Wednesday, May 21, 2008

When You Shouldn’t Write

Throughout the Internet there are tons of articles and sites that talk about how to motivate yourself to write or how to get into the habit of writing. But the truth is, there are times when even writers have to learn how to put down the pen—when even they need to say to themselves that enough is enough. But when exactly are these times? In fact, when should anyone decide to take a break from writing? Well, here are some examples.

When Writing Gets in the Way of Your Relationships
There are stories of writers who devote themselves so much to their writing that all their relationships shrivel away. From family to friends, they become absolute strangers and hermits to them. Yes, there are times when you need to stay away from the phone and put family time on the side to write, but there are definitely times where family time needs to be family time.

When You Write For the Wrong Reasons
This goes almost in hand with the first reason. If you’re writing to make a living or even to fulfill your dream of getting famous someday, fine. But some people write out of spite, whether to slander people or to purposely be offensive. Some people write to prove they're somehow better than other people (i.e. bragging rights). If you come to a point where you realize that your true reason for writing is something far from wholesome, maybe it’s time to step back and reconsider. Yes, very rarely can our intentions be pure, but when the fault of our motives become way too obvious, especially to the point of obsession, we need to stop ourselves and start looking deep within. All in all, sort out your issues first before coming back to the pen. Because this isn’t just for your own good, but also for the good of your readers.

When You Write Out of an Unhealthy Compulsion
Though this is a very rare case, but some people can find themselves caught in writing compulsively, even to the point of writing down the most unnecessary details of their life. In such cases they may have the rare condition known as hypergraphia, which is associated with temporal lobe changes in epilepsy and mania. For more information regarding this, follow the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergraphia

2 comments:

racer said...

Love your blog. I just came across it today from our mutual friend, the Word Strumpet. I've started a writing blog also that I'd love for you to check out. If you like it, let's exchange links.

Best,

Todd
My Writing Life
www.learnedaboutwriting.blogspot.com

Donna Sundblad said...

I'm a goal setter and published author and freelance writer. Goals help me to meet deadlines and I facilitate a goals-oriented group for writers as a forum of accountability.

You're right. People need to have balance in their lives and goals should incorporate more than writing if you tend to shut everything else out. But goals also help to eliminate the excuses we use to procrastinate. Balance--yep that's the key.

Good blog.

 

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