3 Reminders for the Weary Writer

By Allison Grace

Your work-in-progress is an irredeemable disaster. There’s no point in going on. No one is ever going to read your writing. You’ll burn all your notebooks and go live in the jungle. Monkeys are better company than people anyway. 

This is the end. Why did you even try?

Every writer reaches this moment at some point or another. The Pit of Despair where our dreams seem ages away. 

Let me revise that statement. All artists--authors, bloggers, screenwriters, poets, painters, musicians--reach a moment of despair. A point where nothing seems achievable and our best bet is to throw it all away.

I’m no artist. But I have been practicing drawing some of my favorite Marvel characters. 

For every single one of my pictures, I’ve thought, “Gosh, this looks horrible. I totally mauled his face. Maybe I should just scrap this and draw something else.”

But when I keep going, I wind up with an at least tolerable result. 

*opens sketchbook*

Behold, Captain America and the Winter Soldier. 

Okay, that rough sketch...eek! After finishing it, I promptly closed my sketchbook and told myself I wasn’t coming back to it. Then, a few days later, I decided to give it one more chance. And it turned out pretty well, in my opinion. 

Perhaps you are in a moment of despair right now. Or maybe you know someone who is. 

I’d like to share three reminders with you. Three things to bring to mind when you want to give up. 

Reminder 1: You Love This Story

Right now, you might hate your work-in-progress with the fire of a thousand suns. To you, it might seem like my rough sketch of Cap and Bucky. There’s nothing there to salvage. It should be abandoned.

But at some point or another, you loved this story. 

You decided this was a story worth telling and you picked up your pen to write it down. You lay awake for hours, dreaming about epic battles, adorable romances, and hilarious comic relief. 

This was your story. Your “book baby.” Your dream. 

But while you were slogging through the writing process, your original idea lost its sheen of excitement. Right now, you might be midway through your first draft or starting your seventh attempt. You need to remember your original passion for writing.

After I complained about my lack of excitement about a project, my writing mentor suggested I list ten things I love about it. No negativity. Only the positive, awesome things about my story. 

Here’s what I came up with: 

1. Music is magic

2. Trying to write the POV of a deaf girl (a challenge, but a welcome one XD)

3. Jorge (he’s just so adorable, you guys!)

4. Violins!

5. The word “luthier” which means someone who makes musical instruments

6. The potential for character arcs

7. Dryden, my reformed outlaw

8. Wild-west vibes!

9. Glowing dust and fae magic!

10. My pink cactus notebook

I want to challenge you to grab a piece of paper right now and come up with ten things you love about your WIP. Ignore all the things you hate about it right now. Pretend its flaws don’t exist for the moment. 

Even if all you can write down are “silly” things, write them down. 

Then take your list (you made one, right?) and paste it at the top of your document. Now, every time you sit down to write, you will see the reasons you love this story. 

If your struggle is more with writing itself, write down ten reasons why you love writing. Then stick that list in your writing space. 

Reminder #2: Other People Love Your Writing

Chances are, there is at least one person who knows about your work-in-progress. That might be your sister, your best friend, or your dad. 

And more likely than not, they would really like to read your finished project. Maybe you’ve shared the first few pages with them or told them all the juicy details about your big plot twist. Perhaps they have no idea what you are writing right now, but they love reading your blog posts.

They are your biggest fans. 

Think of a movie (or book) you want to see that isn’t out yet. (I’m thinking of the Black Widow movie). You know something about it--maybe you’ve seen the trailer or read a blurb--and you really, really want to see it.

If the producer of that movie came up to you and said, “Man, I feel like giving up right now. The plot is so terrible, none of the actors are cooperating, and my coffee maker just broke. I don’t think this movie is going to work out,” what would you do? 

Would you say, “Oh, that’s too bad,” and pat them on the back? 

Probably not. 

You might offer to brainstorm ways to fix their plot holes. You might buy them a cup of coffee. Perhaps you’d simply say they can’t give up because you need this movie. 

Take advantage of your supporters. Tell your writing group that you’re discouraged. Ask them to help. 

Writers help other writers. It’s just what we do. 

A book isn’t written alone. Ever. Take a look at the acknowledgments page in any book. Read all the names. Each of those is a real person who helped the author in some way. 

Yes, in the end, it’s just you and the keyboard, but there’s a whole crowd of people behind your desk chair cheering you on.  

A wonderful place to find that community of writers is on Kingdom Pen! You can join the forum here: https://kingdompen.org/join/

Reminder #3: Finished Doesn’t Mean Flawless

Typing “The End” doesn’t mean your project is perfect. 

I once read in a book about scrapbooking that every page has a flaw that only the creator sees. To anyone else, it looks perfect. But to the artist, that sticker is a little crooked or the edge of a photo isn’t quite straight.

The same goes for every art form. 

I’m irritated with my Captain America picture. His lips are weird and his shield isn’t a perfect circle. Bucky’s fist is too big and I don’t like the way his eye came out. 

Did you notice those flaws? 

Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. 

I see those flaws because I drew it. I know they are there. I know my weak points and I wish I could fix them. But at some point, I had to say enough is enough. 

I had to be content.

When we’re writing, we need to acknowledge we aren’t masters. We can’t perfect every single aspect. Yes, we can edit and edit and edit, but our stories will never be completely flawless.

Even if we get it as close to perfect as we can in the stage we are in right now, we’ll look back at it years from now and see the mistakes. And that’s okay! As we get more experience, we learn new things. And we’ll never learn if we are afraid to make mistakes. 

You have to draw a few mutated faces before you can draw a portrait. 

We can’t expect our first drafts to be the next great American novel. Hey, our seventh draft might still be a disaster. 

But when we write, we learn. Every project helps us move along in our journey. 

So work on your project. Pick up your pen and force yourself to get two words down, a sentence, a page. Remember why you love this story and why you write. Ask your friends to pick you back up when you fall and give you a shove when you’re stuck. And never forget that mistakes lead to mastery.