Those are the days you have to write.
Even if it’s nothing, even if it’s crap, you’ve got to carve the words onto the page. Even if it’s only a hundred words, even if you only get to move the mountain by a half-an-inch, you’re still nudging the needle, still keeping that story-heart beating, still proving to yourself and to the world that this is who you are and what you do.
They say you can’t get blood from a stone but squeeze a stone hard enough, you’ll get blood.
Blood wets the gears. Blood makes the grass grow.
Effort. Work. Movement. Motion.
The days you don’t want to run, you have to run.
The days you don’t want to get out of bed are the days you must get out of bed.
The days you don’t think you can fly are the ones you gotta jump off the cliff.
Writer means writing. Even if it’s just a moment in the narrative, even if it’s just one thought orchestrated and set gently on the page. An avalanche is snowflakes. An ocean is all droplets. Our life is measured in seconds, our work measured in words, and so you have to put the words down.
The act creates momentum. Writing begets writing begets writing.
The lack of act has its own momentum, too — don’t write today, and tomorrow you wonder if this is really who you are, if this is what you’re meant to do, and so the next day you think it’s just not happening, the Muse isn’t there, the inspiration hasn’t lit a fire under your ass yet, the rats don’t feel like they’re gnawing at you and oh, hey, other writers — well, they’re all talented and driven and they’d never think of sitting down and not writing and maybe that’s who you are, not a writer but rather, Not A Writer, and so the gap in your effort cracks and pops and widens like a broken jaw, a yawning mouth, and soon all you see is the broken teeth of your efforts, broken dreams there in the dark of the mind and the back of the throat, and what you Want to do is lost beneath the illusion of what you Didn’t — or what you Can’t — do.
We fight that inertia, we fight the fear and the doubt by writing.
The words you write right now are words you can fix later.
The words you don’t write today are a curse, a hex, a black hole painted white.
You think that forcing it is counterproductive, that it means nothing, that you’ll just spit mud and blood onto the paper — and you might be right, but you might be wrong. Might be gold in them thar hills, might be a cure for what ails you in those droplets of blood. You don’t know. You can’t know. You’re you — your own worst judge, your own enemy, your greatest hater.
If you’re dying in the snow, no matter how much it hurts, you’ve gotta get up and walk.
If you’re drowning in the deep, no matter how hard it is, you’ve gotta hold the air in your lungs until your chest feels like it’s on fire and you’ve gotta swim hard for the surface.
Writing is the act of doing. Surviving. Living. Being.
From nothing into something. The word of the gods spoken aloud and made real, signal in noise, order in chaos, Let There Be Words and then there were Words.
On the days it’s hard to write are the days it’s most important to write.
That’s how you know who you really are.
That’s how you know this is what you’re meant to do.
Wake up.
Get up.
Write.
110 responses to “The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing”
Inertia is my hidden foe, and I only recently realized this. Knowing makes it easier to fight, but it’s still a struggle.
Thanks for this! I was struggling with the book, as I’m still in the worldbuilding fase.
I’ve been at it for about a year and haven’t really gotten to the book itself.
And I have to admit that I was losing speed. Starting to wonder why I’d ever started doing this.
This opened my eyes somewhat and made me realise that it’s normal to struggle. And that the moment I actually start getting somewhere will be a kind of payoff for all the trouble in the past.
Once again, thanks! 🙂
[…] Treasure Thursday! Today’s gem comes from Chuck Wendig’s blog, Terribleminds: “The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing“. I thought this was a great post to share with you, because all of us–even the most […]
[…] Chuck Wendig: The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing […]
Chuck… Thank you. I needed this kick in the behind this week. A well-intentioned kick in the behind, aimed to teach, not to hurt. Inadequacy and inertia hit hard recently.
“Writing begets writing begets writing” is my new mantra. I need to remember this and muscle through.
[…] article that can be substituted for practise, exercise, or any kind of work: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/02/11/the-days-when-you-dont-feel-like-writing/ Posted in Social […]
Amen to that. I have so few opportunities to write that when I get the opportunity I seize it. But it’s still depressing on the days that I discover I’ve churned out crap. I try to tell myself that even writing crap is practice.
Great post.
