Don't get in the way of your own writing!

The poll up at Critique Circle asks, What gets in the way of you writing? As of the writing of this post, 71 people chose "Myself. I stress myself out, and suddenly writing becomes a bond labor, a chore, a mechanism of self-torture — rather than a passion."

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Wow, guys. I feel really bad for you if you fall into that category! Not being sarcastic here. It's sad that for many people, there's such an imbalance between everyday, hardworking life and creative pursuits. Creativity is one of the things that makes us fully human. We dream. We need to.

I'm looking for a day job and it about makes me bash my head against a wall. To say it's frustrating only hits the tip of the iceberg. Being able to spend part of my time writing keeps me going. I have a story and characters I am totally in love with and believe in. It's meant to make people look hard at how we live our lives, wrapped in a tale about somebody else's misfortune and eventual coming out of a chrysalis. Without that dream, I would be a lunatic raving in the street.

I know what it's like to want to give up. My personal circumstances are vastly different from where I expected to be at this point in my life, and not in a good way. Writing lets me channel that rather than go off on a bender in some dark bar, but it also gives me hope. It's a burning torch I want to give to society but I have to build it first.

Life is really too short to let your creative self get caught up in avoidable things. Sure you need to do certain things, but don't forget to dream out loud.

Don't let this be you:

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