The Writing Blues

I've often been asked, "How do you keep from getting down/depressed/discouraged?" This business can be rough. There is a lot of rejection involved. A lot of being told that what you've done isn't good enough. And you know, that can be very hard to deal with.

How do I keep from getting sucked into the negativity? That's easy.

I don't. :)

For me, it's just an inevitable fact that at some point, it's going to get to me. I'm going to want to quit. So I do. I don't usually walk away from it entirely. I'll continue to blog, network, critique, brainstorm, take notes, fiddle with mss. But if I need to step away from one or all of those activities...I do.

For days, weeks, months...once it was even years. I step back until the clamoring dies down and I can focus on why I am really doing this.

I do it because I love to write. Because I have a million stories in me that need to get out. Because I FEEL better when I write them down. Because I love to have people read them and tell me how much they love them.

I don't think there is a magical formula for getting rid of the writing blues. I don't think there is a way to escape them. Someday, they will just hit you. I find it easier to let them. Let it come. But...I try very hard not to wallow in whatever it is that has gotten me down. I don't dwell on it. I might not feel like playing the game...but I don't take my ball and go home :)

I focus on other things. I'll read a lot. Watch movies. Listen to music. Live life. Experience new things. Basically, recharge the batteries that fuel my creativity. To the point that they are so full I no longer care about whatever got me down in the first place.

I just want to write again.

The important thing is that I come back. I start over. I keep going.

Do you get hit with the writing blues? How do you handle it?

I Know They Aren't Real But...

I just finished reading the latest installment in one of my favorite series. And it looks like my favorite couple may not make it. People are arguing this one with me, but I think it's the beginning of the end.

And it just plain DEPRESSES ME.

My husband finds this odd...that I can feel actual sadness over fictional people in a fictional situation. Then again, my ability to do this is probably why I'm a writer and he's not :D After all, this whole emotional intensity thing is part of what makes writers be able to realistically express emotions in their books. Occupational hazard I guess that it spills over into our reading lives (at least mine) :)

Now, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way when reading (right? I'm not, right? I'm not the only one a little...off, am I?)

But I'm curious...do you consider this when you write? Do you, as a writer, think about how your audience will feel when writing your stories?

Given the main character in question, the outcome of this relationship was inevitable. I knew it when they got together (and the author has flat out said that they won't end up together on numerous occasions). Yet, still, I found myself hoping they'd find a way. And I find myself sad and depressed and revisiting happier times (i.e. books where they are all hunky-doory (emphasis on the HUNK)) in order to feel better about the whole thing.

So, I ask you, my dear readers/writers - how do you feel when things don't turn out how you'd like in a favorite book or series? And does this influence you at all when you write?