Hello, friends! Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and cohosted this month by Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise Barbour. To learn more about this amazingly supportive group and to see a list of participating blogs, click here.
I’m sorry, I’m feeling a little burned out after the A to Z Challenge, and I don’t have much to say for this month’s IWSG posting. Fortunately, my muse has offered to write this blog post for me. She has something to say, and maybe it’s something your muse would like to hear.
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My writer loves writing, but he also hates it sometimes. He doesn’t like to admit that, which is probably why he lets me talk about this on his behalf. There are days when writing is fast and easy and fun, but there are also days when writing gets slow, tedious, and frustrating.
My writer just finished the A to Z Challenge. Overall, he enjoyed the experience, but there were a few days when things got frustrating, especially toward the end of the challenge. Frustrating enough that he wanted to give up, not just on the challenge itself but on blogging and writing in general. Don’t worry, he’s okay now. Every writer struggles sometimes with these “I want to give up” feelings.
Writing can’t always be fun. It can’t always be easy. Our job, as muses, is to be there for our writers both on the fun days and the days of frustration. Those frustrating days are always a temporary problem, but if your writer can get through the frustrating parts, the joy and the pleasure of writing will return.
Planet Pailly 
Glad your writer didn’t give up. 🙂
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Thanks, me too!!!
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I’ve considered giving up blogging at several points over the years, but have always come around to the realization that there’s no reason to burn that bridge, to lock in what might only need to be a temporary break.
I’d be pretty sad to see you quit, and relieved that you’re feeling better about it now.
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That means a lot to me, friend. A to Z always burns me out, and maybe it burned me out a little harder this year than usual. But I’m not going anywhere.
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If it was always easy, everyone would do it 😉
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That is true.
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If it was easy, everyone would do it 😉
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That is true.
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The end of the Challenge is always draining. I took about half of April off just so I’d be good to go for today.
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Yeah, I’ve come to expect a little burn out at the end of A to Z. This year drained me a little more than usual, though. But I’ll be okay.
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When I did the challenge, the end was always a relief. I enjoyed doing it, but it is a lot and it’s nice to relax when it’s over.
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I am relieved it’s over. It was fun, and I’m planning to do this again next year. But for now, I’m enjoying a little time off from blogging.
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I’ve been through the frustration. But after 18 years of blogging, I’m not giving up now.
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That’s my attitude, too. There are days when I want to give up, but even if I did, I know I’d be back sooner or later. It’s too much a part of who I am.
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It’s so hard to stay the course and that’s where the satisfaction lies. 🙂
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True. If writing were always easy, it wouldn’t feel like such an accomplishment to get it done.
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Exactly.
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I think about giving up blogging, but never seriously consider giving up writing. Blogging sometimes just feels like a distraction from the real thing, but giving that up would mean giving up the connections to other writers it’s brought me, that that’s not a price I want to pay.
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Same. Those connections are really important. I wouldn’t want to give that up just because I had a few rough days.
I sometimes have to remind myself that blogging is “real writing.” It’s different than the other kinds of writing I do, but that doesn’t make it less important.
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That’s a good point. I tend to discount blogging time as not being writing time, but of course every kind of writing is writing, and it all helps to hone my skills.
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