I took the popular advice to reward myself for writing, but then I realised I was looking at writing as a chore. So I made writing a reward for actual chores. So instead of "if I write x many words I can have junk food" or something, it's "if I do the dishes I can write" "if I send that really stressful email I can write" I also do this with other things that I loved until I made them a chore. I do this with music and reading
I am in awe, each tip you give positively impact my writing more than pages of forums and instructional works Yet you give them in even greater abundance
You have no idea how much I needed this today, before getting into the writing craft, I used to write for fun in a very "naive" way, my story was full of mistakes but I ENJOYED writing it and I was crazily productive, now I know a thing or two about the craft and omg, it's super stressful and I'm super slow and I'd spend hours staring at my document without adding a word. I know for sure that I'm a better writer now but I really miss the fun part, never recognized that I need to heal my writing process before your video.
This was absolutely me. After I began learning more about craft, I was paralyzed for several months, if not more than a year. I knew what "good" was, and I didn't seem to have a grasp of it yet when I tried to implement it myself, and I became so crippled by my own standards. What worked best for me was just writing anyway & trying to build confidence.Though I'm not yet the writer I'd like to eventually be, I'm not so stressed out by the act of putting words onto the page anymore. Best of luck to you. :) I know you can get through it.
Hit the nail on the head. I’m the same. I’m so afraid to mess it up that I don’t get anything done and it’s not even fun anymore. I used to write more and enjoy it in high school. But now that I know more about it it is so much harder!
@@raytrix1 I relate so much! Currently experiencing this. Damn those self-imposed expectations, as you've said, we become crippled by our own standards. The act of writing is only ever fun for me in these rare 'everything magically flows together holy shit' instances that happen like 5 times a year. But I love the idea of getting lost in a scene you're creating, viewing it as a playful exploration, instead of hauling all this mental performance anxiety inside with you. And the low stakes were a good reminder. Yes, even if your scene doesn't end up great, there are worse things in life, it's fine.
"It's not you vs. your story. Writing is not an enemy you need to conquer." The insight to notice that so much writing advice is couched that way is _really_ admirable.
"Writing is actually low stakes, if it's bad just fix it later" this made me realize the root of my fear is what if I CAN'T figure out how to fix it later??? Or what if it's worse than I realize, I thought it was good but its actually still bad. What then???
A great video and an important message. Most of us got into writing for the joy of it, but lose sight of it along the way. I often feel like I have to battle my demons to force myself to write when it use to be that writing was the thing that helped me battle my demons.
Thanks for being a cheerleader for our writing community. Let's not stop having fun. I agree being a proponent of fun in all things is a life goal. I can get more done when I view an active as fun and set aside criticism in favor of congratulating myself for accomplishments. 😉✌💖
What I always love about your advice videos is that you give advice that’s specific (as in implementable, doable, etc) but doesn’t assume that everyone’s the same and often even highlights the subjectivity of the whole process, which is a balance I think a lot of writing advice fails to achieve and hence ends up being rarely effective, thank you!
You are the only person I listen to about writing advice, because honestly I feel like you're the only one that has something valuable to say. At least very valuable to me. I agree so much with your criticism about other advice- that it makes out writing and finishing your work as a beast you have to conquer, and if you can't do it you should beat yourself up for it. When really art is so much fun, and just by enjoying the process you're naturally gonna get so much done.
My lifelong passion is game development, but writing is a huge part of that. I'm glad you explained why writing with a schedule does more harm than good.
You touching on the fact that you work on multiple projects at the same time was so refreshing because that is something I actually used to feel guilty about in my own artistic process. Thank you so much for this amazing video! I'm also definitely in a season where I'm letting my creativity heal naturally🥰✨
I think I need to watch this every few months. It's so easy to let writing advice on the internet get into your head and mess with your writing. Shaelin, thank you for the gift you're giving to the writing community!
Stuck on a scene that's not flowing, go to one that you KNOW you'll need anyway and take it up. YES! I love this, it happens, just move forwards or sideways or whatever you need and pick up someplace. When you get back at it you'll have a new perspective.
I think this has been your best video yet. Your ideas weren't the cliche writing advice, and came from a place of experience and genuine emotional intelligence.
I love how you discuss the emotional side of creating. It's so grounded and validating, and exponentially more helpful for it. "Why are we tough loving art?" is a really excellent quote also
I think the advice of getting rid of schedules and goals for a bit is really valuable. I think I've been applying it without planning to in recent times. In the past couple of years I was feeling a lot of pressure about writing while never writing, it felt like I was missing out on my dream and passion but I could never get myself to start working. But when I did try, I was always putting it on my calendar as a task, fitting it into a weekly schedule, trying to make a structure for my life and fit writing into it. But recently I started working on my novel project randomly on an evening because I felt like it. Like I would have as a child! And then I kept exploring these ideas when they came to mind. Suddenly I found myself writing more, getting more ideas for other stories. It's about leaving yourself the space to listen in to your intuition. These past couple of days, I've started hanging out in the garden once I'm fed up with job searching and serious tasks. I bring a book and a notebook and maybe my tablet and I just sit. I have the option to write, or not to write. And I chose to write. Somehow that's revolutionary for me. Just leaving writing as an option, the door ajar. Suddenly I find myself wanting to push that door open, to explore what's within. I feel like I'm finally understanding something fundamental about the creative process, even though for now it's hard to put into words.
I recently posted the climax chapter for a story I've been publishing on AO3 for years now. I've had on-and-off writer's block the entire way through that only got worse the longer I went on. There was a year between posting the previous chapter and this one because for the life of me I couldn't get to it. It wasn't until I actively put it down and did little fun writing projects *that I didn't show anyone* just because I felt like it. And since I was my only audience member for those, I got to do whatever tf I wanted. It was really liberating. When I came back to my story to finish the godforsaken chapter, it was still daunting, but I was able to just move forward and keep writing the next word. And this time around, I was writing it for me instead of for others.. It still took me a while, but I got to the end of it, and I'm so proud of how it turned out. I wish I'd seen this video years ago. You put into words things that took a lot of stress and tears for me to figure out. I hope authors and writers who faced the same stuff we did get to see this and fall in love with their writing again.
I love this video. During a recent solo trip that I took to connect with and find my writing process, I had a huge new idea for a novel. I agonized over whether it was right to 'abandon' the novel I was working on, while ideas for the new novel kept flowing and popping up and taking all my attention. I told myself, OK, start writing the new idea until it quietens down, and then go back to your novel. I wrote 12,000 words in a weekend. I was shocked because it took me a YEAR to reach that point with my other novel. I also realized that I am a 'pantser' … I am writing this new novel with no plan and it is so much more fun.
