How I fell back in love with writing

We've all been there. Life is asking a lot of us, and we seem to be constantly stuck in writer's block. It sucks. We want to change it, but we don't know how to do so. So, we take a break from it. We walk away from the problem. Or, at least, that's what I've done.

The global pandemic has changed our lives. As a teacher, it wasn't just my life that was upside down, it was everything that I've known. I missed the face-to-face contact with my pupils and I had to provide them with proper education without all the resources. It was a thought time. I went from teaching in a classroom to being stuck behind my computer all day teaching online lessons, doing online meetings, answering a lot of emails. My computer no longer felt like the place where I could write my heart out. It became to feel like a prison.

So, I skipped writing altogether for around ten months. Which, as you can guess is a long time to spend without doing something you used to love.

Getting back to it was hard. My story and characters were abandoned for so long, I had to reintroduce them, and myself to the story. It was like getting them to know all over again. As I'm a pantser and write as I go, I had no detailed outline to help me guide into it. I had to take a plunge. And boy, am I glad I took that plunge, eventually. I started with a dip of the toes and read through my entire story, twice. Reading the story and the characters' struggles made me want to finish it. They deserve to have their story have an ending, to have solace. So, that's what I did. I dusted off my notes that were stashed away somewhere in a closet and just continued. My pace was slow but steady. And now, a couple of weeks later, I feel like I'm getting back into that flow. Words appear on my screen without even noticing it. And the feeling is amazing.

If you came to this post, looking for a quick fix or a step-to-step guide to overcome this hurdle, I'm sorry to let you down. But all I can do is encourage you not to give up. It's okay to take a break every once in a while if you feel that's all you can do. Pick up after a week, or a month or as long as you need. If you're writing a story, it's probably because it's your dream and your passion. You can't allow yourself to give up on it all at once. Slow but steady is a way to go. As the saying goes: "Rome wasn't built in a day." The same goes for your story.

So, now tell me: when did you think about giving up and what made you decide not to do so. I'd love to hear from you and maybe we can all learn something from each other.

XO Anna