IWSG: Don't Quit

            Time for another posting with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month. The IWSG poses a question for us to answer in our monthly posts. Here is the question for June:

Did you ever say “I quit”? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?

            This question is so relevant to my state of mind lately that it was hard to answer. In fact, I have been procrastinating this post. When I sat down to write it Sunday afternoon, I ended up joining Twitter. I have been avoiding Twitter like the plague, but I also knew that it may eventually be a useful tool to promote my writing. Since I was avoiding this post, Twitter all of a sudden had this unheard of appeal for me (that or I wanted some extra entries in a raffle contest). Look at me talking about Twitter like I understand it (I don’t!) and continuing to avoid the topic at hand. 

            I never officially threw in the towel with writing, but I certainly do procrastinate an awful lot. I go into cycles with my writing. First, I start building up momentum and the ideas are coming in faster than I can get them down on paper. Then, I am highly motivated and write constantly for one or two weeks straight. Then, I either hit a huge roadblock or I come to a conclusion with the story/post/section. After that I enter this state of “What do I do now?” or “How do I move forward from here?” and writing suddenly becomes this evil beast that glares at me through a white screen with a blinking cursor. That is when the procrastination begins, and suddenly, there is never enough time to write or my job is too overwhelming or I make other excuses. I never know how long this stage will last, but eventually, I will find my way back to the beginning of the cycle. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

            In case you haven’t guessed already, I have been stuck in the procrastinating stage for a while. In fact, a couple weeks ago, I actually found myself asking, “Is it really worth it?” I keep questioning my ability to “moonlight” as a writer because it truly is hard to find balance. What’s funny is that the thing that made me come back this time was something I wrote about before. I was looking through my old posts to find one to use for Flashback Friday and I came across this post from my blogging comeback in 2015. I had quit blogging (not writing entirely) and that was my first post after a 15-month absence. Reading something I wrote during a high point, helps me remember the joy and inspiration that writing brings. In that post, I wrote about learning and seeking out the things that bring encouragement in my life. My suggestion to myself and anyone else who may be going through a writing slump is to learn new things, find your inspiration again, and don’t give up!

P.S. For anyone interested, you can now find me on Twitter @ElizabethAOtten (don’t forget the middle initial). I still have no idea what I’m doing there, so forgive me if I don’t follow proper etiquette or don’t tweet enough or commit other noob failures.