"You fail only if you stop writing."
--Ray Bradbury
--Ray Bradbury
Writers write, right?
For the past six weeks I felt like a failure.
And I couldn't figure out why.
Then I read that quote from Ray.
I wasn't really writing.
I had reasons.
Excuses.
Fears.
Not anymore
No more excuses.
I am writing again.
I am a writer.
And I will not fail.
So how are all of you doing? Have you ever stopped writing? How did you feel?
That quote keeps me going too, and although I haven't stopped writing, I have felt like what I'm writing is no good--and sometimes it isn't--but there's another quote (probably lots of them) that indicate you can't write something good without first writing bad.
ReplyDeleteDispels the myth of writing the perfect first draft. ^_^
DeleteGreat post! I always feel better after I write so I don't understand why I procrastinate so much! Today I write! (love exclamation points today.)
ReplyDeleteYes, I've quit, for a week or so, then I felt so disjointed and weird that I had to plunge back in. Glad you did, too, you're too talented to stop.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I needed to hear that. ^_^
DeleteThis is TOO weird, Angi! I JUST posted about failure and rejection on The Mind's Elbow. It seems that we are always on the same page! Like you, I start to feel pretty rotten, if I'm not writing (blessing or curse? Hmmmmm...). Thanks for the quote; I will keep it handy so that I can keep on keepin' on when things get tough (and, alas, they always do).
ReplyDeleteStaying buckled into the writing rollercoaster. Sometimes I think I'm gonna hurl!
DeleteTHANK. YOU.
ReplyDelete1 hour of writing = happy lady
1 hour of tweeting = sore butt and time I'll never get back
Great post!
You're welcome. Keep writing, happy lady.
DeleteI've also been too busy/distracted to write much over the past two weeks, and it's really gnawing at me now. Looking forward to getting back onto a regular schedule next week and back into my WIP! =)
ReplyDeleteGnawing. That's exactly what it feels like. Darn the distractions!
Delete*hugs* Thank you for the truth in that post. We all feel that way, sometimes. Nice to know we're all here for each other.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mieke. I've missed you. ^_^
DeleteYes I have. I stopped writing for nine months (hm, metaphor there much?) as I read and read and read. By the end of it I was itching, absolutely *cranky* about not having written. BUT it did give birth (yeaaaah, metaphor) to a new story. One that had technically been gestating for much longer than that.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I think one of the reasons I'm having so much trouble catching up on my *reading* is that now I don't want to lose sight of the writing that I forsook for so long. Like I'm scared I'll stop again.
I've been having trouble regaining my momentum after getting in the habit of reading instead of writing.
DeleteI've taken breaks, but I never thought I was done with writing. I always expected to return to it.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, as difficult as writing can be sometimes, as much as I am sometimes dissatisfied with a given day's work, it is still something I love. I did it when nobody else read it and when I got paid nothing for it, and so I expect to keep doing it as long as my brain still works--to do it for its own sake.
Writing for others, as in writing for publication, has a whole other layer of challenges!
Finally, I think "failure" is temporary. We all have days where we can't write, or where what we write isn't what we'd hoped, but there's always tomorrow. Or even later today.
Yes. I was taking a break, brainstorming a new project, filling up the creative well, but it didn't feel right because I wasn't writing, wasn't putting new words on the page or tearing up a manuscript and sewing it back together. I felt like I was failing because something was missing. I love to write, whether or not any of it ever sees the light of day. The feeling of failure came as a result of the emptiness inside. I've learned that taking a long break is not good for me.
DeleteYep, I've quit before, whether it was a failure to start work on the brain child or I put the keyboard away for too long. I always end up coming back, because no writing = irritability.
ReplyDeleteAnd we just hate to be irritable. ^_^
DeleteYes - gone months w/o writing. I wanted to do something productive, y'know? Something that had a greater than .01 percent chance of success. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd I fought that feeling of being all pent up inside. Took me a long time to realize the joy of writing is enough, whether or not I ever get published.
Now, 3 MS in 1 year later, I'm taking a summer-long break due to work demands. My creativity will be sucked into the vortex of academic writing. Sigh.
Yes. The joy of writing has to be enough. I'm sorry about the summer vortex, but I suppose academic writing is better than no writing at all. Thanks for stopping by ^_^
DeleteI stopped writing for about ten years. Biggest mistake I ever made!!
ReplyDeleteAnd then you started writing again and look what happened! ^_^
DeleteMy muse always pulls me back...
ReplyDeleteThank goodness!
I'm glad yours did too.
:)