"I wanted to write, but I didn't like what I was writing." This is exactly what made me quit writing last January. But this morning I finished the first draft on what I think is my best short story yet
I'm almost always in a writing dry spell bc I'm a VERY detailed daydreamer so I struggle to make writing as fun as daydreaming. I continue trying bc I can't deny how fun it is to read back what I've written and I want to convey my long stories to my family and friends. I think the advice abt learning to write a bad scene or skip it will be super helpful to me, as well as returning to the conditions of childhood writing, since I usually would write with pen and paper instead of typing. Thanks for this!
i really needed this video! literally about to go find a blank spiral notebook & just have fun on the page like i used to back when i first started writing. thank you for reminding me that this is supposed to be fun & i'm allowed to let myself have fun writing!!
You seem to me like a really internally motivated person, which is maybe why you don't need schedules and goals as much as others. I know that a lot of people enjoy doing something when they get into it, but the sitting down and starting is really hard for them, regardless of how much fun they have when doing it. Or they love having _done_ or completed something but don't entirely enjoy doing it in the moment regardless of how they approach it. Those kinds of people I think benefit off goals and schedules more because the actual activity is fun but it's hard to get over the initial hump. That might be caused by fear, and the restrictive mentality you talk about in this video, so I do think it's great to discuss that writing is ALLOWED to be fun and how to make it that way. But idk. Regardless of how fun something is for me there is always an element of having to trick (but not force!) my brain into starting because I always forget how much fun X is until I am ACTUALLY doing it (might be the depression and low energy). But I've also feel like i've grown to hate writing more and more and basically haven't done it since I finished my degree, so I really appreciate your absolutely refreshing take on healing the creative process (and yes, for a lot of us it is healing!)
This is actually a great way of explaining why schedules are really helpful for some people, which I was struggling to explain in the video because that's not my experience haha, but the idea that getting started is hard, but enjoying writing once you do, makes schedules make a lot of sense!
Hey Lisa 👋 👋 how is your book 📖 coming along I'm just asking if you stopped ✋️ again and you are thinking about it and you just need / want a push. I am doodling trying to / getting better in drawing. I just need a reminder I mark my calendar 📅 on the fridge so I am Oh yeah But I will leve it there so it is not even longer justbto say keep at it 😊❤ And I am just starting.
I always come back to this video when I am taking myself way too seriously and sucking the joy out of writing. It is so hard to just do something for the fuck of in these late stage capitalism years where every minute it feels like things are getting worse. Thank you for sharing your relentless encouragement with us. :)
I couldn't be more excited for this. I've been having a hard time loving writing lately. It felt worse than writer's block, as if my mind couldn't see or my hands couldn't keep up. Ever sense I had gotten praise for my first novel, writing's value turned extrinsic rather than the intrinsic reward that began my first book. So glad you're opening the conversation around healing our relationships with writing. I've been tweeting non stop about this for weeks!
Write what you want is a very good advice. I remember being stuck one time, because I had this notion that I must write scenes in my novel chronologically from beginning to end. But story was existing in my head all at once and I found myself mentally jumping from one scene to another all over timeline. It was frustrating to write initial exposition in first chapter, while main characters were having important conversation from midpoint in front of my mind's eye, and than when it came to writing this conversation, I couldn't recall some cool details from quick notes. Eventually I dropped this bs and started writing scenes as they came to me and than tweak them in revision to make whole story more cohesive. It made writing process much more fun and quicker too. Have no idea why I didn't do this from the beginning, seam obvious in hindsight.
I love every single one of your videos. Your honesty and relatability is so refreshing and inspiring. Thanks for reminding me to get back to the fun in my writing ❤
Probably one of your most motivating videos! I feel like people forget that writing is as much of an art form as visual art is. You are not constrained by rules and deadlines, just go for it! I read so many people loosing motivation because they try to fit into a mold that is not there. Even I fall into this trap sometimes. But writing what you wanna write and read is the best thing you can do. Forcing yourself will lead to a lesser creative process in the end. I feel like your words about writing being low stake is super helpful in getting a better frame of mind :) First and foremost, your writing is seen by only yourself and YOU decide when other people will read and hopefully enjoy it.
You're so right, I got so much more productive and happy and stopped having burnouts after I stopped scheduling writing. Turns out I didn't need a schedule to finish my book.
I really appreciate this video, and love how the advice is all given with nuance and care! I've definitely been putting a bit too much pressure on my writing in recent months, and I think this video will really help with getting back into writing more frequently and being more excited about the process!
No need to put yourself down as a "hippy dippy". You deserve healing too. Healing your wounds is a lifelong process. You do a lot for others. You are allowed to love and heal yourself too.
Just saw this on my recommended and glad to have discovered this specific video since I've always wanted to start writing more. Thanks so much for the great advice
I've never written a book before and I didn't go to school for it, but I decided to start writing a novel in January and the process is teaching me a lot about myself (yes I'm also a hippie I guess). I realized that I have natural ebbs and flows in my creativity. Sometimes I have to grab the story by the tail and let it pull me along, and other times I have to stop and think and regain my inspiration and momentum. I always know that the story will start moving again because my passion for it is just bursting out of me.
It's really not a hippy-dippy thing. It's not woo. Reading "Laziness Does Not Exist" helped me see that I was burnt out on writing one particular project - and not lazy. Healing our connection with writing is essential for a consistent writing habit. Also, the scheduling might be useful for someone with children or who acts as a caregiver.
Yep, you're definitely a big ol' hippie. : ) Apart from that... this is a great video. Carrot not Stick! Famed mystery novelist Lawrence Block long ago shared his writing affirmations, and most of them were along the same lines of what you're suggesting here: Writing is fun. Think of it as a joyful activity, not as a chore or a job. When my writing stalls I remind myself I don't *have* to write, I *get* to write. And your last point about lowering the stakes is great! That is a crucial mindset issue I have try to be better at. Yes, the stakes for *completing the novel* are high, but what I'm writing this afternoon? So low as to be non existent for as you point out, if it's bad, no one else will see it and I'll just fix it on the second draft.
thank you for this video! i've been struggling to write a project I've had in the making for a year, i have documents, character profiles, an outline, but I kept hitting a wall and I began seeing it as work instead of something I was having fun with. this video showed me another perspective on how to keep myself writing :D
I know that is probably not something a lot of people would want to do and it's pretty extreme, but what really helped me was to shift my career plans to writing non-fiction and taking that kind of existential weight off my writing has really helped me remember why I loved it in the first place. I always felt so much pressure to write and was stressing about whether or not it was interesting for a broad enough audience. I still would wish to publish fiction at some point, but it doesn't really matter if I never finish anything, or if I take a decade to do so, or if it's just some weird, unstructured avant garde stuff that nobody actually wants to read.
