When Creativity Seems Impossible

As much as we writers love writing, sometimes it isn’t always easy to actually sit down and do it. Today, Municipal Liaison Rebekah Loper is here to reassure you that it’s ok to have an “off” writing day, and to remind you that your creativity will come back to you:

Sometimes writing is hard.

And I don’t mean the act of actually sitting your butt in a chair and churning out those words.

I mean sometimes it’s hard to even think about writing, because there are instances in life when life overcomes creativity.

Over my thirteen years as a NaNoWriMo participant, and my ten years as a Municipal Liaison, I’ve completed several NaNos despite some very trying circumstances (many of which would have been legitimate reasons to just give up that year), and hopefully I can encourage any of you who might be struggling to find your writing voice through difficult times.

First off, though, I want to say one thing:

If you’ve been through a traumatic situation while in the midst of a creative project (or while you were gearing up to begin one) and found that your creative well suddenly went dry, it’s okay.

I’ve been there. I know. In June 2017, while I was working (on a deadline) to finish up edits and formatting on my book, The A-Zs of Worldbuilding, our elderly cat Winniford took violently ill, very suddenly, and passed away a mere ten days before her 16th birthday.

It was a shock.

I couldn’t touch my writing for two weeks. Winnie had been my writing companion, and I found I couldn’t sit at my desk without breaking down in tears. And when I tried to even do anything creative that wasn’t my book, I just… couldn’t.

I sat down one evening, deeply grieving, and figured out how much time I could afford to not write. I set a reminder on my phone for when I had to start working again, and then stopped thinking about it. And I grieved.

I promise—pinkie promise—that your creativity will come back. Give yourself some space, and let yourself reconfigure to your new circumstances. One day, it’ll be like the light switch was flipped on again and you’ll be able to create once more.

Let’s move on now, though, because we’re supposed to talk about NaNoWriMo and difficult circumstances, right?

For a while, it was a running joke between my co-ML and I about what might implode in my life just in time for NaNo. It all began in 2013, which goes down as the worst November year of my life. It culminated last year when my Grandmother passed away two weeks before NaNo began. The years in between (every NaNo season, almost like clockwork) were fraught with challenges like my husband losing his job, a dear friend being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition after life-threatening complications, and other pet woes.

So many of these could have been legitimate reasons to just give up (or not even try) during NaNoWriMo. So what have I learned through all of these trials?

That the act of creation can also be an act of healing.

Everything you experience in your life can help you write better stories and better characters, even your tragedies.

It’s perfectly okay to be living through a hardship and find yourself thinking in the back of your mind, “Oh. This is what grief feels like, physically. Now I can write such-and-such’s reaction better.”

It’s perfectly okay to have your characters live through your same hardships, and come out all right. Sometimes we need to see someone else—even a fictional someone else—live through the same thing we’re going through to know that we will be okay.

It’s okay to change your story. Seriously. When you do find yourself putting your characters through your own situations, change the ending. Give them the ending you wish you could have had. And sometimes, even through that, you’ll find that you do have the power to change parts of your real story.

But most of all, be kind to yourself. If all you can write on a trying day is five words, then write just those five words and go indulge in some other form of self-care.

Your stories will always be waiting for you.

Rebekah Loper began creating fictional worlds and epic stories as a child and never stopped. Now she also helps inspire others to write their stories through her volunteer work as a NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison, and with her workbook, The A-Zs of Worldbuilding: Building a Fictional World From Scratch. Her most recent release, a fantasy short story titled The Path of Mercy, is available in Beatitudes & Woes: A Speculative Fiction Anthology. She blogs about writing and urban homesteading at rebekahloper.com, and has been a contributing writer for Fantasy-Faction.com. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Rebekah lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband, a dog, two formerly feral cats, a flock of chickens, and an extensive tea collection. She is often found battling the elements in an effort to create a productive, permaculture urban homestead on a shoestring budget.

Top photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash.