This week’s Wednesday Words of Wisdom are from the German writer and statesman, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“Everything is hard before it is easy.”- Goethe
I find this quote can apply to any area of life, including our creative pursuits like writing. I suppose everything is difficult at first because we have to learn and practice. I really don’t think practice makes perfect but I do think it makes things a lot easier.
In my view, the more you come across writer’s block and lack of inspiration, the better. It’s all a natural part of the process. Sometimes we need a creative break and can’t always keep our creativity flowing. At other times, it’s a perfect opportunity for creative problem-solving.
You find yourself asking:
How can I fuel my inspiration? What tools do I have at my disposal?
How do I fix this bump I’ve come across in my writing? What can I add or remove to turn the story in a different direction?
Why do I feel unmotivated or stuck?
Recently, I had come to what seemed like a dead-end in one of my fan fictions. I had been at a loss for months, unsure of how to move the story forward (I had started my fan fictions as a teen so I did minimal planning and outlining for my stories). This process is a little more difficult because you have to make it up as you go along. However, with a little thought and problem-solving, I tackled it again.
And I found a way to make it work.
I removed parts I found unnecessary, focused on a secondary character and his development with a side story, and started planning out a general idea of how the story would progress from that point.
Suddenly, I didn’t feel stuck anymore. It was frustrating and difficult at first but well worth the effort.
So if you’re ever feeling stuck, in a rut or low on inspiration, just remember that things are always a little hard before they get better. 🙂
Creative Writing For Me 
Too true! I always ran into a ‘challenge point’ with my books. Often it had a different pattern depending on the book. Sometimes it would be administrative rather than creative. But things got easier as I gsined experience. In thst sense anyway; writiing always is a learning curve and always does kick up challenges.
That’s interesting that each challenge has a different pattern but it makes sense because of the nature of writing. I love the problem-solving aspect of writing and like you said, sometimes it’s more technical than creative, so sometimes we need to go about things in a different way. Thanks for your thoughts on this!