I'm a 17 year old writer and one way I keep writing is not seeing it initially as something I would publish. I also give myself breaks from writing when necessary. I write poetry as well especially when I feel a certain way about it. Poetry is a way of writing which is more immediate and less pressured. I'm someone who would mostly finish writing a chapter (the chapters r fairly short) just so I can deal with the next part when I next write. Of course, this does not work for everyone and it sounds regimented but it works for me. Also don't be afraid to use a bigger font. It can seem very daunting and off putting to use size 12 arial font. U can always shrink the font when u get more comfortable with writing. I used to write with size 30 font when I was 13 then now I use size 22 font. It doesn’t make u a worse or better writer depending on the font u use.
tysm for this video, Shaelin! I've been struggling with this. The last tip is especially helpful for me! I'll try these out! Looking forward to the next video you mentioned! :D
Sometimes I forget that I am trying to improve my craft rather than chasing after success, but seeing other people being successful makes me feel like comparing myself to them. And so I am trying to remind myself again and again that success never allows mistakes and imperfections. So I mustn't chase after it.
I got inton writing via creative writhing at art school, it was so much fun and freeing. Since then, life threw me a curve ball and know I'm not sure what to do. Writing helps calm me and the act of creating, such as drawing just helps me realize me joy of art.
This is a very interesting video. For me, as someone who writes fanfiction, the pressure and time crunch comes from a dying fandom. If I want a chance at any sort of feedback or response from the readers, I need to finish the story before everyone moves on from the fandom (and in my case it may be way too late for that). But in general, I think I enjoy the process of coming up with ideas and thinking about my stories more than the process of actually writing. I do feel very happy and accomplished once I write them out and of course that frees up my brain space for more new ideas to come but writing can be hard. So often instead of writing I just daydream my ideas. Especially if they're just tidbits of ideas from different universes that I don't want to get fully into.
Don't worry too much about a dying fandom. With DVDs and now streaming, new fans are discovering fandoms and old fans are rediscovering their fandom all the time.
@@susanscott8653 True, but I guess that mostly goes for good shows and not shows that went completely downhill and people stopped watching because it got so bad 😂 Those shows deter new fans from joining. But hope is never lost, it's just sad when the prime years of a fandom are behind you.
Shaelin, I very much appreciate you sharing some of the things you've learned from your education and personal experience. It truly helps people like myself find their way through this process much more efficiently. THANKS AGAIN, YOUR NEWEST SUBSCRIBER
because of executive dysfunction I actually do need a routine or otherwise I just won't write lol but I especially agree with the writing what you want to write tip. for a long time I thought I had to write "serious literary fiction" otherwise I wasn't adding anything of value to the world or literature. but I was putting so much pressure on myself to write "serious" and "deep" writing that I didn't realize I wasn't actually having any fun. not to say I don't gravitate towards stories like those both in my writing and in other's but it can't be all I write. I've been allowing myself to write more without judgement and it's been doing wonders for my writing. I've been having so much more fun _and_ writing more. this all happened when I finally admitted to myself that the most fun I have is when I write romance. I think it's partially because I'm a woman with a male (sort of) mentor, but I always felt the need to write with him in mind instead of about what was fun to write. now I am slowly bringing myself out of that impulse and have discovered that I have much more fun writing pulpy fantasy romance than "literary fiction" (that's in quotes because I still love writing literary fiction just not the kind that an old white man thinks is worthy of merit). momentum is also a big one for me too and that's actually why a routine helps me greatly. I don't schedule my writing but I do have a daily word count goal and keeping up with that goal is actually what drives my momentum forward. I've also found that it actually does help with immersion in a scene to not take myself too seriously. where before I would have wanted to make a scene really weighty because that's what my brain thought was "literary" now I allow myself much more silliness and comedy and it has improved enjoyment tenfold. furthermore as you said, I don't allow myself to wallow in a scene that's not going well. now I just make a note to come back to that part and skip it to write something more fun. it leads to messier drafts but that's a problem for future me lol. I'm even writing out of order, skipping around and that's been working very well actually. I'm even skipping around from one project to another like you said you do, which would have been crazy to me three years ago! all this to say, all of this is great advice and mostly I recommend writers create their own process that works for them because there's millions of writers and every single one will say their method is best so really just make up your own
huge yes to all of this!! love how you found a writing process that works for you and thank you for explaining why having a routine benefits you, I know it was a bit of a missing point in this video bc it's not my own experience so it was harder for me to imagine why it helps some people so much (even though I know it does!) ultimately finding what works for you really is all that matters
I feel kinda sad cause I realise I have lost YEARS of time where I could have had fun writing and making art and music, but that whole puritan capitalist work mindset really ruined it for me and so I didn't really do much, I really just want to return to the love of it like I had as a child, thanks for putting it into actionable steps Shaelin, really needed this
I love the carrot 🥕 and the stick metaphor:) Really good video. Some great advice! Writing a bad version of a scene I don’t know how to write and just come back to it. Such a good idea. So simple. But I never thought of it. I always thought it had to be perfect before I could move on.
This came at such an apropo time as I am trying to shift my mindset from writing being something I needed to do to just something that is fun to do. You are right - there's too much instruction on how to write and how to outline, word counts one needs to get in to write a book in 1 month, 5 months, 1 year. Before you know it, you are treating it like a second job - especially so for those of us who already have a full-time job (not as a writer). I am like - why am I beating myself up over not completing a novel in 5 months? Do I need it to pay the bills? No. Is there a publishing house just waiting to publish my novel? No. Does anyone really care if I am not writing every single day? No. In fact nobody in my circle of family, friends or colleagues has ever asked "So how's the writing coming along?" They probably don't want to hear me go on and on about my writer's block LOL. Thanks so much for the tips!
