Today is a Struggle to Write

Here’s Why I’m No Longer Stressing About Daily Writing

Although ideas float about in my head, I haven’t had the headspace to capture them.

I haven’t hit burnout, writers funk, or whatever you wish to call it.

I just simply do not have the headspace at the moment to write daily.

I get this way sometimes when life gets overwhelming.

My headspace is needed to focus on what is going on in life at that moment.

Right now I am caring for my father who is battling Cancer. I am grateful to have travelled be with him as we usually live on opposite ends of the world. I am not able to just drop in and check on him, I haven’t had that luxury due to the distance. Therefore to be with him right now, I feel I need to focus my time on him.

Writing almost needs take a back seat; I wish it wouldn’t as this is probably the time when I need to write most. Writing has been a therapy that has got me through the hard times. That is when I journal the most, but Medium is not a journal, therefore I will not just splurge out those inner thoughts.

Keeping Up with Daily Writing is Getting Harder

I am finding it harder and harder to keep my writing consistent due to well what can I say “it’s life”.

Today and the past few days have been like that when I have tried to sit down to write.

The ideas are floating around in my head, but I cannot seem to capture them into something meaningful. (I won’t tell you how many goes I have had at this piece!)

What is Consistency in Writing?

I am trying not to focus on the stats which tell me that the less I am writing the fewer views and reads I have.

When I miss a day or two of writing, it does reflect in the stats and feels like a wrestle trying to feed this insatiable beast.

My views go down quite a bit as you can see here, when my writing takes a break there is a dip. But even after publishing three days in a row, my views still took a dip on the 9th March to just 43 views. I had worked hard whilst travelling to post but seems I was not rewarded at all, although the day after the views climbed up again.

But I am not a stats person. Stats frazzle my creative brain and I try not to focus too much on this aspect, but it still niggles at the back of my mind that I need to be more consistent with my writing.

That’s when I came across this piece by Matt Doyle “I Don’t Care How Many Articles You Post in 24 Hours”.

I expressed to Matt in the comments that I felt a lot of pressure to produce content daily and that I was worried about burnout and running out of original ideas. I’m also a slow writer who spends too much time on each piece.

Matt’s advice was what was needed, he said,

“I just try and remind myself that consistency is the act of doing something again and again over a long period of time. As long as we don’t stop, then we stay consistent”. Matt Doyle

I felt a weight shift and didn’t feel this daily writing pressure.

As long as I keep writing, and don’t stop it does not matter that I have not published 100 articles in 30 days or published 3 articles in 24 hours. All that matters is that I have not stopped. Thanks, Matt, for that pep talk.

But What Should I Write When I Do Get Started?

Then I came across Tamil’s article “What Should I Write About Now?” and she uses her thoughts of not knowing what to write to actually write a piece. Her added pressure was that she only has short time blocks in which to write. This just goes to show that you can turn even the most random thought into something beautiful.

Write to Connect with Your Reader

Once writing consistently and writing those first words to get started, the next thing to consider is your reader.

J.R. Spiers is someone who I admire a lot. If you have not read his work, then I highly recommend you do as he is a great teacher who finds interesting ways of conveying his messages. His Write What You Know Series is great to follow. This piece, in particular, stood out for me,

The section I highlighted in the piece was this,

“It’s writing about the feelings we know and have in common with people everywhere. Hope. Sorrow. Grief. Excitement. Melancholia. Love”. JR Spiers.

I’m No Longer Stressing About Daily Writing.

Let me outline the main takeaways from this piece.

Firstly, I’ve learned that I need to be consistent. This does not mean I have to publish every day to the point where I feel stressed and burnt out but to find a publishing rhythm that fits in with my life. The most important thing to know about consistency is to keep writing and not give up.

Secondly, just by writing, you may find an angle for a story. Start by putting words onto the page this will give rise to thoughts and maybe even a story. So just start writing no matter what.

And finally, write about what you know. That might be what is happening or happened in your life. Connect what you know to your feelings. Emotion is the keyword. Using feelings in the piece helps to connect with your reader.

If you are feeling a bit stuck today like me, and not sure where to start with writing, don’t pressure yourself. I hope these three stories have helped you find flow in your writing, and maybe even in other areas of your life.

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