Do you ever find yourself reluctant to sit down and actually write?
Maybe writing feels like the last thing you want to do. You can't even face opening up the document for your work-in-progress ... let alone spending an hour trying to get words
onto the page.
You might put off writing for days, weeks, months, or even whole years at a stretch. Or you might get started and build some momentum, only for life to knock you unexpectedly off-course.
Writing the next chapter (or even the next page) of your novel might feel almost
impossible.
And yet, you want to write! You love to write ... or at least, you've loved writing at some point in the past.
So why does writing feel so difficult sometimes?
I
think there are all kinds of reasons ... but the important thing to know is that it's completely normal to feel this way about writing.
Finding writing difficult and daunting doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you (or your writing).
The process of
writing fiction can be fun and fulfilling ... but it can also feel really hard at moments along the way.
That might be because of any or all of these reasons:
#1: There Isn't Much Room for Creativity in Your Life Right Now
It's hard to have the mental energy for creativity when life is jam-packed. That's not a cricitism of you and your life – I totally get this one, because I'm in a busy season of life too.
If writing feels like yet another thing on your over-packed to-do list, it's completely understandable that you might not
approach your writing time with much sense of joy.
#2: You're Attempting Something That's Legitimately Difficult
Writing a novel isn't an easy undertaking. It's a dream that plenty of people have, but very few of those who set out to write a novel actually finish it.
(I've seen estimates that for every 100 people who start writing a novel, 3 finish ... and of course there'll be lots more who never even start.)
When you're faced with something that demands a lot of brainpower and emotional energy, it's very normal to shy away. It's a lot easier to scroll social media on your phone than to write the next paragraph of your novel.
#3: Your Inner Critic is Taking Up Too Much of Your Headspace
Writing can be tough at the best of times ... but it's a whole lot harder if you've got a constant internal narrative telling you things like, you probably won't ever make any money writing, so why bother? or
this is juvenile trash or your dialogue is boring.
This critical voice can be helpful at a later stage, when you edit your writing, but it's not useful when you're drafting. And if you keep thinking about where your writing might be lacking, it's hard to feel motivated to keep going.
I'd love to say that I've got magic solutions to all of these problems ... but I don't! Like you, I find writing hard at times: it can feel a lot more like a chore than a joy. I firmly believe it's worth it (there are times when writing feels like the best thing in the world!) ... but it's never going to be easy all the time.
One thing that I do think helps, though, is to know that it's normal to have times when writing feels difficult, or even boring. Times when you might have to force yourself to sit down and write, rather than feeling that the words are flowing from your fingertips.
There's nothing wrong with you (or with your writing) if you feel that way, whether
that's occasionally or often. Keep going ... at some point, you'll reach the stage where the writing flows beautifully and you feel fully engaged with it again.
Next week, I'll be sending out the Aliventures spring survey. I'd love to hear about what type of writing you're working on, where you're finding it hard, and what types of
resources you might like to see me create during the rest of 2025.
Happy writing,
Ali
