Creative writing for beginners
Writing can feel like a lonely pursuit—especially when you’re chasing a dream without a clear map. In this post, I’m peeling back the curtain on my creative writing journey, sharing the frustrations, doubts, and small wins that came with this past month.
This is your chance to get some insight into what it’s like being an aspiring writer. I know there’s a lot of questions, worries. Doubt, even.
And phew.
You better hold on.
This month, I had my fair share of struggles.
I felt like a loser.
I have struggled, I have skipped days, and to be honest, I lost some of the passion I had when I first started this thing.
What is still driving me? Is it some ember of passion or just the habit? Tsk, I don’t know.
But that’s the life of a writer, welcome.
Photo by Taraqur Rahman on Unsplash
There are so many things to expect, but to be fair. I don’t know.
Okay, I’ll stop.
You didn’t click on this to hear me bitch about how life really is.
Well, maybe you’re and that’s fine.
But you want to know what this bitching can do for you – And I get that.
Just like with everything, when I share my experience, struggles, results, it’s all to help you avoid them. And this month, it’s to help you navigate the sea of struggles that’ll eventually hit you in the face.
Because chasing your dream is one tough monster.
At least in your mind
Because reality is, once you get comfortable. It’s just a nice pet.
Subtle, I know.
Let’s get to it. Here’s this month’s struggles and how they can help you chase your dream.
Overcoming Creative Writing Frustrations
This month was filled with frustration.
Inspiration was few and far between.
And doubt ran through my veins like blood, spreading like a dark cloud as it lowered itself down over my eyes.
Is anybody going to read this?
I still have no idea how exactly I made it through this month. But more what’s more terrifying is I have no idea where the doubt came from.
It just appeared.
If you’re struggling with doubt about your novel’s direction, it might be time to take a step back and evaluate your novel idea. In fact, here’s a post I wrote on how to evaluate a novel idea, which might help you clarify where your story is going.
One thing, I’ve always been able to rely on when I struggled was to sit down, open up a document and let the thought flow.
You might know this better as venting.
I love to vent when the doubt gets too loud.
I needed to release the pressure thumping inside my mind, but even with a three-page document called “struggling” I’m still struggling.
It’s not as bad, but here I am, slowly making my steps up the mountain of my dream.
I think the idea that I’m trying to convey is that while I have a passion for writing, it’s not impossible for doubt to beat you to your knees – but what are you going to do?
That’s the thing you need to worry about, not the frustration.
For me that’s writing a massive document filled with thoughts.
A document that’s messy and all over the place.
And if that isn’t the perfect metaphor for how it feels to chase your dream, then I don’t know what is.
The Challenges of Creative Writing for New Writers
Now, I know I got to give myself a break.
Yes, I struggled – A lot.
I’m not going to make it.
The thoughts tightened around my throat squeezing away any hope I had of success. Or so I thought.
This month still resulted in 50 pages edited and 10,000 extra words. The novel is going in the right direction, but somehow, I still felt like I’d let down some imaginary friend when reality finally hit me.
It’s all about the deadline.
At first, I brushed it off, but by the mid April I couldn’t run from it anymore.
I’m not going to hit my target of 31st of May.
And sadly, I have been so focused on hitting that damn deadline that I lost myself along the way.
Becaise I still like writing.
I love putting my characters through experiences and practice my storytelling, but it’s always with the “I need to hit the deadline” in mind.
It’s a fucking curse.
Yes, sorry about my language.
But it’s true.
I have realized that there has to be a better way to motivate and push oneself to the goal than absolutely murdering every inch of passion inside.
Unfortunately, I’m yet to find it.
I’m searching like a horrified sailor hoping for land, but it feels like the waters don’t want me to survive – but if you have any ways, you do this, I’d happy to hear.
This is part of what makes the creative writing for beginners so intense—it’s not just about writing, but staying mentally afloat.
And I’m desperate to stop this ship from sinking.
Embracing the Trials of Creative Writing
You know, writing is such a funny thing.
One day you are on cloud nine, enjoying every single minute. Your words are perfect and you’re just in a perfect rhythm.
Then next day, bam.
You feel useless.
I can’t remember how many times it happened during the month.
In fact, I can’t tell you how many times it happened during the writing of this.
Now, I’d call myself a perfectionist. I like to explore the imperfect and experiment with different styles, the weird things. It’s like my calling.
It’s where the fun is and where I just feel like myself, but there’s always that guy looking over my shoulder.
Don’t know where he comes from, he’s just there.
But now that the month is over, I’ve got a different view on it.
Back when I wrote the first few lines, I was in a different mindset – A destructive one at that.
Now, I think the frustration was build out of burnout.
Which came as a surprise.
Because I didn’t feel like I did a lot. In fact, I felt fine.
But I think the small amount slowly built up over a longer period.
And eventually I burned the wax out—like a candle running low, my energy and motivation were fading fast. My flame was flickering, and not in a good way.
It sucks. It fucking sucks.
But as an aspiring writing, sometimes it’s well worth the time to just let fun take over.
It might not create as much quality, but sometimes you need to let a bit of steam out. Rebuild your candle.
You need the wax to keep going.
Yes, you might not be the brightest candle, but the goal is to be the candle that’s bright whenever the rest has burned out.
This Month’s Blog Writing Challenges
Can I be honest with you?
This piece of nasty work that’s my blog.
As much as I love it, man, there’s days where the hatred runs deep.
Days when I don’t know why I’m doing this.
I truly want to improve and what was once a breath of fresh air has turned into poison.
It’s… I don’t know – just hard.
I’m not going to sit here and complain about 0 readers because then who am I really complaining to?
Anyway, trying to master the correct way of writing a blog is actually harder than I thought.
Did you know that you can switch writing styles about 40 times during a week?
Yeah, me neither.
But anyway, here we are.
But somewhere during the month, I decided to try something.
Instead of feeling bad for myself, I took action.
I created a document called “I like this way of writing”
Yes, absolute corny. But what can you do?
Now, the idea is simple: Before I write, I’ll go through the document and sit for a moment. I imprint the style onto my mind and try to paste it onto the new ideas that I’m going to write.
Absolute banger.
It’s getting better, but I’m still not there – But can you really expect to be good at something when you have only done it for a few weeks?
Not really, right?
Anyway, the point I’m trying to get across is that, whether you’re writing blogs or novels, it can feel overwhelming. And therefore, it’s a good idea to have some sort of reference to what writing you like.
Yes, you can copy, but we already talked about that.
Keep copies of your writing and consult it whenever you feel less inspired.
It can be a game changer, if you let it.
Navigating the Lack of Results
“Jack, not this shit again”
I’m sorry, I know.
This is probably my best friend in the blogging world.
It’s just always there, you know?
The lack of results, the reliable partner when everything doesn’t seem to work out. Paradoxical? Just a bit?
But this time, it’s here for a good reason.
As an aspiring writer – It’s the most common fault stopping aspiring writers.
Now, I really enjoy writing my blog, but every day when I open the statistics page.
2 viewers.
It’s such a heartache.
And I know I should be happy about it, but here’s the suck part: they are probably both me.
Right there. The heartache transforms to a knife that cuts right through my heart.
To be honest, I was sad about it for the longest, but then one day, I thought about it.
Every creative writing journey for beginners will face this hurdle: the lack of results. So, what’s the alternative?
I can either sit here and write, chase my dream and work towards increasing those numbers or I can do nothing and have the numbers say 0 forever.
It’s really not a choice, is it?
One of those gives me the option to fight whereas the other is just defeat.
And if there’s one thing, I have realized in my life is that a fighting chance is everything you need.
At the chance of sounding like a cliché: You only live once. Why not at least give you a chance to chase your dream and live the life you want?
It’s tough, but sitting around doing nothing is, guaranteed, not going to solve your struggles – is it?
Spending time chasing a dream
April was a month of battles and struggles.
I’m sorry if the post has been depressing, but this is the raw reality of chasing a dream.
I fought with an overwhelming feeling of doubt, and it felt like my passion of flame disappeared.
Internal battles put me on the brink of just saying ‘fuck it all’, but I pushed through. I wrote 7 blog posts. Edited 50 pages and added 10,000 words.
Despite the struggle, it turned out to be a productive month and I have come to understand. It’s not about having perfect months. It’s about showing up month after month.
Using time on your dream.
Because the reality is simple.
There will be good and bad times.
The important thing is just to remember: You are chasing your dream. It’s an unnavigated journey. There’ll be traps along the way and it’s called chasing for a reason. It’s supposed to be challenging.
Yes, it’s hard. But, even if it’s not a lot, doing something is better than simply accepting defeat.
Because the day you do is the day you truly lose.
That’s a wrap for today.
Have you ever given up on a dream? Why did it happen and what are you doing now to keep your passion alive? Share your story in the comments or send me a mail – I’d love to hear your story.
Until next time – Hope you have a productive and creative day.
Your writing buddy,
Jack