Ah, we writers.
We love to write. Sometimes we seem to live to write. And frankly, we could die for it.
Every morning when we open our eyes in bed, while we are still dazed from sleep, there is already one thing that pushes forward through that fog of our thoughts; an inexorable feeling that transcends all limitations.
The need to write.
We eagerly turn on the computer, although often we don’t even turn it off because not even four hours have passed since we stopped writing. It’s all because we have to finish an important and demanding project and we stayed awake until our eyes closed and we couldn’t take it anymore.
Frustration is part of every writer’s everyday life
We are in the middle of a project we are working on, but at the same time, we are listening to an online course on the topic of creating an effective platform, which includes learning techniques to create an email list, because any writer’s platform is not very effective without an email list. There’s a course for that too because there are a lot of steps involved that we have to learn to do it all right.
But the book we’re writing, the website, the email list, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, of course, we feed ourselves, our imagination, and our self-confidence, with the words of our mentors. They post on their sites and blogs on a weekly, sometimes even daily basis. We, therefore, read it to gather as much experience as possible. We have two, three, five…dozens of people we follow and read almost everything they write. And of course, we get messages from them about how to write a book that will change our lives, increase the number of followers, and the like.
We download the e-books of these mentors and authors, and along the way, we find more writers and simply adore their work; we cannot move away from their words.
But let’s not forget how much time we spend writing WordPress posts, and reading articles plus, we’re members of three or more Facebook groups where we meet other authors and post our work to get feedback, validation from others, and some advice.
And then the day comes when we realize that maybe all this is not a one-person job. In addition, some of us have jobs and families. Then the following happens: fear starts creeping into our everyday life. Fear of failure. The fear that we will realize that our dreams are almost unattainable; that we won’t have enough energy to make our dreams come true.
We feel trapped. And very, very bad. We get the feeling that we have entered some kind of black tunnel, some kind of vortex that we cannot bear. And worst of all, our dream life; a writer’s life now seems more and more like a nightmare.
How do we get out of that black tunnel?
This is the moment when we feel like we are losing control over everything. This is the moment when we see that we have started three, four, or more projects and have not finished any of them. We fear that we cannot and will never be able to find a solution for them.
But there is no reason to panic.
There is a solution
Stop. Where are you? Get going.
There is only one way to finish everything the way we wanted it to – do one thing at a time.
It is true that as authors we are always receiving ideas in our minds and we don’t want to leave any of them aside. However, they can wait for a while. Just take one project and concentrate on it; bring your whole self into it.
Commit to one project, especially if you have several pending. If you start a project, stick with it until it’s finished. You will feel much better. And more importantly, you’ll be ready to commit to the next thing. And the one after that.
If you stick to this simple process, you’ll look back one day and be proud of your accomplishments, and you’ll also achieve your goals. The life of a writer doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Truly, this is like the most beautiful dream.