Write Unconditionally

Have you ever felt as though you’ve lost your writing passion?  You know, that once upon a time feeling when the words just flowed, your nerve endings crackled and you lost track of time while writing?

 

Sometimes, when faced with a writing to do list that includes posting to the WriteSuccess blog, writing an article for the Invisible Ink (the newsletter for the International Association of Professional Ghost Writers), and freelance assignments ranging from drafting a press release to editing an ebook, I wonder when writing stopped being fun and became work instead.  Or maybe the feeling comes after receiving a string of rejections, or chasing down writing job leads that go nowhere, or on those days when the only activity you see on your otherwise blank computer screen is the blinking of your cursor.

 

That’s when I know it’s time to take a break from writing for my livelihood, if only for a short while, and do what I call some unconditional writing.  Maybe it’s a long overdue note to a friend, or pouring out my heart in my journal.  Maybe it’s reading other blogs and commenting on them, or simply looking out my window and trying to describe how many different shades of gray there are on a wintery day.  It’s time to write for fun again, without expectation of payment or feedback, and without self-judgment.

 

When I write unconditionally, I revive the simple of joy of wordplay.  I don’t write to inform, educate, persuade, explain or inspire.  I write simply because I can.  And by doing so, I reawaken the appreciation that I can do something well that others struggle with, and that I love something others dread to do.  Then the writing to do list looks fun again, and back to work I go.

 

So when you’re feeling stuck, try writing with abandon.  Write unconditionally, for no other reason than the fact that you’re able to do so.  I think you’ll find that you’re passion for writing wasn’t lost—it just needed to be rekindled.

 

Here’s to your writing success.

 

Mary Anne