- This topic has 13 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
What do you do when you feel discouraged and feel like giving up a novel or writing as a whole?
When I get discouraged, I first try to figure out why. Why am I feeling discouraged? Sometimes the answer is different, but most of the time its because I feel like my writing isn’t “good enough”. Which seems kinda silly, but it’s also a super common feeling.
Then, I have to tell myself my writing will never be good enough. Just sometimes my writing is better one day and worse the other, and hopefully my writing overall improves overtime.
But will it ever be “good enough”? I don’t think so.
So this has made my realize that I can’t get purpose, joy, or satisfaction from writing something good. Because, more often then not, I will always feel like my writing falls short in some way, thus making me feel discouraged.
So instead I find purpose and inspiration from others aspects of writing that is not about being good, something that I can enjoy today, no matter how good or bad I am at writing.
Like exploring new characters and worlds, trying something new in my story, or improving my writing in some way by just one percent each time I write.
When I get discouraged, it’s usually because I’m focusing on the wrong thing. But when I focus on what I truly love about writing, which isn’t being fantastic at writing, then I feel motivated and inspired.
So what do you do when you feel discouraged about your writing?
@kathleenramm I guess usually I just tell myself I’m too tired, and I go on and work on one of my other hobbies for a few months. Or I switch it up. Variety helps a lot.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@kathleenramm When I start feeling discouraged I’ll usually spend some time praying about it and take a short break from writing. I think for me when I’m feeling discouraged it’s usually because I’m comparing myself to other writers or I feel like I’m not working hard enough on my WIP. Usually it’s simply a matter of readjusting my focus.
INFJ ~ 4w5
aldarley.wordpress.com- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1789
Sit on the bathroom floor and cry.I pray, usually. And when I say usually, I mean basically every day. It’s rare that I feel totally satisfied with my writing. So, in a way, I’m resigned to it. The discouragement doesn’t last too long, because after a while I’ll write something I really like or I’ll startfangirling over my own charriesappreciating the proper character development I’ve somehow been able to bring about.What REALLY helps is having readers who enjoy my writing. Y’all know I’ve been on a rollercoaster with my WIP (meaning that I teeter between utterly despising it and loving it to pieces), so I’ve had a friend of mine read some of it lately (which has been amazing; she’s been my best alpha reader EVER, and God knows I needed her after all the discouragement I’ve been facing). She has reassured me that what I thought was so bad or horribly written or poorly developed isn’t.
Even when I see a positive review of my published projects (which I’m not satisfied with either XD), my heart lightens. Just knowing that one person in the midst of all those three-star reviewers was touched by my writing or enjoyed it in some small way is a type of joy that cannot be described with words.
Yeah, I need that kind of encouragement a lot–confirmation that what I’m doing is right and worth it. One time when I was feeling really down, I actually read a post by our own @r-m-archer that buoyed my spirit. God always soothes me when I’m feeling discouraged or uncertain!
@kathleenramm I don’t have much to add at the moment (though I’m sure I’ll be back 😉 ), but I just wanted to say that reading your post was super encouraging and helpful–I’m going to definitely try your approach next time I’m feeling discouraged. 😀
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
Very true. Besides writing, what are some other favorite hobbies of yours?
I think have too many hobbies for my own good, but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. XD
ugh, comparison is the worst right? Even comparing yourself to something that you wrote before can be discouraging if you feel like your writing hasn’t improved or even gotten worse. XD
What do you try to readjust your focus to when your struggling with comparison?
@gracie-j
Yeah, crying on the floor- I mean, um encouraging readers and friends can give you so much motivation no matter how low you feel about your writing. For real though, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with writing this long if it wasn’t for my siblings.
And yeah, sometimes all you need to do is to focus on what’s good about your writing, like you said with beloved charries and stellar scenes, instead of all the shortcoming of your writings.
What article of @r-m-archer encouraged you? I’d love to check it out.
btw, glasses look really good on you!
Thanks! Yeah, letting go of always wanting to being better as my main focus of writing, made me love writing far more and get discouraged far less.
@kathleenramm Ah, I do ballet, play piano, make music sheets, make electronic music, draw… And I want to learn other instruments and languages, as well as a lot of other things. Too bad I have no time XD
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@kathleenramm I always hate reading old writing and feeling like I haven’t improved *cries*
To readjust my focus I usually pray but then I also like to remind myself of things like “it’s okay to not be perfect” and things like that XD
INFJ ~ 4w5
aldarley.wordpress.comAll those helpful author quotes are always so encouraging and inspiring, especially because I know that they had pretty trashy stuff too, before they started to improve it. I’ll just scroll through pages of quotes… and then take a walk to clear my mind. And if I need a break from my WIP, I always have a stash of idea notebooks to pull from!! 😄
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@kathleenramm Thanks for that encouraging message. I have to also admit that lately I have gotten very discouraged with my writing. I just feel like it’s terrible! And what hurts is that my sister and best friend are really good at it!
But when I feel discouraged, I just remember that these things take time, and that I still need to edit it. No matter what, an author is never going to be completely satisfied with their work. My greatest enemy as an author is me. But I need to learn to pray and ask God to help me stop calling myself a failure and to inspire me to write what He wants me to write.
I like to put on a Christian song and with my tears, pour forth all my troubles out to God.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1789
@kathleenramm Yeah! (About friends and encouragement, not crying. XD)
Let’s see if the link works…This article about clean and raw writers really inspired me when I was feeling discouraged about what and how I write: https://rmarcher.com/2020/10/inspiration-and-motivation-for-the-christian-author/
She also has several other encouraging posts!
And thank you!! I’m so glad you think so! 🙂
@gracie-j I’m so glad you found that post encouraging! ^-^
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
What encourages me generally differs depending on why I’m discouraged. God blessed me with an exceptionally easy project that I’ve been working on for the past two years or so, so it’s a little tricky to remember the last time I handled discouragement well, since the project before that… I did not handle well. XD But I remember there was one thing in particular that I worried about with this most recent project. It’s a fantasy novel, but it’s slow-paced like a contemporary, and I was concerned that that would put off readers, because fantasy readers are often looking for something that’s clearly adventurous and has a decent amount of action, and while Calligraphy Guild has its moments… it’s largely kind of slow and reflective. And then I read Lord of the Rings. And it was sooooo encouraging, because I realized Lord of the Rings is balanced much the same way as Calligraphy Guild (though on a grander scale and, of course, more richly written because I’m not Tolkien XD), and I love Lord of the Rings. And so many other people love Lord of the Rings. Which was just the reminder I needed that there will be an audience for my book. It might not be a large audience. I might not find them right away. But they will be there, and my book will be appreciated, and God will use it to reach the people who are looking for it. So that was… just one God thing in a long line of God things that have carried this book to where it is, lol.
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1789
@r-m-archer Thank you so much for writing it! It really spoke to me on a hard day!! 🙂
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.