Yes, Writing Should Be Fun

Stop overthinking it.

We’ve all been there. You know you want to write, but you just can’t seem to bring yourself to do it.

You start doubting yourself. You feel overwhelmed. You wonder if you’re good enough.

You wonder if you have the stamina to see your idea through.

You think about all the wonderful work and writers that have come before you, or who are right in front of you, and wonder if your talent and work can stack up.

Stop.

Writing should be fun.

If you enjoy the writing process, and if you feel that writing is in your soul, stop overthinking it and simply write.

Whether it’s poetry, stories, journal entries or opinion pieces, stop holding it in.

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” — Anne Lamott

The famous children’s author, R.L. Stine, was a huge influence in my desire to write from a very early age (and definitely had a hand in my early love of horror). He laughs at the idea of writing being seen as such a complex task.

Stine believes that there’s no need for it to be hard. He says that you don’t have to write from your heart if you don’t want to, a notion proven by the fact that none of his 300 books were supposedly ‘written from the heart’ but instead written simply because he wanted to. Because his ideas were fun. Writing was fun.

You should write just for the sake of it, and you can write whatever the hell you want.

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” — Ray Bradbury

It doesn’t have to change the world. It doesn’t have to make you money. It doesn’t even have to make sense if you don’t want it to — you’re writing for yourself.

Writing is fun. Or at least, it should be.

If you’ve lost the feeling of joy that you usually felt when writing, re-evaluate where it may have gone wrong. Analyse the reasons as to why you are writing and what you are writing, and see if you are still writing for the reasons right for you.

Of course, writing an article or a novel can be difficult (AS HELL), and I’m definitely not trying to undermine the process. But the overall process should be enjoyable. You should look forward to putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You should feel a sense of contentment admist the blood, sweat and tears. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Trust me, when a friend or family member (although always meaning well) tells me to ‘hurry up and write that book” or responds to one of my ideas with “yeh, you should definitely write that, now” as though the task is simple and easy, I feel a mini-rage.

Writing can be tough, regardless of whether we love or it or whether it comes naturally to us. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be fun.

No-one would be writing if a part of them didn’t enjoy it.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” — Sylvia Plath

A huge amount of freedom comes to a writer when they decide to push the over-analysing, crippling self-doubt and overwhelming thoughts aside.

And guess what? It’s completely acceptable to write for fun and nothing more. That’s where you find, or rediscover, the beauty of the task.

If you have an idea or a story burning inside of you, you owe it to yourself to let it out. Don’t fear the errors, the plot holes, the publishing to follow. One step at a time. Write because you want to. Because you need to. Write because you feel goosebumps at the thought of the task.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou

So by now, you get the point. Writing should be fun, yes indeed.

It can sometimes be frustrating, confusing and all-soul-consuming, but you know you love it. So stop overthinking it, stop doubting yourself, and stop making it bigger than it should be.