I needed this now more than ever, let me tell ya! The first time I was writing my fanfiction, I ended up doing exactly what you told us, the audience, what not to do. I set up a deadline for the fanfiction's release (March 10), I didn't brainstorm much, I forced myself to write, and I constantly have self-doubts about my fanfiction. This gives me enough motivation to write another fanfiction without treating it like a job! 😊
This is so good! Trying to implement all the techniques I am learning in my writing degree makes me so overwhelmed I end up writing nothing. This advice helps take the pressure off. Thank you xx
This is such an important video, even if we have routines or schedules. I’m on a writing deadline for my dissertation novel, but there’s a lot of good stuff here. Thank you for your insight, Shaelin! 💜
This actually helped me a lot One of my biggest problems is writer’s block. You might think writer’s block comes always comes from lack of ideas, but it can also be from having too many ideas and having no idea how to put it together
I used to write way more than now. For years, I have been trying to get myself to write, but the older I get and the more stuff I see that is being produced by other writers(and artists, since I try to do both), the less I am getting done. I've been caught in this loop of perfectionism and procrastination. Nothing I try to make seems as good as I want it to be, so I try to outline more, to think it through more. Yet, all I get is stuck. There is never enough development. Enough study of story structure, of psychology. No matter what I do, I don't seem to feel ready to actually write something I'd deem fun to read. I'm aware that the best way to get through this is to just not care and write literally anything that manages to get me to work on a specific problem/challenge, but for some reason, all the fun is gone. All that's left is the frustration and disappointment. Every choice a mountain too tall to climb. Every try a new low.
Needed!!! I've been full-time drafting a novel this summer with daily/weekly wordcount targets and I'm basically one scene away from finishing but feel ✨dead✨
Writing with momentum is one of my biggest things. I will literally stop sessions if I feel I am Forcing a scene rather than feeling it and feeling immerse in the scene. I can actively feel force rather than momentum. My best work comes from when I am actively in the zone and not thinking about writing, but feeling or flowing through writing.
I’ve tried scheduling writing, setting goals, etc. and it just turns into like… a demand and a threat to myself, almost? And if it’s a demand then I automatically resist and I will not write. Or if I set a goal then that translates to “possibility of failure” in my mind and I won’t try at all. I really like that you don’t frame things as you vs the book and make it sound like such an antagonistic battle. Letting it flow on its own is a much better strategy for myself. Thank you!
the tip of writing what you want to write changed my poetry a few years ago, and i think it's changing my novel now, too! i've been really struggling with my book because it has three major timelines with the same characters (basically just 3 acts but broken up all weird, like 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 sort of pattern), and the timeline that's i've always seen as the most important of the book, and called the present, has always been a drag to write. i constantly come up with ideas for the 'future' part of the book, and even a decent amount for the 'past', and get so frustrated because every time i sit down to write, i'm stuck in the 'present'. and it's finally ocurring to me that i actually don't have to force that to be the focus of the book. you're not gonna believe this guys but if there's a part of your novel that you hate and think is boring you actually don't have to write it
I NEEDED THIS IVE BEEN STRUGGLING TO WRITE CUZ OF BURN OUT AND NOW I KNOW WHY ive enjoyed eritting but I'd hit walls and burn myself out cuz my process is taxing and I'm working on remaking my process and make it more fun for me
I find it funny how I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with this now, but everything I do in life I slowly loose interest at, so I'm sort of watching this video as a precaution. Like, what do I do to keep this passion burning? How do I protect it?
i’m a teenager and i’ve been writing since i was nine years old, since my very first english lesson on dialogue in fourth grade. i got more into writing as i got into my tweens and i watched a bunch of those rapid fire writing advice videos with 5 beats in 15 minutes. a lot of the advice would dig its fingernails into my brain and scare me out of actually enjoying writing. (the whole “you NEED an outline!” thing was a major contributor.) your channel is healing what was damaged in those years, so i thank you for that ❤
Apologies that this isn't relevant to the video, but the tip of never permanently deleting anything has helped me immensely. I had completely given up hope on a prior novel concept I was a good ways into, and started fresh with a new idea (for the dozenth time). Then, I realized I really liked the old idea and wanted to bring back the concept and reuse some of the scenes, but with a different subgenre and better developed characters! If I had decided to delete it all, I would've lost 15 chapters of good writing because I kept doubting myself.
I’d been giving up on projects for a long time. For me, the combination of learning craft and knowing that you have to practice like any other skill has been game changing. I used to think writing was a gift or natural talent and I either had it or I didn’t. When it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I got frustrated and lost faith in myself. But I always came back to writing. Maybe this is going to sound hippy dippy too :) but now I think it’s the love for writing itself that’s the gift and it’s ok to nurture that and accept the work won’t be perfect all the time. In doing that I’ve finally given myself the breathing room to improve as a writer.
Omg I love this video! I'm close to turning 30 and just picked up writing because video games don't entertain me as much as they used to. I get why people want to make writing their careers so that explains why there's so many professionalized and "boot camp" style videos but damn does it seem very... idk, not fun. I don't really want another job or to feel like I'm in the military so the logic in this video makes way more sense
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
I took the popular advice to reward myself for writing, but then I realised I was looking at writing as a chore. So I made writing a reward for actual chores.
So instead of "if I write x many words I can have junk food" or something, it's "if I do the dishes I can write" "if I send that really stressful email I can write"
I also do this with other things that I loved until I made them a chore. I do this with music and reading
This is actually a really good tip, and something that also really helped me reframe writing as a reward in an of itself!!
This is also what has helped me
I am in awe, each tip you give positively impact my writing more than pages of forums and instructional works
Yet you give them in even greater abundance
You have no idea how much I needed this today, before getting into the writing craft, I used to write for fun in a very "naive" way, my story was full of mistakes but I ENJOYED writing it and I was crazily productive, now I know a thing or two about the craft and omg, it's super stressful and I'm super slow and I'd spend hours staring at my document without adding a word. I know for sure that I'm a better writer now but I really miss the fun part, never recognized that I need to heal my writing process before your video.
This was absolutely me. After I began learning more about craft, I was paralyzed for several months, if not more than a year. I knew what "good" was, and I didn't seem to have a grasp of it yet when I tried to implement it myself, and I became so crippled by my own standards. What worked best for me was just writing anyway & trying to build confidence.Though I'm not yet the writer I'd like to eventually be, I'm not so stressed out by the act of putting words onto the page anymore. Best of luck to you. :) I know you can get through it.
Hit the nail on the head. I’m the same. I’m so afraid to mess it up that I don’t get anything done and it’s not even fun anymore. I used to write more and enjoy it in high school. But now that I know more about it it is so much harder!
