How to Overcome the Daily Struggles of Writing

I recently came across an article about writers and the daily struggles they face. Writing can certainly be a daunting endeavor. For many, the greatest struggle is finding time to write. Others suffer from bouts of writer’s block and wring their hands in frustration when the words won’t come. Editing and revising cause many to consider throwing in the towel and giving up. And then, there’s the problem of publishing and marketing. At one time or another, I have faced most of these issues and although I don’t claim to have answers, I do have a few ideas to pass along.

Time

Finding time to write is difficult for almost all writers. Even having the luxury of retirement, I still find myself filling my hours with other activities and pushing writing off at times. When I was working full-time, I wrote mostly poetry and short stories and dreamed of the day I would be able to devote myself to the Great American Novel. Truthfully, it all comes down to discipline. Whether you write for hours or just for minutes, try to write something each day. Create the habit and stick to it. Some days, all I can manage is a word or two of revision on a poem, but I write. Every day.

Writer’s Block

I generally don’t have a problem with writer’s block. Knock on wood. Hopefully, I haven’t cursed myself by saying that! I suppose a big part of that for me is an almost total lack of deadlines. With the exception of two successful NaNoWriMo events, I usually don’t have any such restrictions. It will be finished when it’s finished. I set some flexible goal dates for myself, and I do what I can to meet them. My one suggestion to those who struggle with this issue is to write in your head before trying to commit it to paper. I spend a lot of time thinking about my story before I ever sit down at the computer to write anything down. I play out all the scenarios in my head and occasionally jot down bits of dialogue in a notebook, so that when I do start to write, I already know where I’m going. Most of the time, I am eager to open up the page and start putting all those thoughts into words.

Editing and Revising

My own personal struggle comes with editing and revising. As a former high school English teacher, I don’t really mind the editing. I can usually go back through my manuscript pretty quickly and correct the spelling, punctuation, and usage. I find revising much more difficult, especially with longer works. Even with shorter pieces, I sometimes struggle, but with my novels, the amount of time required to do a thorough reading is intimidating to me. I try to read slowly, aloud for dialogue, and take a lot of notes and hope that I can catch any major mistakes or inconsistencies in content or characterization. It also helps to have someone else to read your work, which brings up a whole other set of difficulties.

A good beta reader is priceless! The truth is the writer is often too close to the material and frequently too attached to be objective. My second and third novels are good examples. I fear the second one may be boring, but it could be that I know the story too well. A new reader may well be fascinated where I am simply suffering from having read the piece multiple times in a short period. The third novel, I still think is brilliant, but perhaps, it is only so in my own mind. I’m still waiting on outside opinions. (Hint to beta readers!) Honestly, these folks are invaluable!

Publishing and Marketing

Finally, I confess to hating the aspects of publishing and marketing. In preparation for publishing, I discovered how little I know of word processing. Formatting took way more time than I had imagined and caused an incredible amount of frustration. I admit to using a huge amount of profanity directed toward my innocent manuscript in the process of perfecting margins, page numbers, fonts, and other details. Even after all the suffering, it can be scary to click on that PUBLISH button. Marketing a book is equally maddening. Depending on your budget and persistence, selling your book may be harder than writing it! Seriously. Once family and friends have made their purchases, the self-published author should be prepared for the inevitable dry spells that follow. But take heart. Once published, the book will be on sale forever and who knows, maybe I’ll be one of those authors who becomes a bestseller fifty years after I’m gone. Stranger things have happened!