus-

To write effortlessly, you must have a fair idea of what to write about. Extensive research would provide you solid facts and make your writing easier. Unfocused lackluster efforts will get you nowhere.

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Devil, and Miss Prym

Although we spend an excessive amount of time mulling over ideas, we don’t spend that much time and effort focusing on ways to put them on paper. Be it an essay or an article, a good writing piece requires time and focused effort to have a lucid flow of ideas. Inability to concentrate on your writing will lead to a final product made up of scattered thoughts and a less than effectively written piece.

Find your best time of the day when you can concentrate on your writing. Take a walk, listen to some music, do anything that makes your creative juice flow and then let all your imagination work its way to your writing. Back it with some solid research, and it might just strike gold.

6) The dreaded writer’s block-

Yes, you have heard about it, and you know how frustrating it could be when it strikes you out of the blue. The consolation is that every writer goes through this dry patch when the brain seems to dry out creative ideas.

From time immemorial, writers and poets have struggled with writer’s block. That’s when you have everything in place, but the ideas will not materialize.

Sometimes it needs time and patience, the idea of not giving up and pushing it on before you can overcome it. If you can keep a calm and relaxed mind and give it some time, usually you can slowly get back into the groove of writing and get over the dry spell of an empty, uninspired mind.

Writing need not be a painful experience if you keep a consistent schedule and continue working at it. To have an easy time writing, be it an article for Medium or a presentation in your company, the best thing you can do is be calm and confident and have a comfortable, relaxed mind. That way, you would have a desirable written piece in hand in no time.