Learning about tropes and clichés is of course valuable but it has destroyed my own confidence multiple times ;-; Still working through that one
@@raytrix1 I relate so much! Currently experiencing this. Damn those self-imposed expectations, as you've said, we become crippled by our own standards. The act of writing is only ever fun for me in these rare 'everything magically flows together holy shit' instances that happen like 5 times a year.
But I love the idea of getting lost in a scene you're creating, viewing it as a playful exploration, instead of hauling all this mental performance anxiety inside with you.
And the low stakes were a good reminder. Yes, even if your scene doesn't end up great, there are worse things in life, it's fine.
"It's not you vs. your story. Writing is not an enemy you need to conquer." The insight to notice that so much writing advice is couched that way is _really_ admirable.
"Writing is actually low stakes, if it's bad just fix it later" this made me realize the root of my fear is what if I CAN'T figure out how to fix it later??? Or what if it's worse than I realize, I thought it was good but its actually still bad. What then???
"Momentum not force" hit me the best. I had just experienced a bit of that and it was major fun. Great subject and video.
"don't wallow" is so huge. i feel like hearing that changed my life
A great video and an important message. Most of us got into writing for the joy of it, but lose sight of it along the way. I often feel like I have to battle my demons to force myself to write when it use to be that writing was the thing that helped me battle my demons.
EXACTLY THIS
Thanks for being a cheerleader for our writing community. Let's not stop having fun. I agree being a proponent of fun in all things is a life goal. I can get more done when I view an active as fun and set aside criticism in favor of congratulating myself for accomplishments. 😉✌💖
What I always love about your advice videos is that you give advice that’s specific (as in implementable, doable, etc) but doesn’t assume that everyone’s the same and often even highlights the subjectivity of the whole process, which is a balance I think a lot of writing advice fails to achieve and hence ends up being rarely effective, thank you!
You are the only person I listen to about writing advice, because honestly I feel like you're the only one that has something valuable to say. At least very valuable to me. I agree so much with your criticism about other advice- that it makes out writing and finishing your work as a beast you have to conquer, and if you can't do it you should beat yourself up for it. When really art is so much fun, and just by enjoying the process you're naturally gonna get so much done.
Never clicked so freaking fast.
Me too!😅
Same
Definitely my top 3
My lifelong passion is game development, but writing is a huge part of that. I'm glad you explained why writing with a schedule does more harm than good.
With how stressful the world and hustle culture has become, this is one of the best writing videos that I’ve ever seen!
You touching on the fact that you work on multiple projects at the same time was so refreshing because that is something I actually used to feel guilty about in my own artistic process. Thank you so much for this amazing video! I'm also definitely in a season where I'm letting my creativity heal naturally🥰✨
I think I need to watch this every few months. It's so easy to let writing advice on the internet get into your head and mess with your writing. Shaelin, thank you for the gift you're giving to the writing community!
Stuck on a scene that's not flowing, go to one that you KNOW you'll need anyway and take it up. YES! I love this, it happens, just move forwards or sideways or whatever you need and pick up someplace. When you get back at it you'll have a new perspective.
Love this writer right here. Such a force for creativity and joy.
I needed this video today. I am getting back to working on short stories after a long time of feeling icky about my writing.
I think this has been your best video yet. Your ideas weren't the cliche writing advice, and came from a place of experience and genuine emotional intelligence.
I love how you discuss the emotional side of creating. It's so grounded and validating, and exponentially more helpful for it.
"Why are we tough loving art?" is a really excellent quote also
I think the advice of getting rid of schedules and goals for a bit is really valuable. I think I've been applying it without planning to in recent times.
In the past couple of years I was feeling a lot of pressure about writing while never writing, it felt like I was missing out on my dream and passion but I could never get myself to start working. But when I did try, I was always putting it on my calendar as a task, fitting it into a weekly schedule, trying to make a structure for my life and fit writing into it.
But recently I started working on my novel project randomly on an evening because I felt like it. Like I would have as a child! And then I kept exploring these ideas when they came to mind. Suddenly I found myself writing more, getting more ideas for other stories. It's about leaving yourself the space to listen in to your intuition.
These past couple of days, I've started hanging out in the garden once I'm fed up with job searching and serious tasks. I bring a book and a notebook and maybe my tablet and I just sit. I have the option to write, or not to write. And I chose to write.
Somehow that's revolutionary for me. Just leaving writing as an option, the door ajar. Suddenly I find myself wanting to push that door open, to explore what's within.
I feel like I'm finally understanding something fundamental about the creative process, even though for now it's hard to put into words.
I recently posted the climax chapter for a story I've been publishing on AO3 for years now. I've had on-and-off writer's block the entire way through that only got worse the longer I went on. There was a year between posting the previous chapter and this one because for the life of me I couldn't get to it. It wasn't until I actively put it down and did little fun writing projects *that I didn't show anyone* just because I felt like it. And since I was my only audience member for those, I got to do whatever tf I wanted. It was really liberating.
When I came back to my story to finish the godforsaken chapter, it was still daunting, but I was able to just move forward and keep writing the next word. And this time around, I was writing it for me instead of for others.. It still took me a while, but I got to the end of it, and I'm so proud of how it turned out.
I wish I'd seen this video years ago. You put into words things that took a lot of stress and tears for me to figure out. I hope authors and writers who faced the same stuff we did get to see this and fall in love with their writing again.
I love this video. During a recent solo trip that I took to connect with and find my writing process, I had a huge new idea for a novel. I agonized over whether it was right to 'abandon' the novel I was working on, while ideas for the new novel kept flowing and popping up and taking all my attention. I told myself, OK, start writing the new idea until it quietens down, and then go back to your novel. I wrote 12,000 words in a weekend. I was shocked because it took me a YEAR to reach that point with my other novel. I also realized that I am a 'pantser' … I am writing this new novel with no plan and it is so much more fun.
"I wanted to write, but I didn't like what I was writing."
This is exactly what made me quit writing last January. But this morning I finished the first draft on what I think is my best short story yet
We’ve missed your content. 🥹
I'm almost always in a writing dry spell bc I'm a VERY detailed daydreamer so I struggle to make writing as fun as daydreaming. I continue trying bc I can't deny how fun it is to read back what I've written and I want to convey my long stories to my family and friends. I think the advice abt learning to write a bad scene or skip it will be super helpful to me, as well as returning to the conditions of childhood writing, since I usually would write with pen and paper instead of typing. Thanks for this!
i really needed this video! literally about to go find a blank spiral notebook & just have fun on the page like i used to back when i first started writing. thank you for reminding me that this is supposed to be fun & i'm allowed to let myself have fun writing!!
