ding-dong

[plumerai]

I have been unable to write anything creatively for a while now. Not just my usual lack of motivation, but what comes out is awful. That’s not me being hard on myself; I know when something is good, and nothing I’ve tried lately has been. It’s only now hitting me that maybe I’m one of those people who can write well only when miserable. I don’t

Comments

[seabird78]

Melancholy and anger are my two main sources of fuel for writing. I have to always try to remember that when I wonder why I'm not as prolific as I was when I took my very first workshop back in the Fall of 98. Fact is, my life just wasn't very stable back then, and writing was my only way of finding catharsis. Now that things are pretty even keel, I don't need to blow off steam as often.

So yeah, I can really relate to this post.

[betchka]

Ain't this truth? I have a harder time navigating the rolling green hills more so than the eye of the storm. My most productive spurts in life have been directly correlated with bouts of severe, drag-down knocked-out depression.

[fuzzilla]

I've noticed myself being less productive lately, which I partially attribute to feeling a bit more content and feeling less of a "notice meeeeee! Pay attention to meeeeee!" impulse. Which is a good thing.

I left a comment in kesil's LJ not long ago saying something like "maybe the need to drain poison feeds my drive to write, and if there's no poison to drain, there's no need."

My lack of production is also partly due to lack of a real writing community to get feedback and whatnot. It makes me feel like - what does any of this matter, if no one notices or cares? I am starting a short story class on September 10, so hopefully that'll give me a kick in the ass.

I could never bring myself to say "maybe writing's not for me," and I would be very disappointed in myself if I gave up.

Maybe you're just bored with confessional writing and want to try something else..?

[kehlers]

For me it's kind of the opposite. I can't write if I'm too depressed. Writing makes me high and happy, and if I'm too far in the mud, I can't do anything that makes me happy or that requires a stitch of self-confidence or bravery, like writing does. I do amass a lot of ideas for later, though.

Lately, I've been feeling bad about not writing any fiction for months and months, until I realized that I had written almost an entire breakup album (want to jam?) I think that unless you are truly a goddamn fucking amazing genius in one arena, all of your various talents and interests will beg to be fed at different times for different reasons, and you have to obey them.

[peterbilt_47]

You're a great writer. So it's natural that you'd find a lot of your worth & sense of self in your writing. But that doesn't mean you HAVE to get it there.

I have the same problem with drawing and illustration. I'm really good at it; it's generally the thing that people identify most strongly with me. So I often get asked "why aren't you doing something with your art," or "are you still drawing?"

It's nice that people are interested and remember my work, but they also have a feeling like I have somehow left a portion of myself behind or failed to be true to myself by NOT making art the center of my life. The fact is, I just really have a lot of interests. And I'm good at a lot of them. I love doing art and illustration when I'm doing it, but I don't miss it when I'm not. And I find that I get very antsy if it dominates too much of my time.

I think your instincts are right- you can trust yourself to find what's important to your happiness. If writing is part of that, great. But don't be shy about letting it be something

[opheliathemuse]

excellent point.