Writing Through Your Moods

When I’m feeling blue, I don’t want to write. I don’t want to do anything writing related, either. I just want to sit on the couch, eat peppermint patties and caramels, take a nap, then sip coffee and watch the Food Network.

Do I sit on the couch and do all those things? No.

Well, I might take a thirty-minute break to indulge in them, but for the most part, I force myself to get something done on my work in progress.

Writing through your moods is a necessary skill.

I’ve written entire books while in a personal funk. Writing them wasn’t fun, but, shockingly, the quality of the books didn’t suffer. One of my “rough period” books proved to be quite popular with readers. On the flip side, one of my favorite books to write was also my poorest selling and least reviewed. Go figure.

Because I consider writing to be my job–my business–I refuse to blow it off. When I was employed outside the home, I couldn’t skip work because I was feeling down or life stunk. I grumbled all the way there, and I survived every shift.

Writing is the same.

We don’t write only when we’re on top of the world. We write…

• When our kid is having friend troubles.
• When the credit card comes due and we have no idea how the bill could be that high or how we’ll ever pay it off.
• When we’ve gained ten pounds and all our clothes are tight.
• When things are strained with our significant other.
• When everyone around us seems to be happy, and we don’t know why we aren’t, too.
• When we’re seriously questioning if any of our writing dreams will ever come true.

I want to encourage you to continue writing through your moods.

Moods come and go. I can start the day with tons of motivation, and two hours later want to bury myself in the backyard. But I can also have long periods of not loving life where I continue to be productive.

We need to strive for consistency and create writing habits that work for us. That way when we’re having a bad day, it doesn’t derail our progress. At the end of every bad day, I can at least take comfort in the fact I got my work done. It might not solve my other problems, but it didn’t add to them, either.

How do you deal with negative moods when writing?

Thank you for stopping by!