You seem to me like a really internally motivated person, which is maybe why you don't need schedules and goals as much as others. I know that a lot of people enjoy doing something when they get into it, but the sitting down and starting is really hard for them, regardless of how much fun they have when doing it. Or they love having _done_ or completed something but don't entirely enjoy doing it in the moment regardless of how they approach it. Those kinds of people I think benefit off goals and schedules more because the actual activity is fun but it's hard to get over the initial hump.
That might be caused by fear, and the restrictive mentality you talk about in this video, so I do think it's great to discuss that writing is ALLOWED to be fun and how to make it that way. But idk. Regardless of how fun something is for me there is always an element of having to trick (but not force!) my brain into starting because I always forget how much fun X is until I am ACTUALLY doing it (might be the depression and low energy). But I've also feel like i've grown to hate writing more and more and basically haven't done it since I finished my degree, so I really appreciate your absolutely refreshing take on healing the creative process (and yes, for a lot of us it is healing!)
This is actually a great way of explaining why schedules are really helpful for some people, which I was struggling to explain in the video because that's not my experience haha, but the idea that getting started is hard, but enjoying writing once you do, makes schedules make a lot of sense!
Hey Lisa 👋 👋 how is your book 📖 coming along I'm just asking if you stopped ✋️ again and you are thinking about it and you just need / want a push. I am doodling trying to / getting better in drawing. I just need a reminder I mark my calendar 📅 on the fridge so I am Oh yeah
But I will leve it there so it is not even longer justbto say keep at it 😊❤
And I am just starting.
I always come back to this video when I am taking myself way too seriously and sucking the joy out of writing. It is so hard to just do something for the fuck of in these late stage capitalism years where every minute it feels like things are getting worse. Thank you for sharing your relentless encouragement with us. :)
I couldn't be more excited for this. I've been having a hard time loving writing lately. It felt worse than writer's block, as if my mind couldn't see or my hands couldn't keep up. Ever sense I had gotten praise for my first novel, writing's value turned extrinsic rather than the intrinsic reward that began my first book. So glad you're opening the conversation around healing our relationships with writing. I've been tweeting non stop about this for weeks!
Write what you want is a very good advice. I remember being stuck one time, because I had this notion that I must write scenes in my novel chronologically from beginning to end. But story was existing in my head all at once and I found myself mentally jumping from one scene to another all over timeline. It was frustrating to write initial exposition in first chapter, while main characters were having important conversation from midpoint in front of my mind's eye, and than when it came to writing this conversation, I couldn't recall some cool details from quick notes. Eventually I dropped this bs and started writing scenes as they came to me and than tweak them in revision to make whole story more cohesive. It made writing process much more fun and quicker too. Have no idea why I didn't do this from the beginning, seam obvious in hindsight.
"It's not you vs your book." I really felt that and needed to hear it. Thanks for another great video Shaelin :)
I love every single one of your videos. Your honesty and relatability is so refreshing and inspiring. Thanks for reminding me to get back to the fun in my writing ❤
Your videos are such a breath of fresh air. Thank you
Probably one of your most motivating videos! I feel like people forget that writing is as much of an art form as visual art is. You are not constrained by rules and deadlines, just go for it! I read so many people loosing motivation because they try to fit into a mold that is not there. Even I fall into this trap sometimes. But writing what you wanna write and read is the best thing you can do. Forcing yourself will lead to a lesser creative process in the end. I feel like your words about writing being low stake is super helpful in getting a better frame of mind :) First and foremost, your writing is seen by only yourself and YOU decide when other people will read and hopefully enjoy it.
You're so right, I got so much more productive and happy and stopped having burnouts after I stopped scheduling writing.
Turns out I didn't need a schedule to finish my book.
I really appreciate this video, and love how the advice is all given with nuance and care! I've definitely been putting a bit too much pressure on my writing in recent months, and I think this video will really help with getting back into writing more frequently and being more excited about the process!
No need to put yourself down as a "hippy dippy". You deserve healing too. Healing your wounds is a lifelong process. You do a lot for others. You are allowed to love and heal yourself too.
As an actual hippy from the 70's I see the monitor as a badge of honor. 😄✌🕊
Just saw this on my recommended and glad to have discovered this specific video since I've always wanted to start writing more. Thanks so much for the great advice
I like that it also changed the assumption of who you are, from a 'lazy' writer and hence needed schedules to one who enjoyed writing.
I've never written a book before and I didn't go to school for it, but I decided to start writing a novel in January and the process is teaching me a lot about myself (yes I'm also a hippie I guess). I realized that I have natural ebbs and flows in my creativity. Sometimes I have to grab the story by the tail and let it pull me along, and other times I have to stop and think and regain my inspiration and momentum. I always know that the story will start moving again because my passion for it is just bursting out of me.
Wow. Holy shit. Thank you SO much for this video. It was *exactly* what I needed to hear. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🎉
It's really not a hippy-dippy thing. It's not woo. Reading "Laziness Does Not Exist" helped me see that I was burnt out on writing one particular project - and not lazy. Healing our connection with writing is essential for a consistent writing habit.
Also, the scheduling might be useful for someone with children or who acts as a caregiver.
Scheduling would definitely be useful in that case!
Thank you so much for this!!
Honestly one of the most helpful writing videos i've ever seen
Yep, you're definitely a big ol' hippie. : )
Apart from that... this is a great video. Carrot not Stick!
Famed mystery novelist Lawrence Block long ago shared his writing affirmations, and most of them were along the same lines of what you're suggesting here:
Writing is fun. Think of it as a joyful activity, not as a chore or a job.
When my writing stalls I remind myself I don't *have* to write, I *get* to write.
And your last point about lowering the stakes is great! That is a crucial mindset issue I have try to be better at. Yes, the stakes for *completing the novel* are high, but what I'm writing this afternoon? So low as to be non existent for as you point out, if it's bad, no one else will see it and I'll just fix it on the second draft.
simply listening to this was already so healing! thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Shaelin.
Shaelin i have to tell you this for me is both the most useful and the best video you have ever made
I just wanted to say: Thank you
This video ist now saved in my "emergency advise"-folder.
How do you always know which videos we need?!?! Your are a Prophet!
