006: Want to Give Up on Your Writing? Do This Instead

If you're smack in the middle of writing your book and feeling tempted to scrap the whole thing, this episode is for you! The writing process is full of roadblocks and obstacles to overcome, and one of those obstacles is feeling like you want to give up on your story. This can happen when you're not sure how to resolve a conflict, when you're unsure of a plot point, or when you're feeling burned out. Learn what to do when you feel this way and why it's a normal part of the process.

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Want to Give Up on Your Writing? Do This Instead

Okay, I'm going to paint a picture for you here. I want to paint this scene for you. See, if you can visualize this. You're about halfway through writing your book, you've got 40,000 45,000 50,000 words, and you're feeling amazing, you are so proud of yourself, you've reached that halfway point. And then you realize that you're kind of struggling to find motivation to keep going, you go back and read the previous few chapters that you've written. And you're like, this isn't really working,

I feel like I've kind of lost the thread of the story. Your dialogue feels flat, your characters feel flat, the plot feels boring, you realize that you still don't know how you're going to resolve the issue coming up in chapter 10. Basically, you are stuck. And it's at this point, you're stuck. And it's at this point that a lot of people want to give up, they fallen out of love with their story, they think it's never going to work, they think it's stupid, it would be so much easier if they could just scrap the whole thing and start over. Either start over with this book that they're writing, or start over on a completely different project that's going to solve everything.

Have you been there before? I have, with both of my books, I've been there with stories, I've written essays, but I've definitely been there with both of my books. And for me, it came around. For me, it was like the 30,000 word mark, where I had about a third of the book done like I'd made some significant progress, but I was just not feeling it anymore. I felt kind of blah, everything felt flat, everything felt boring. I was like, who's even going to run to read this book? Is this even going to am I even going to be able to finish this? What the heck am I going to do. And it was tempting, especially with the first book, I was very tempted multiple times to completely scrap it just give up and say you know what, I just need to move on to the next idea because this one is not working. If you have been in this place, I want to tell you that this is very normal. It's very normal to feel this way. And I'm going to give you some things to do instead of giving up on your novel. And if time goes on, if you're still feeling this way, after doing all of these things, and setting your manuscript aside, if months later you come back to it, you still feel like you can't resolve it, it's just not working, then maybe it's not not working, cut your losses move on. That does happen sometimes.

But a lot of times what we actually need to do is just reframe how we're looking at our work in progress. So first thing I want you to do is to make a list of everything that you love about this story. What is it that drew you to this idea in the first place? Do you love your main character? Do you just are you so proud of the world building that you've done? Do you think that your setting is really powerful? And is really going to, you know, immerse the reader in the story? What is it that you think you've done well? And what do you love about the story? Now, ideally, you would do this early on, when you're just in the drafting process, and or maybe just starting to, you know, write your story outlining whatever. Because you know, like thinking ahead, that future use probably going to encounter a roadblock and probably going to feel this way. But if you haven't made this kind of list before, do it now. Wherever you are. In your work or progress, do this now make this list of what you're excited about. So you can reference it. Right.

It's kind of like practicing gratitude in your life. If you practice gratitude, instead of being stuck on the things that you don't yet have focusing on, on what you do have it can help you feel better and it can help reframe things, it can help shift your perspective. And it's kind of the same thing that we're doing here with your work in progress. Being grateful for the progress that you've made, and just reframing it to remember why you wanted to write this story. In the first place, next thing I want you to do is to remember your end goal. Why are you writing this book. Now, if you are someone who just dove in, you're like, you know what, it's time, I've always wanted to write a book, I'm just going to do it. And then I'll decide later what I want to do with it. I'd encourage you to do some thinking and some reflection right now on what you're hoping to do with this book, when it's done. For you, maybe that's trying to pursue traditional publication trying to sign with a literary agent to represent you. Maybe it's self publishing, maybe is trying to find a small, independent press to publish your book. Maybe it's just to print out a bunch of copies and share it with your family and friends. Whatever your goal is, with this book, close your eyes. And imagine accomplishing that goal, whatever the end goal is. So see yourself with that finished book. But don't just stop there, I want you to really feel how it feels in your body to have accomplished this thing.

