Reasons Why You Should Start Writing Again When You Feel Like Giving Up

Starting a story can have a motivating impact on your sense of achievement of completing the story, as you feel ready to begin something new with a set of characters, a plot, an outline of the story and its structure, and a variety of plot twists or climax; however, once you begin the actual writing process, does that motivation stay? However much you love writing, it can be hard at times to continue, and it is ok to stop for a while and quit, but weeks or months later you may find yourself with reignited passion for writing and you will wish you did not quit.

If you are reading this article, it may be safe to say that you indeed do not want to quit, which is why I am here to help you find ways and reasons to start writing again when you feel like giving up on it.

Write without deleting

If you spent a long time during your planned writing session and you have accomplished nothing so far, then it is time to switch up your strategy. Set a five- or ten-minute timer and begin writing; do not lift your pen from your paper, or your fingers from the keyboard, keep writing and do not delete anything until your time is up. After this, reassess what you have written, do you want to carry on? Do you like what you wrote? Is there something you can take away from this exercise? If you still do not feel like writing and do not know how to continue, then be kind to yourself and take a break. Instead, you could start journaling about why you are feeling blocked or what is currently happening in your life on days when you skip your writing session. Do not skip every time, because one skipped session usually leads to another, and the longer you spend away from writing, the more resistance you will feel towards getting started again.

Start something new

If you have stalled on a project, such as writing ten chapters of a novel and running out of steam or starting a blog but only posting regularly for a month before getting busy with other things in life, then quit temporarily and start something new. This can include an entirely different hobby or interest that you would like to pursue, or something within your writing abilities, such as starting a short story or trying your hand at poetry, etc. Once you look back at your original project, read over the material you have already produced, see if it still interests you and whether you want to see it to the end, then try to recommit to the project if you feel that you are ready to come back to it.

Take criticism head on

Give yourself a time to be sad or frustrated about it, it is completely ok to feel that way, and then pick yourself up and think about what you could do next. Plan and divide the comments you received into good and bad, as well as what you will listen to and what you will not listen to. That is very important to remember – just because one person has an opinion about something, does not mean that that is what you must do now.

Join the writing community

Involving yourself with others like you can be very encouraging and can aid in your writing journey. You can also swap pieces of work with someone else and give each other comments and ideas to help each other; the point of having a community is to have a group of people who understand your position, can advise and help you, can give more constructive feedback, and can help to motivate and encourage your writing. Go on Twitter or Instagram and simply search for the writing community.

Self-Talk

When we experience challenges, our attitude towards ourselves is what determines whether or not we will reach our goals. Keep an attitude of self-compassion, kindness towards yourself, and love for the work that you do; being hard, critical, and judgemental on yourself can make it harder to get back on track and continue with what you are doing. 

Keep in mind that taking a break is alright, so long as that does not turn into a permanent break; if you genuinely lost interest and feel like quitting, then that is a different story, though if you have reached the end of this article, then good luck getting back to writing, as you may deep down not want to give up after all.