🙂
Your point at 7:58 reframes SO much for me. Thank you!!
thank you for this video! i've been struggling to write a project I've had in the making for a year, i have documents, character profiles, an outline, but I kept hitting a wall and I began seeing it as work instead of something I was having fun with. this video showed me another perspective on how to keep myself writing :D
I know that is probably not something a lot of people would want to do and it's pretty extreme, but what really helped me was to shift my career plans to writing non-fiction and taking that kind of existential weight off my writing has really helped me remember why I loved it in the first place. I always felt so much pressure to write and was stressing about whether or not it was interesting for a broad enough audience. I still would wish to publish fiction at some point, but it doesn't really matter if I never finish anything, or if I take a decade to do so, or if it's just some weird, unstructured avant garde stuff that nobody actually wants to read.
This comes at a perfect time, thank you.
Thanks again, Shaelin ❤
I'm a 17 year old writer and one way I keep writing is not seeing it initially as something I would publish. I also give myself breaks from writing when necessary. I write poetry as well especially when I feel a certain way about it. Poetry is a way of writing which is more immediate and less pressured. I'm someone who would mostly finish writing a chapter (the chapters r fairly short) just so I can deal with the next part when I next write. Of course, this does not work for everyone and it sounds regimented but it works for me. Also don't be afraid to use a bigger font. It can seem very daunting and off putting to use size 12 arial font. U can always shrink the font when u get more comfortable with writing. I used to write with size 30 font when I was 13 then now I use size 22 font. It doesn’t make u a worse or better writer depending on the font u use.
Needed this 🙏 on the home stretch on my first to be *completed* novel and my motivation has been in flux. Gonna try these out ❤
tysm for this video, Shaelin! I've been struggling with this. The last tip is especially helpful for me! I'll try these out! Looking forward to the next video you mentioned! :D
Sometimes I forget that I am trying to improve my craft rather than chasing after success, but seeing other people being successful makes me feel like comparing myself to them. And so I am trying to remind myself again and again that success never allows mistakes and imperfections. So I mustn't chase after it.
I got inton writing via creative writhing at art school, it was so much fun and freeing. Since then, life threw me a curve ball and know I'm not sure what to do. Writing helps calm me and the act of creating, such as drawing just helps me realize me joy of art.
Shaelin, you're the best. Thank you so much for your channel and for being you...I love your channel so much.
All these points sum up to the life advice I follow by:
It's the simple things that make it magical
This is a very interesting video. For me, as someone who writes fanfiction, the pressure and time crunch comes from a dying fandom. If I want a chance at any sort of feedback or response from the readers, I need to finish the story before everyone moves on from the fandom (and in my case it may be way too late for that). But in general, I think I enjoy the process of coming up with ideas and thinking about my stories more than the process of actually writing. I do feel very happy and accomplished once I write them out and of course that frees up my brain space for more new ideas to come but writing can be hard. So often instead of writing I just daydream my ideas. Especially if they're just tidbits of ideas from different universes that I don't want to get fully into.
Don't worry too much about a dying fandom. With DVDs and now streaming, new fans are discovering fandoms and old fans are rediscovering their fandom all the time.
@@susanscott8653 True, but I guess that mostly goes for good shows and not shows that went completely downhill and people stopped watching because it got so bad 😂 Those shows deter new fans from joining. But hope is never lost, it's just sad when the prime years of a fandom are behind you.
I used to write fan fiction. Which series is it you write about?
Shaelin, I very much appreciate you sharing some of the things you've learned from your education and personal experience. It truly helps people like myself find their way through this process much more efficiently. THANKS AGAIN,
YOUR NEWEST SUBSCRIBER
because of executive dysfunction I actually do need a routine or otherwise I just won't write lol but I especially agree with the writing what you want to write tip. for a long time I thought I had to write "serious literary fiction" otherwise I wasn't adding anything of value to the world or literature. but I was putting so much pressure on myself to write "serious" and "deep" writing that I didn't realize I wasn't actually having any fun. not to say I don't gravitate towards stories like those both in my writing and in other's but it can't be all I write.
I've been allowing myself to write more without judgement and it's been doing wonders for my writing. I've been having so much more fun _and_ writing more. this all happened when I finally admitted to myself that the most fun I have is when I write romance. I think it's partially because I'm a woman with a male (sort of) mentor, but I always felt the need to write with him in mind instead of about what was fun to write. now I am slowly bringing myself out of that impulse and have discovered that I have much more fun writing pulpy fantasy romance than "literary fiction" (that's in quotes because I still love writing literary fiction just not the kind that an old white man thinks is worthy of merit).
momentum is also a big one for me too and that's actually why a routine helps me greatly. I don't schedule my writing but I do have a daily word count goal and keeping up with that goal is actually what drives my momentum forward.
I've also found that it actually does help with immersion in a scene to not take myself too seriously. where before I would have wanted to make a scene really weighty because that's what my brain thought was "literary" now I allow myself much more silliness and comedy and it has improved enjoyment tenfold. furthermore as you said, I don't allow myself to wallow in a scene that's not going well. now I just make a note to come back to that part and skip it to write something more fun. it leads to messier drafts but that's a problem for future me lol. I'm even writing out of order, skipping around and that's been working very well actually. I'm even skipping around from one project to another like you said you do, which would have been crazy to me three years ago!
all this to say, all of this is great advice and mostly I recommend writers create their own process that works for them because there's millions of writers and every single one will say their method is best so really just make up your own
huge yes to all of this!! love how you found a writing process that works for you and thank you for explaining why having a routine benefits you, I know it was a bit of a missing point in this video bc it's not my own experience so it was harder for me to imagine why it helps some people so much (even though I know it does!) ultimately finding what works for you really is all that matters
Been dealing with burnout lately so I needed this. Thanks!
I feel kinda sad cause I realise I have lost YEARS of time where I could have had fun writing and making art and music, but that whole puritan capitalist work mindset really ruined it for me and so I didn't really do much, I really just want to return to the love of it like I had as a child, thanks for putting it into actionable steps Shaelin, really needed this
I love the carrot 🥕 and the stick metaphor:)
Really good video. Some great advice!
Writing a bad version of a scene I don’t know how to write and just come back to it. Such a good idea. So simple. But I never thought of it. I always thought it had to be perfect before I could move on.
I’m here for hippie shaelin
I've been binging these videos for hours now, thanks so much for the advice!
