{"id":103811,"date":"2023-06-12T11:57:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/?p=103811"},"modified":"2023-06-12T11:59:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:59:18","slug":"starting-out-as-a-writer-how-i-keep-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/starting-out-as-a-writer-how-i-keep-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Out as a Writer: How I Keep Going"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Writing a story can be one of the best experiences you can give yourself. But what do you do when your creative high comes crashing down into the dreaded depths of writer\u2019s block?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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by CASSIUS VAN DER MERWE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first time I ever decided to write a book, I was a mere 14-year-old kid. I was bored in my English class, having gone too far ahead on work, and decided to record my silly little daydreams for once. That\u2019s all it was for me, at first. Writing daydreams, not a care in the world. Little did I realise that, for years to come, that silly little mess of words would be the first and only book I would complete amid an ocean of incomplete projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What causes writer\u2019s block?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back then, I wasn\u2019t much worried about what other people thought. I had no intention to show off my little story. At least not until the whole thing was done, and I asked my mother to read it. She praised my creativity and determination. That book was over sixty thousand <\/em>words long. Quite impressive for a 14-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I wanted to improve. I wanted to give her more to praise me for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\u2019s block can be caused by a myriad of little things. Boredom, the wrong topic, too few ideas, too many <\/em>ideas \u2026 But it can also be caused by pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I already had an idea for a sequel to that little book. And I was eager to dive in. But now I had stress that didn\u2019t exist before. What if it wasn\u2019t as good as the first book? What if it didn\u2019t make sense? What if Mom wasn\u2019t proud of me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I abandoned the sequel after three chapters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why doesn\u2019t inspiration feel like enough?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I ask myself this question all the time. I felt inspired to write that sequel, but simply couldn\u2019t get the words down. Some of it can be blamed on mental health \u2013 there are all sorts of afflictions that can make life harder than necessary \u2013 but sometimes, even in the best of circumstances, inspiration and healthcare are just not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to a combo of anxiety and ADHD, it\u2019s even harder for me than it should be. Dopamine, that important hormone that\u2019s supposed to motivate me to keep going, just isn\u2019t there. But you don\u2019t need either of these afflictions to feel this way; even neurotypical people struggle to snap out of this headspace. Writer\u2019s block can trap anyone, regardless of mental health, with seemingly no way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway through this very article, I got stuck. I must\u2019ve rewritten it three times already. And two of those times, I never reached the ending. I just couldn\u2019t get myself to continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, somehow, I did. With a bit of brute force and constant stimulation, I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"writing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So how do we writers keep going?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve wondered about this question for so long. I\u2019ve searched endlessly for answers, scoured the internet, dug up every article, and I\u2019m still not sure. Is it extra stimulation? Finding music and making a cup of tea to set the mood? Is it support? Motivation and encouragement from your friends and family? Is it determination? Is it spite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be all of those things, but it can also be none of them. Every brain is different. Some days, music works better than conversation. Sometimes, tea works better than determination. The point of all of these little guides isn\u2019t a sure-fire trick, guaranteed to work every time, but a wild dance with yourself. Every time you start, you have to learn your own steps all over again, until your mental choreography manages to line up perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when that happens, everything just clicks<\/em> into place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human brain is a mess of electric signals and chemicals. It\u2019s near impossible to predict what can work for everyone. Yeah, I have more incomplete projects than I can count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I managed to finish this article, didn\u2019t I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Author<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cassius van der Merwe<\/strong> has had a lifelong love for sharing joy through writing. He has a passion for languages and storytelling, and he adores sharing snippets of good news as he finds them. He takes pride in the little bursts of stories he can bring out, the articles he can write, and the advice he can give. When he\u2019s not writing or discussing story ideas with his friends, you can find him wandering about with his nose buried in the latest book he\u2019s fixated on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing a story can be one of the best experiences you can give yourself. But what do you do when your creative high comes crashing down into the dreaded depths of writer\u2019s block?\u00a0 by CASSIUS VAN DER MERWE The first time I ever decided to write a book, I was a mere 14-year-old kid. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wds_primary_category":550,"footnotes":""},"categories":[550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103818,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103811\/revisions\/103818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}