When writing threatens to become the daily grind by Lorna of Green Pastures Christian Writers

I live in a Norfolk village with a wonderful community. You would imagine that would be conducive to writing – peaceful and quiet. But it’s not. There’s always something going on – activities I could take part in every morning, afternoon and evening, seven days a week. Then there’s the community café, the social club at the Village Hall and the local pub as well as all the church activities. 

Despite this, I had managed to carve out, and diary, a couple of hours each day which I set aside to write.

However, my routine was broken recently. Being active in the village, I know a large percentage of the people who live here, many of them old. The stumbling block was when I attended three funerals in six days. They weren’t special friends but people that I would miss seeing and talking to. I was miserable and I couldn’t write. Then I felt guilty.

It’s the same on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I don’t even expect myself to write then but I still feel guilty.

Nobody has told me I need to write every day, it was something I’d decided for myself. So why do I feel so bad about it? I don’t feel guilty if I miss some village activities or meetings because I don’t feel well or if I’m too tired, so why is it so bad to miss out on writing now and again?

I think the problem is that, once the routine is upset, I know I struggle to get back into it. I’d rather do some cleaning or baking or craft work - anything rather than write. 

Because writing is hard work which requires discipline.

I’ve been praying about it a lot recently and I’m certain that God wouldn’t expect me to work on my book or write creatively when I’m unwell or not up to it. He wouldn’t forgive me because there is nothing to forgive – I have set the parameters, not Him.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to be more lenient with myself when I’m going through difficult times physically or emotionally. Perhaps to write out how I’m feeling about what’s going on. It might take just five minutes but it’s still writing. It might not be working on my book but it’s still writing. It might not be typed but recorded. But it’s still writing. And it may be therapeutic.

Perhaps it’s what we all need to do as writers when we’re not as well as we would like to be – to decide whether our guilt is real or false, to forgive ourselves if necessary and to be kind to ourselves.