Imagination is Writing

Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

I was meant to write this two days ago, but time ran away from me when writing the other post and then life. Anyway, I want to share with you advice that helped me on my writing journey this year: thinking on your story is just as important as writing it.

All writers know how stressful it is to write at least constantly and concisely enough to get a story done. Some days you just. can't. write. Sometimes it is lack of time, writer's block, no inspiration, tiredness and plain just not feeling up to it (and many more). Sometimes there is a good excuse when not to write, others there is not. But here I am talking about the times when there is a good excuse not to write. 

I am (or was) one of those people who would put pressure on themselves to write nearly every day. And it stressed me out. If I didn't write at least a sentence, I felt terrible. Then I decided not to put pressure on myself if life didn't allow me to write. When the time came that I was able to write, it was much more enjoyable experience. (I also learnt to not feel bad when I couldn't write beyond a few paragraphs.)

I then (briefly) got into the habit of writing every morning except for Sunday, making that the day when I would take a break from writing. (Sometimes I would write on Sundays when I didn't write on Saturday.) That habit was the best I got with writing.

And I lost it. I have been writing here and there but not much. I hadn't write a word in my current story for at least two months. I did get a little depressed but I just couldn't write. And that was because of two reasons. One was, of course, life (as in study) but the other was because the story was a mess. The plot, the system, the politics, the science, the characters' standing in the aforementioned things... You get the idea. And because of that, I couldn't write anymore until I figured it out more. It was just plain too confusing.

Before I stopped writing, I came across a post by K.M. Weiland, where she said that the things that are related to writing are just as productive as writing itself. It was very encouraging at the time but it was more so when I couldn't get myself to write. When advising a friend about writing, my mind came across that little bit of wisdom again. And that time I took it to heart.

Every time I worked on the character questionnaire (for Blossom, which I still haven't finish 😂) or just thought on it during the day or before going to sleep (not advised), I reminded myself that it is part of the writing process and that I didn't need to stress myself out. In time, the story will come full enough to be written. I never gave up on writing, I was just having a break in writing so to write better. 

So if all you have done is think on your story, that's okay. It is all part of the process. I realise now that since my story is still rather new (an idea that came about at the beginning of 2020), I needed more time to think on it and only think on it. And since mainly thinking on it for two months (as well as being sidetracked by other ideas), I am ready again to start writing. It will just take a while to get into the habit again as well as working around study.

The main thing is to keep the enjoyment in writing (in all its stages). To treat your imagination sessions as highly as writing it on paper (or screen). Cause without those moments in clouds, you wouldn't have thought of all the ideas that came together into a beautiful and amazing story.

It is writing.

If you have any thoughts on this, I'll love hear them in the comments!