U is for Ups and Downs

We all have them. Sometimes things are going great, you get an acceptance letter, your manuscript is coming along, you get an acceptance letter...then you loose your umph, and things just stop coming as easily. Your writing becomes a slog, and not as exciting as it was before.

Here is the thing. The writer is the one who stays in the chair and writes even during the downs, the slumps, the doldrums, the dog days, the dry spells, whatever. You keep working even when you feel like your losing your edge, when it actually feels like work. I always worry that trying to write during these times will make my writing feel bland and forced, but thats what editing is for. The important thing is to take a lesson from Dory and JUST KEEP SWIMMING.

It always makes me feel better knowing that other people feel this way too, because I know I'm not alone, and I know I'll get over it eventually. Just knowing I'll get over it helps me work through it. Books, music, movies and favorite TV shows also help me feel a little better about life in general. Food also helps, especially if it involves a fun restaurant and a group of friends. Take a walk, go to the gym, go to a movie with your significant other. Whatever. Get out of the house. That almost always helps me shake the blues, at least for a little while. And it really does go away eventually.

Happy writing!