The Death Of A Writer!

Well, you might be asking yourself what is she talking about.  Why is there a casket picture in this post.  So let's talk about it.  Many writers lose their passion for writing.  It becomes a 9-5 type of job.  Something they have to do to stay financially secure.  There are deadlines, editors, publishers.  They feel like they are under pressure to preform.  To crank out so many books by a certain date.  They become frustrated.  They sit at their computer, or typewriter, but there's no longer any joy there.  They often wish they were just free to sit and write with no expectations from anyone, that's when writing was really fun for them.  What happened?  Lets look at some reason this might make the writer think his passion has died, and he just might as well give up.  Often when  writing was fun , it was when they weren't striving to make money.  Oh, they love making money, we all do.  But perhaps they have compromised themselves for the purpose of money.  They aren't writing the stuff they feel passionate about,, and this causes a burn out.  Perhaps they don't feel that excitement they first felt when they wrote that first piece because they are caught up with others telling him how to write a particular way to attract readers, they lose their distinctive voice  Maybe they are frustrate when the sales don't come in, and wonder if their a writer at all.  They may have taken on to many projects and can't meet them all.  Writing has now become drudgery, something they just do every day, but without any joy at all. 

It's like a rat race, and they want to get out of the race.  Not to do.  Stop, re-evaluate, what do you want as a writer.  Not what others want, but what do you want?  Go back, think of how you felt at the beginning.  Was it worth it?  You must answer these questions before you drop out of the race.  Do you still want to write/  If you answered yes, then keep writing.  But decide what important to you.  Be true to yourself, even if it means letting go of  some things in order to get your passion back, your voice back, that thrill of the joy of writing again.  What ever you do, don't quit, keep moving towards your dream as a writer!