How You Can Return To Writing (After a Long Pause)

When you are brimming with the desire to write, but you feel guilty…

The challenge I face in writing (as a student) is similar to your struggle: Finding time to write. Yet my reasons are different. After every month or so, I face examinations; my college and career depend on acing them.

It’s a period of internal conflict for me.

When in the usual days, being largely free of adult responsibilities, I take my writing time for granted, during the tests, intense guilt grips my heart. I have to leave writing altogether and focus more on studying.

The successful flow gets broken like a heart.

After weeks of no contact, opening the laptop, acclimatising to its brightness, and retouching the keyboard can be a task. Especially when you know that you will have to leave (and suffer) again.

Now when I have done this over a hundred times, here are my tips for you to “recover” from a heart-wrenching break from writing.

One: Understand the futility of your guilt

As I mentioned, initially, when I had to quit writing for a while, remorse gripped my heart and made my days even worse. I didn’t feel great opening my notes. On the other hand, scrolling Medium felt like a sin.

I was ruining my mood without a good cause.

As the author Wayne W. Dyer said,

Guilt is the most useless of all erroneous zone behaviors. It is by far the greatest waste of emotional energy. Why? Because, by definition, you are feeling immobilized in the present over something that has already taken place, and no amount of guilt can ever change history.

If you are taking a break for genuine reasons, you should not worry about the abysmally low output. It is not your fault — it is the circumstance — and no amount of thinking can get you what you desire.

Rather, try to utilise the best of the break.

Ensure that the upcoming days are as productive as possible.

Two: Make preparations. Practice 10 Ideas/Day

Another of my rookie mistakes included being ill-prepared for the restart.

Consistent writing demands your efforts and energy; it also requires inspiration and plenty of ideas to work with. When you face the blank screen after long, you can feel daunted.

The ideas may not come as easily, disheartening you.

Even though I left writing, I kept practising “Ten ideas every day”, jotting them in my notepad. Sometimes, they were as low as three — sometimes, they seemed too silly and simple — but I did not give it up completely.

This way, I would have amassed a treasure by the end of the break.

It would make picking on writing much more effortless.

Three: Stretch the muscle

If you are a sportsperson or exerciser, you know what I speak of. As an ardent badminton player, I have to warm up my body first. I stretch and get my body in the swing before picking up the racket.

If my muscles aren’t in the “mood”, the game doesn’t go as smoothly.

Similarly, writing is an art. It takes hard work to master it and requires some stretching before entering the productive phase. You will struggle with choosing words if you pick the pen after a long time.

One way to stir yourself is by taking the help of prompts.

Another way is to copy what your favourite authors have written. I often copy J. R. R. Tolkien to get into the rhythm. While my prose is nowhere as good as his, it helps the muscles to build and expand.

Four: Get an inspirational boost

You may or may not be fired up to write after an unwanted pause.

I love to read other writers out there on Medium and other platforms, comment on their work, and analyse the style and topic. As an inveterate reader, I enjoy the process along with learning new facts, stories, and habits.

Atomic Habits suggests having a conducive environment to have a lasting habit.

Hence, it is vital to make your writing space comforting and welcoming. With harsh winters around, I wrap myself in warm clothing and keep my desk decorated to feel motivated to write.

Five: Discipline plays the greatest role

The most critical factor for your success is self-discipline.

You may have the most posh resources and the grandest of ideas, but without execution, you cannot go places. There should be no tomorrows after the period gets over — start the little you can!

Something is better than nothing.

It is not an innate talent which makes you win the race. It is perseverance. Grit — to write even when you don’t feel like it. To wake up an hour earlier. To force the words out of yourself for at least a rough draft.

To conclude,

If you are familiar with life, you know about its radial pattern.

Returning to normal may feel difficult, but it’s a journey everyone goes through. Guilt is a useless emotion — shed it. Jot down ideas and take inspirational boosts to avoid the Writer’s Block.

This New Year, pick habits over goals, and write away!

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How You Can Return To Writing (After a Long Pause) was originally published in The Writing Cooperative on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.