Writers' Discouragement

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
Ray Bradbury

Well, it has been a while since I've written anything. And it wasn't because I was busy or lazy or depressed. And it certainly wasn't out of writers' block.

I don't believe in writers' block. I believe in writers' discouragement. We writers have moments in our lives when the writing seems pointless. Why? It's not steady work. There isn't an office or a clinic to go to, a set time to work. There's just the steady flow of life for motivation.

Sometimes the most talented writers can't get anything published, because they can't write that great novel in their lifetime. Sometimes those great novels get lost in time as scraps of notebook paper in a smelly desk drawer. Sometimes life just takes us away before we can get anything out there. Sometimes great moments elude us.

But sometimes we find our motivation. J.K Rowling, author of the famous Harry Potter series, started out writing on bits of napkins at a cafe. Maybe it hit her that the napkin scraps could really help get a better life for herself, outside of the poverty she lived in.

At times I've thought that my "big break" would come if I had something happen in my life. Some traumatic event, some setback. I have read the biographies of several writers, and I am yet to find one without an unfortunate event in between the lines. It's as if having the passion to write isn't enough. You need to have some motivation, some inspiration, or something along those lines.

But do we really need it? Maybe, as writers, we can find something in our lives to motivate us. Maybe there isn't something painful or life changing, but there is something. Or maybe you don't need anything. Maybe it's just the joy of pushing the last key, or writing the last letter, of a masterpiece, that's enough for any writer.