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Why Writing Could Become More Difficult for You And How to Ameliorate it

Your lifestyle and how you approach writing might be in the wrong.

By Madoc MPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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Why Writing Could Become More Difficult for You And How to Ameliorate it
Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”— Neil Gaiman

Writing can be somewhat easy at times. All you have to do is to sit at your desk, open the tap and it’d start to flow freely. You begin to fill up the blank page with words laced with your unique ideas. Nevertheless, there’ll be days that you might find it difficult to write. You couldn’t type a word all day, and sometimes for a week or even weeks — and then you might start saying that writing has become very difficult.

Many folks erroneously believe that those iconic writers that drank a lot during their time did so because they found writing to be very difficult.

The truth is, it wasn’t writing that pushed them to the bottle. Rather it was life. Alcohol was their go-to so that they could write. It helped them deal with life so that life could allow them to write.

And it’s the same thing with some writers that rely on cigarettes or any substance because the more you use any substance to support yourself to write, the more you depend on it since you now believe in its efficacy.

Writing is inarguably difficult. But what makes it more difficult most of the time is how you approach it — and your lifestyle. This is so because you might have a lifestyle that allows you to write on a schedule, but you might be going about it unsustainably. On the other hand, it might be that you approach writing the right way yet you have a lifestyle that works against you sometimes.

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How do you approach writing?

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”— Anthony Trollope

Writing can be likened to a huge chunk that stands visibly tall by the side of a very busy road. It is very visible — and easily reachable. It is a craft that’s loaded with words and ideas waiting for anyone to step forward and take a bite from a chunk of infinite capacity.

Some individuals would take a little bite and for no good reason, they’d abandon it, only to return to it after a long underserved break.

Interestingly some people would take a huge bite which they can neither munch nor swallow. And when they get choked, they’d skedaddle — and may not return to the craft for a long time. And this might be the reason why some writers would abandon a book project for months and sometimes for years.

And then there are the wise ones who’d regularly take a tiny bite from the craft. They’ll munch it — and swallow it. It’d digest, germinate and bear very lovely fruits for them in due season.

Now my question is, would writing be very difficult if you learn to take a little bite from the craft one at a time? If you approach it in a way that you’re still able to do some other things you’d want to do with your life?

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Your Life and your writing career

Life is unpredictable and sometimes very complicated. But everything about life is everything about writing because you’re going to import life into your writing from the life you’re living. Or have so far lived. Thus you have to live to write. But at times the thing that gives you the main ingredients for the craft will be the reason why you’re unable to write.

You have responsibilities. The bills will come and so you must earn. As a result, at times you put expectations ahead of the craft. You allow it to dictate the pace instead of letting passion be at the wheel.

You want to write. You want it so much, but there are other things that you also want. So have you tried to achieve a balance between your writing career and every other thing that you also want? Because if you don’t, these other things can at anytime get in the way. And when that happens, your writing journey will inevitably come to a halt.

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Panacea

Approach your writing career sustainably. Create a schedule for the craft and find a rhythm to go about it. A book is made up of many pages and paragraphs — and it takes planning, discipline, and seriousness of purpose to finish every writing project.

And strive to have a lifestyle that supports your writing career. This is very important because your writing life draws life and support from your lifestyle. And when you make some improvements in your life, your writing would simultaneously improve, and then writing will cease to be very difficult for you.

You can at anytime receive unsolicited ideas and support from life because life is very invigorating and enriching. Therefore your activities out there can aid your writing career in ways you cannot imagine. So it might be that you need to step out some more after this crisis is over to meet more people and glean a thing or two from their lifestyles. Haven’t you noticed that many great writers are keen walkers? They would almost always go for a walk every day because they know what they’d benefit from the experience even though they do it with no expectations.

And maybe you’d need to pack your things and travel to some new places after this crisis is over. Traveling could be so vitalizing that you’d find yourself writing more during — and after the trip.

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Conclusion

Writing could become very difficult when you’re battling with life because life always stays ahead of the craft. It powers your writing career. But you can ameliorate the situation by making some changes to your lifestyle — and start living a life that’d support your writing career and by approaching the craft sustainably.

And probably what you need to do for writing to become less difficult is to improve your mental health. And you can get this done by practicing meditation, mindfulness, and getting adequate sleep.

Many writers have a lifestyle that enables them to write on a schedule. They’ve over the years instilled a daily habit that ensures that they’re consistent with the craft because they value their writing career and this allows them to dutifully follow their writing schedule every day.

Whatever you’re going to do to improve your life will also improve your writing. It’s not going to make writing to be very easy for you at all times, but it certainly will make it to become less difficult because your writing career depends on your lifestyle for constant support and enrichment.

Previously published on Medium by the same author

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Madoc M

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