This came at such an apropo time as I am trying to shift my mindset from writing being something I needed to do to just something that is fun to do. You are right - there's too much instruction on how to write and how to outline, word counts one needs to get in to write a book in 1 month, 5 months, 1 year. Before you know it, you are treating it like a second job - especially so for those of us who already have a full-time job (not as a writer). I am like - why am I beating myself up over not completing a novel in 5 months? Do I need it to pay the bills? No. Is there a publishing house just waiting to publish my novel? No. Does anyone really care if I am not writing every single day? No. In fact nobody in my circle of family, friends or colleagues has ever asked "So how's the writing coming along?" They probably don't want to hear me go on and on about my writer's block LOL. Thanks so much for the tips!
You're such an inspiration, Shaelin! Thank you for all the content you create x
This is so healing.
THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS,MEANS!!❤️❤️😭You are a life saver I wish more people hear this.
I needed this now more than ever, let me tell ya! The first time I was writing my fanfiction, I ended up doing exactly what you told us, the audience, what not to do. I set up a deadline for the fanfiction's release (March 10), I didn't brainstorm much, I forced myself to write, and I constantly have self-doubts about my fanfiction. This gives me enough motivation to write another fanfiction without treating it like a job! 😊
This is so good! Trying to implement all the techniques I am learning in my writing degree makes me so overwhelmed I end up writing nothing. This advice helps take the pressure off. Thank you xx
Brilliant! Needed this today. Love your channel❤ Writing can be hard sometimes but is never a burden or a punishment🎉
This is such an important video, even if we have routines or schedules. I’m on a writing deadline for my dissertation novel, but there’s a lot of good stuff here. Thank you for your insight, Shaelin! 💜
All of these tips were great, but the last two I needed to hear today. Thank you for your journey and thank you for sharing.
So happy it was helpful!
This actually helped me a lot
One of my biggest problems is writer’s block. You might think writer’s block comes always comes from lack of ideas, but it can also be from having too many ideas and having no idea how to put it together
I used to write way more than now. For years, I have been trying to get myself to write, but the older I get and the more stuff I see that is being produced by other writers(and artists, since I try to do both), the less I am getting done. I've been caught in this loop of perfectionism and procrastination. Nothing I try to make seems as good as I want it to be, so I try to outline more, to think it through more. Yet, all I get is stuck. There is never enough development. Enough study of story structure, of psychology. No matter what I do, I don't seem to feel ready to actually write something I'd deem fun to read.
I'm aware that the best way to get through this is to just not care and write literally anything that manages to get me to work on a specific problem/challenge, but for some reason, all the fun is gone. All that's left is the frustration and disappointment. Every choice a mountain too tall to climb. Every try a new low.
Needed!!! I've been full-time drafting a novel this summer with daily/weekly wordcount targets and I'm basically one scene away from finishing but feel ✨dead✨
Writing with momentum is one of my biggest things. I will literally stop sessions if I feel I am Forcing a scene rather than feeling it and feeling immerse in the scene. I can actively feel force rather than momentum. My best work comes from when I am actively in the zone and not thinking about writing, but feeling or flowing through writing.
I welcome your hippie-dippie views❤ Nothing wrong with having fun as long as some work gets done - yeah, poetry.
I’ve tried scheduling writing, setting goals, etc. and it just turns into like… a demand and a threat to myself, almost? And if it’s a demand then I automatically resist and I will not write. Or if I set a goal then that translates to “possibility of failure” in my mind and I won’t try at all. I really like that you don’t frame things as you vs the book and make it sound like such an antagonistic battle. Letting it flow on its own is a much better strategy for myself. Thank you!
This is the exact video I needed today.
the tip of writing what you want to write changed my poetry a few years ago, and i think it's changing my novel now, too! i've been really struggling with my book because it has three major timelines with the same characters (basically just 3 acts but broken up all weird, like 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 sort of pattern), and the timeline that's i've always seen as the most important of the book, and called the present, has always been a drag to write. i constantly come up with ideas for the 'future' part of the book, and even a decent amount for the 'past', and get so frustrated because every time i sit down to write, i'm stuck in the 'present'. and it's finally ocurring to me that i actually don't have to force that to be the focus of the book. you're not gonna believe this guys but if there's a part of your novel that you hate and think is boring you actually don't have to write it
I NEEDED THIS IVE BEEN STRUGGLING TO WRITE CUZ OF BURN OUT AND NOW I KNOW WHY ive enjoyed eritting but I'd hit walls and burn myself out cuz my process is taxing and I'm working on remaking my process and make it more fun for me
I find it funny how I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with this now, but everything I do in life I slowly loose interest at, so I'm sort of watching this video as a precaution. Like, what do I do to keep this passion burning? How do I protect it?
Thanks always great 😌
the last two tips are really the best
i’m a teenager and i’ve been writing since i was nine years old, since my very first english lesson on dialogue in fourth grade. i got more into writing as i got into my tweens and i watched a bunch of those rapid fire writing advice videos with 5 beats in 15 minutes. a lot of the advice would dig its fingernails into my brain and scare me out of actually enjoying writing. (the whole “you NEED an outline!” thing was a major contributor.) your channel is healing what was damaged in those years, so i thank you for that ❤
Apologies that this isn't relevant to the video, but the tip of never permanently deleting anything has helped me immensely. I had completely given up hope on a prior novel concept I was a good ways into, and started fresh with a new idea (for the dozenth time). Then, I realized I really liked the old idea and wanted to bring back the concept and reuse some of the scenes, but with a different subgenre and better developed characters! If I had decided to delete it all, I would've lost 15 chapters of good writing because I kept doubting myself.
I’d been giving up on projects for a long time. For me, the combination of learning craft and knowing that you have to practice like any other skill has been game changing. I used to think writing was a gift or natural talent and I either had it or I didn’t. When it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I got frustrated and lost faith in myself. But I always came back to writing. Maybe this is going to sound hippy dippy too :) but now I think it’s the love for writing itself that’s the gift and it’s ok to nurture that and accept the work won’t be perfect all the time. In doing that I’ve finally given myself the breathing room to improve as a writer.
you have no idea how much I needed this video, thank you shaelin! 😁
Omg I love this video! I'm close to turning 30 and just picked up writing because video games don't entertain me as much as they used to. I get why people want to make writing their careers so that explains why there's so many professionalized and "boot camp" style videos but damn does it seem very... idk, not fun. I don't really want another job or to feel like I'm in the military so the logic in this video makes way more sense
Fantastic video!! I really needed this
Great video, Shealin, as always.