You're going to feel gratitude, you're going to feel relief, you're going to feel excitement, you're going to feel a sense of possibility, a sense of accomplishment. It's going to be incredible. And remembering that end goal when you're stuck in this place, of really not liking your work in progress and really wanting to scrap the whole thing. Sometimes I find that can provide me motivation. If I remember why I'm doing this in the first place when it feels like I'm just slogging through it. That can help me get energy and momentum to keep going. Even when it's hard because writing is hard. You're gonna have days where it just feels like this. So this can help you kind of get out of that place.

Next, I want you to see if you can do something to get in the writing mood, something to get you lit up and inspired and excited about the idea of writing. Because writing yes, it's hard. And it's a slog sometimes, but it's also fun. And if you're not having fun at all in at no point in the process, then you really need to do some reflection and figure out well, first of all, why you want to write this story. But second, is there a way that you could do this? In a way that's more fun in a way that's more lighthearted. I think a lot of times we talk about writing is like this being this like really serious craft thing. And of course it is that but it's also fun. It's supposed to be light, it's supposed to be just you exploring and getting in touch with your creativity and creating worlds and characters. And I mean, that's fun. It's fun to do that.

So this can be listening to a writing inspired podcast like this one. It can be going to YouTube and finding some inspiring YouTube videos about writing, it can be taking class, it can be listening to music that gets you really fired up and excited to write maybe music that sort of evokes the emotions of the world that you're creating in your story. Maybe this is taking a break from writing, just for a couple days or weeks or whatever. And just reading, right? Maybe this is reading something new that you've always wanted to read or going back to something that you read a million times and is a comfort read, and you just absolutely love. That's something that I've done in the past. You know, when I'm stuck on something, and I'm not sure how to get through it, or I just don't really want to write alternative books. And a lot of times what I'll do is I'll read outside the genre that I'm writing in just so my wires don't get crossed and I accidentally bring an idea in from another book but just going to a book from childhood that I really loved. Like one thing you know, I periodically reread The Chronicles of Narnia series just because I love them so much. And it's comforting. And it sort of reminds me of that awe that I felt the first time I read that series. Like awe that a writer could create a world like that.

So finally, after all those things, if you're still feeling stuck, if you still want to give up, take a break. I don't need to give you permission to take a break, but I'm giving you permission anyway, if you've been waiting for somebody to tell you, it's okay to put your manuscript down, it's okay to put your short story down, your work in progress. If you've been waiting for permission, this is your permission slip, put it down, step away from it. And you can either write something else, something that's fun, something that's completely unrelated, something that maybe you're not even planning to do anything with it, it's just sort of you having fun and trying something different. Or don't write it all, just live your life. Right? I've had to do that before where I'm just not inspired. I'm not writing. And I realized that you know what, it's okay. Right now, I'm just not writing. It'll only last a couple of weeks. I think it's lasted for me maybe a month at most. And then I start feeling a pull, something will happen in my life, I'll read something, I'll watch something, I'll have a conversation with another writer, that sort of gets me excited again, and pulls me back in. And then I feel recharged, and I feel ready to go back to my manuscript. So just take a break, live your life. And while you're taking this break, don't feel guilty about not writing. You are a writer, whether you write once every two months, or every single day, your worthiness, your abilities, your dedication, none of that changes if you decide to put down your writing for a little bit. So remember that.

Okay, again, like I said earlier, if you still want to give up, if you've done through all, if you've gone through all those steps, you're still just blah, you're not excited about your story anymore, and you just want to trash it. That's fine. Again, that happens. But go through all these steps first, get honest with yourself about what's going on why you're feeling the resistance that you're feeling, and see if there's a way that you can work through it. Every writer experiences this, it's part of the process doesn't mean anything is wrong with you or your story. It just is what it is. So I hope this episode was inspiring.

Happy writing and see you next time.

Katie Wolf