Writerly Problems – A Heart Redeemed

takingabreakfromwritingcanbeagoodthing

Today, I’m going to do a different kind of post. I wanted to write about something close to my heart: writing. I don’t know if this will become a normal thing, but here it is!

As I’m sure that many of you know, I am a writer. I would’ve never imagined myself saying that a couple of years ago. I absolutely hating writing into my early teenage years. Wow. That makes me sound old. Early teenage years? I dreaded writing.

Now, it is one of my favorite things to spend time on. Though, to tell the truth, it isn’t that way all the time. Sometimes, honestly, a lot of the time, it feels like work. It feels like something that I literally want to pull my hair out over. But I still do it. I still keep coming back to it. I don’t give up on it. Even if I push it aside for awhile, eventually, it draws me back. It won’t let me go, because, in my heart, I still love it.

But there are those times where you hit a wall with your writing. Where you’ve lost all motivation to write or where you don’t know where to go with your story or any other of that endless list of problems.

At times like that, sometimes you just have to push yourself forward, to keep typing out those words. And hopefully, eventually, you’ll get past that wall. I do that a lot. No matter how bad it is, I push myself forward, one word at a time. I don’t let myself quit. Even if the words are terrible, I kept going. I knew that eventually I’d get past it and it would be fine. Later, I could edit all those terrible words.

Sometimes though, pushing yourself forward is not the best path to take. Sometimes, it’s better to take a step back away from whatever you’re working on and take a break. Yes, I’m saying it is good to take a break. Is that shocking? Coming from me, I have to say that it is. I’m one of those people who feels immensely guilty about taking breaks. I feel like I should always be doing something, even if it is something like reading a book or watching a tv show. To me, at least I’m doing something. So to take a break is a hard thing for me to do.

But here I am to tell you that it is a good thing to take breaks. We need breaks. Our bodies aren’t meant to go on and on and on and to never stop. There’s proof of that in the fact that God, after creating this universe, rested. He’s God. It’s clear that He didn’t need to rest. But He did. And I believe that was for our benefit.

So remember to take breaks. Taking a break could give you a new perspective on your writing, and in the end, help your writing be much better than if you just pushed through with it. Taking a break could also help you get inspired. Lately, I’ve been taking a “bit” of a break from writing. I’ve spent time doing other creative things like sketching and reading and journaling and even starting to write a fan fiction for fun. It has just been just so refreshing and inspiring. I know that once I get back to actually working on my novel it will be a bit easier than before when I was just trying to push myself to make that word count everyday.

If you need a break, take it. You won’t regret it. Trust me.

-G. Paige