My Challenges of Writing

I love writing...sometimes it gives me trouble...as everything does. #writing #writer #troubles #challenges #overcoming

I got an opportunity in November to start an internship which has taken my energy strain to a whole new level. Waking up at 5:00 to get a workout in and then going through an entire 8 hour day of work takes more out of me than I realized it would. The first shock of adulting I figured out is having the energy, after a full day of work, to sit and stare at yet another computer screen for even longer. In this day and age, one would think that staring at a screen is the norm, which might be true, however, our eyes are not equipped for the task. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit and think some more…that doesn’t stop my brain from spinning in circles overflowing with ideas on the car ride home though.

How does one write down all their ideas to use when they’re driving home and can’t write them down? Any ideas would suffice! I have been working with these characters for so long (see “Meet Sam” and “Meet Kate”) that putting them in different situations is now a fascinating hobby that I love. However, it is difficult to write down every single idea that pops into my head. I guess I have to keep those for the next book, I suppose.

I have noticed one more downfall in my writing habits: finding a space where I can escape into the world I create inside my head. My ultimate goal is to get a setup that I love writing with (I am very particular about my keyboard and screen…) and it will help the words flow. In college, I took a multitude of creative writing classes in which I learned a lot and fell even more in love with the art. My last semester in college, I enrolled in a playwriting class, I loved that class so much, our homework every week was to write 10 pages towards finishing our one-act plays. This was my favorite piece of homework the whole semester; being able to do my favorite hobby for a grade.

There was one coffee shop I would spend my entire Sunday at every week just to get ahead on the work for the week, one of which was my ten pages. I stepped through those doors and became the definition of “music on, world out”. I put on my noise-canceling headphones and typed away. It was the most cathartic thing I have ever done. I got all my ten pages done five days in advance, giving me the time to revise and print before my day to read aloud in class. I am still looking for a place I call my writing sanctuary while at home, is it a coffee shop? Is it my house? Is it the couch? Stay tuned to find out…

The bumps in the road are how I found peace with loving this hobby so much. There is no task that is worth it without a few hoops to jump through. One of my goals for 2022 is to escape to my writing more than I used to. Find the time for myself to sit and learn from within. While I am still finding my groove and ironing out the kinks, that is what life is about. These troubles will not turn me off from fulfilling my dreams and goals. Always find a blank page and start writing, that’s how work gets done. Take that leap and go for it.