You Are Not Alone: 5 Perfectly Normal Struggles Only People Who Write Will Understand.
Don’t you struggle too?
We are a curious bunch who rant about our thoughts. Our brain tosses while our hands cross. As much as we love to write, we struggle with becoming good enough.
There are too many times where I struggled to press the Submit/Publish button after completing my writing.
There are days where I was annoyed enough to press the button and carry on with my own life.
There are days where I leave the drafts in draft state, thinking that one more round of polishing will do me good.
In truth, these are mind games. These struggles are evident to me and me only. Readers do not know that. All they see is a piece of writing that has been published by me.
Just this point alone is enough to drive me cashew nuts.
And I am pretty confident there are other struggles that only the writing community will understand. Do you resonate with any of the below?
Struggle A: I Write To Tear Away.
Of course, this sounds figurative. But hey, it is close enough.
I have everything planned out from introduction to development to conclusion. The hashtags are pre-decided, the title and sub-titles have been scribbled.
200 words in, and I would write myself out of focus. Face-palm.
When I read my draft after returning from a pee break, I realized that I have ventured out of the scope of planning.
I would have to change my story or progressively delete my manuscript back to the introduction and start over.
Regardless of my decision, I would need another cup of coffee to tide myself through until the next pee break.
Before I scribble my way into irrelevance, yet again.
Struggle B: I Pee Away My Line Of Thought.
I really wonder why this happens.
My fingers would be flying furiously across the keyboard until I decide to answer the call of nature. To be very honest, I am reticent in sharing this because it makes me sound like a superficial bloke.
I do, in most circumstances, pee away my line of thoughts and concentration.
I would come back to my laptop and then wonder what I was writing 5 minutes ago.
Please let me know that I am not alone.
Struggle C: I Re-Write More Than I Write.
This is the part I never understood.
I would write, write, re-write, and re-write some more. This does not happen only for some of my work. It happens for all of my work.
I find fault with my work.
I find fault with diction and expression. There are times where I attempted to adjust the word count of every sentence, paragraph, section, and entire story.
Call me hazelnuts, but doing it once does not really apply to writing.
At least, that is my personal experience.
Struggle D: I Struggle To Pick A Side.
Native American or Queen’s English?
Grammarly catches me unaware. I struggle to write an entire piece in Native American spelling or Queen’s English version of word construction.
When in doubt, I just type.
I really do hope that the Singaporean English version will be widely accepted one day.
And maybe, I can get to type to my heart’s content without considering one external version over the other.
Struggle E: I Am Fast Becoming A Broken Recorder.
It is a struggle to recognize that I operate within my box.
No matter how often I write and how many genres I write, we are boxed into our experiences accumulated throughout life.
I wish I can write about lecturing Ancient History in college. Sidenote (circling back to Struggle D) — Singaporeans do not use college to describe the higher learning institute we attend to get our Bachelors’s Degree. We call them Universities.
Sigh. That is another conversion.
I digressed. Shoots, this is what I wrote in Struggle B. And that is because I just got back from a pee break.
And it circles back to the intent of this section.
I write these experiences because I go through them daily.
I have to go for pee breaks in between my writing.
That is why I keep writing about pee breaks.
It is a unique life experience … I guess?
You Are Not Alone. We Are One Community.
I wanted to delete this draft at this point in writing.
I struggled hard to get until this point, and now I am convincing myself not to publish it because it feels incomplete.
However, the submit/publish button is now standing between me and my afternoon coffee.
I have to make a stand.
And since you are reading this story, you know my choice.
Enjoy your afternoon coffee, my friends.
At least I do not struggle with my coffee and chocolate cookies.
And macadamia nuts.
Aldric
About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.