But I will.

You will always encounter impediments to your writing. You will regularly want to procrastinate. You will often want to distract yourself. You will sometimes even want to quit writing altogether.

This is normal. This is the work. If it was easy, everyone would be great writers with dozens of books to their names. But of course, it's not easy. You will do it anyway.

savor

Photo by Cristina L.F.

Your Characters Don't Want To Either

Your characters feel the same way, by the way. They will want to avoid the conflict you set before them. They will want to flee from the pain you put them through. They will want to quit the quest you have them on.

You and your characters are both people, and people always want the easy way out.

Don't take the easy way out. Don't let your characters do it either. Great stories are about struggle, and you must endure struggle of your own to create great stories.

In The Midst of Struggle, Decide to Savor

Yesterday afternoon, I sat outside a coffee shop under the tallest pine in Santa Barbara. It was nearly dusk and the light came over the trees golden. I read Le Petit Prince to my son in French (badly) and drank my coffee until he got too squirmy and we went for a walk in the quiet evening streets.

It's been a busy week. We've been traveling. I have a lot of work at the moment. I'm struggling to handle it all.

But the struggle made this moment sweeter. In the table beside me they were talking about poetry. The coffee was strong and warm. My son smiled at the woman sitting across from us and later, on the walk home, he fell asleep in the stroller, his cheeks puffed out like balloons.

There will be struggles, in your writing, in your life, but take the time to savor these in-between moments. They make it all worth it.

How about you? What do you do when you don't want to write?

PRACTICE

Your character doesn't want to continue. Write about his or her struggle for fifteen minutes. When you're finished, post your practice in the comments section. And if you post, be sure to leave feedback on a few practices by your fellow writers.

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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