Feeling the love–or not

If you’re a writer, you’ve been there. You’ve got a story to tell. You’re full of ideas on how to tell it. Interesting characters and scenes have been unfolding–just not today. I once read an interview with a highly regarded novelist who admitted that she, in fact, did not write every day. The reason being she didn’t have something to say every day. Yeah.
There are days when what I write is bad, forced and uninspired, and you can almost hear my teeth gritting as I try to engage my brain. It happens. Other days the process is almost effortless. Those are the magic days. Most of the time my efforts fall somewhere in between. And that’s okay. I’ve come to learn that even on crappy days, time logged on my writing is valuable. Thinking about the story, thinking about the characters, even if I can’t string a sentence together, is valuable. I hit on things, realize things on those slow days that help feed what I write the next day and the day after. Sound familiar to anyone?
So take it easy on yourself on the crappy days. Just keep showing up. Writing is a job. We’re not all at our best every day on the job. But we keep showing up. We keep trying. And in the end we get paid.
–Karen