Cheers
MTM
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[…] The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing by @ChuckWendig – Another kick in the pants (or possibly the head), delivered with the love and caring of one writer encouraging another […]
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Thank you so much. I needed to hear this today. And yesterday. And probably the day before.
[…] helpful quotes from Chuck Wendig over at the Terrible Minds blog. He recently wrote a post about The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing, and he had some great things to […]
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What a gem of a post. So nicely written. This is also what I needed to hear. You are absolutely right. Thank you so much for motivating me. Sometimes it is hard to come up with the words everyday, but I will read this post in the future whenever I don’t feel like writing.
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Chuck, I read your article earlier today and was struck with the importance of simply making yourself write during those slumps when you feel like nothing you make is good enough. It got me thinking about Ira Glass’s interview where he described the “gap” between the quality of work an artist creates at the beginning of their career compared to their potential, which is why so many people stop writing. Then I got along to thinking about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-Hour Rule about how a person must put forth 10,000 hours to truly get good at something.
As a writer, all you can do is write and write and write some more. I wrote a reaction piece on my blog about the importance of writing and churning out crap in regard to both Glass and Gladwell’s theories. Here’s the link if anyone’s interested: http://ryanndannelly.blogspot.com/2014/02/practice-really-does-make-perfect.html
[…] I found this blog post by Chuck Wendig extremely timely and motivational: The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing. And I’ll add this to it as well: The Muse is […]
[…] Kate Mosse celebrates National Story-Telling Week with excellent tips for writers; Sean Cummings shares what he’s learned in the 2 years since his book deal; and Chuck Wendig tells us what to do on those days where we don’t want to write. […]
Brilliant
[…] read a post by Chuck Wendig, this writer I follow, who said we have to write everyday, even on days when we don’t feel […]
Where was this text all my life? Your blogwords are like the breath or lifeblood that helps me keep going. Thank you for it Chuck.
Goddammit, thanks for this.
[…] The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing […]
[…] Chuck Wendig’s must-read post for writers on the days you don’t feel like writing. […]
[…] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/02/11/the-days-when-you-dont-feel-like-writing/ […]
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[…] Of late, I’ve been thinking on the dedication and the grind a self-published author subjects him/herself to. You’ve got to have a true love for the craft and discipline like a Jedi (had to throw that one in here) to even create a book, let alone publish a quality one. From there, the game’s just beginning. In addition to networking and promoting, you’ve always got to be writing more, because, after all, if you’re not writing…well, you’re not writing. […]
[…] The days when you don’t feel like writing Share this:FacebookTwitterGooglePinterestPrintEmailMoreDiggTumblrStumbleUponRedditLinkedInGoogle+ Fran WilsonLike this:Like Loading… […]
Every time I go write, I read this before hand. It’s stellar. Thank you for writing this.
[…] ARTICLE BY CHUCK WENDIG VIA TERRIBLEMINDS […]
This describes perfectly what crippled me for longer than I care to think about. Now I allow myself only two days off a week. It really is necessary to write every day. Thanks for this excellent post!
Beautiful. I’m gonna have it printed and framed above my desk. Thanks for the wonderful motivation.
[…] takes a lot of inner strength. Chuck Wendig discusses what to do on the days you don’t feel like writing; Ciara Ballintyne shares her writing process; and Kathryn Maeglin lays out 4 reasons you […]
[…] The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing […]
I haven’t written in years. I am the Writer That Doesn’t Write. Yep. Where have you been all my life with this wonderful text?! Thank you.
It’s hard to write lately… so depressed! Lots of legal bull shit ruining our lifes… and if this turns out badly I’ll probably never write again…
Thanks.
[…] The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing […]
What a fucking amazing speech. I read it aloud in my terrible American accent and it was AWESOME.
ThIs is an awesome article and I relate totally. I never stop writing.
[…] The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing […]
Thanks. I’m proud to say I’ve managed to write for thirty days straight. Every. Single. Day. I’ve never done that before. But my problem is, most of the days I’m forcing myself to write. That’s a good thing, I suppose. But on those days, my writing are crap. I can’t even bring myself to read it. And I wonder why did I even bother writing them down. Writing for the sake of having written. What is the point?
Just what I needed! Can’t thank you enough 🙂
Keep Writing!
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