Struggles of a Writer Struggling to Write

We all find, unwillingly, the hardships and obstacles to doing whatever it is that we do. For some being a painter is difficult because you cannot find others who share your vision. If you are a lawyer you are undoubtedly disliked by those you oppose. If you work in an office by day and care for your children at night it can seem that everybody is against you. If you are a writer, you are no more or less than anyone else, but just like other professions or hobbies they all come with a unique set of obstacles.

If you are a writer it will seem like nobody you love or call a friend, not even your spouse, will read your work. It can sometimes seem like a cat taking a bath. The water will not hurt the feline. As a matter of fact, the cat might be better for having taken the bath, yet it fights and struggles against doing so. Just like trying to get my wife to read my daily blog posts or something else that I have written.

One of the bigger obstacles that a writer will face is that of the daily duties. Things like taking out the garbage or washing the dishes. All of these things conspire against the writer if only to keep him or her away from the keyboard for half a day. There are times where taking the dog for a 2nd or 3rd walk for the day can seem like a great break from the days work. Either way, taking a "break" means that there must be work getting accomplished to take a "break" from. Sometimes there is nothing getting done. No words written, no sentences typed. When this is the case a few chores or tedious household tasks might acceptable, but not welcomed.

Finding that we are being kept away from our writing or even that we have walked away from it is another hardship for the writer. Sometimes the previously mentioned struggles can lead to a writer  taking a step away from their work. Sure, this is both good and bad and it all works on a balance kept by the writer. Sometimes the ability to balance is not there and it all falls apart. Yet for those who have the ability to balance it all it can become too easy to just stay right there. Never moving, never changing.

The struggle to proceed to where you know what is next is the hardest of them all for some. 

Distractions, self-loathing, ego, fear, or time can all get in one's way. Figuring out how to move past this can be done but it is difficult when you will not allow yourself to do so. It is very easy to let all of this and what others have said get in the way of taking further steps. A writer struggles with all of these things in an effort to put words in motion. We sometimes look too deeply at something trying to find a meaning that is either not there or that others cannot see. But for this we will often let everything else pass by. And for what?

For a writer living through life, time is precious. There is so little time to try and formulate intelligent thought around the sometimes chaotic ones in our heads. When we are able to push everything else aside for that moment and get it written in a way that we can present those thoughts to others it is magic. We have accomplished what we set out to accomplish. It does not happen too often. For some it comes in multiple pieces during multiple moments, and for others only once or twice. Regardless of which happens for you, you must capture it if you can. The struggles will always be there, they are for everybody. Some say hardships and struggle can mold the individual. Do you need further construction?

Writing, just like anything else can be difficult. However, just like everything else in life it is only as hard as we make it. Yet, we cannot just make life fit around writing because there is no longer a balance and the material will reflect that. We must live life with all its hardships and all the things that make being a writer so hard. That is because life itself is not easy and it is the struggles that make every other moment we have worth living and worth telling others about in our writing.