by Maria C Collins

Created on: January 01, 2010   Last Updated: February 11, 2010

Writing can be frustrating. The pay is lousy and the hours long. You type until your fingers are sore and throbbing. You proof read and edit until you cannot see straight and still some nasty mischievous sprite puts errors in your work, during the night while you are asleep. You send your pieces out into the big wide world. You wake up at night worrying about your pieces, as if they were teenagers out past their curfew. You get up in the morning and stare at that scary blank page. You know nothing that was ever worth having, ever came easy and there are ways you can cope with these frustrations.

 If one piece of work is not going well, leave it and write short piece on a totally different subject. It will refresh your brain and you might find that when you go back to the original piece, you may find that with a fresh mind, you can work on it with a will.

 It might be that you have been sitting at the piece for too long, go out and do something completely different, take a walk, have a shower, telephone a friend or play a game.

 Negative thinking is self defeating and is not conducive to being able to write. Negative thinking should always be countered. One rejection, or one article tanking in Helium’s rankings, does not mean all your work is terrible. A rejection from one publisher does not mean that other publishers will not like that same piece. One article tanking in Helium’s ratings is not the end of the World check it through again and leapfrog the article it may yet reach the coveted number one spot.

 Do not always write on the same or similar topics, even writers get bored. Variety is the spice of life and of writing.

 Writers need to do things besides writing. They need to engage with life and living, otherwise they can get stale. Time spent not writing is never wasted; experience of life informs the writing, gives writers ideas and challenges their thinking.

 Writers write because they must. Sometimes though writers forget, in the midst of commercial considerations, that writing is fun. Have fun with your writing if you have been writing a lot of serious, heavy pieces write some lighter or more frivolous pieces. Enjoy your writing, if you are bored your writing will show your tedium.

 Writing can be a frustrating business but it is the best job in the World. There are frustrations in any job; it is how you choose to deal with those difficulties that make the job easier and less stressful. Aim for the moon but do not be disappointed if you only reach the stars, take a joy in your accomplishments and learn from your difficulties. It will all be worth it and will make you a better writer.

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