When I don't write...

celticroots · Feb 24, 2012

for a while, I feel empty, unfulfilled, restless. Bottom line, it's not a fun feeling. When I start writing again I feel: complete, like I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, joyful, etc I have to keep coming back to writing.

Am I the only one who feels weird if you don't write for a while?

twm · Feb 24, 2012

Nope. Writing is also my hobby. I tend to get fidgety if I don't get to write for a while.

smellycat6464 · Feb 24, 2012

o my gosh i resonate with this so much, I don't go a day without thinking of writing!

fredXgeorge · Feb 24, 2012

Of course not. This is a writers forum after all

You're definitely not alone; for quite a few people here, writing is like breathing.

mario_c · Feb 24, 2012

I've been writing "full time" - not paid, but devoting much of my free time to it - for about 8 years now, and for the last 3 months I haven't written a word. I haven't touched that icon on my taskbar. The utter hopelessness of the possibility of a sale has a lot to do with it, but the bottom line? The real reason?
I'm sick of it.
Yeah, I said it. I'm tired of it. All of it.
On the other hand, I like having writer friends.

The smartest, hardest working, most fully grounded and full of real character people I'll ever know. What I don't like is the newbies and the bullsh!t artists and the hangers on. I hate them and I'm very sick of them.
I never say "never again" to something as big as this, but maybe a vacation away, a trial separation, is what is really needed now. Who knows, maybe I'll come away fired up. Or not. I really don't give a fck.

EzzyAlpha · Feb 24, 2012

Hm, when I don't write, I draw.

It's when I don't have any creative outlet that I start to fidget.

leahzero · Feb 24, 2012

When I don't write, I obsess over not writing.

When I do write, I obsess over writing.

There's a reason alcoholism is our favorite disease.

Marya · Feb 24, 2012

I keep two diaries on my bedside table, blog, email friends, write non-fiction for a living, write fiction -- of course I get stuck and unable to complete certain pieces, but I keep writing. Every day.

A few years ago I went off on a vipassana retreat, no writing materials allowed. Everyone else craved coffee or sugar or a glass of wine: I would have killed for a notebook and pencil. Even had fantasies about making a fire just to get some charcoal as a writing instrument. When I got home I wrote for hours, just scribbling away about nothing in particular was bliss.

pandaponies · Feb 24, 2012

EzzyAlpha said:
Hm, when I don't write, I draw.

It's when I don't have any creative outlet that I start to fidget.

Same! And when I'm not drawing, I'm playing the piano, and when I'm not obsessively practicing piano, I wander back on over toward writing... I get bored with my hobbies and cycle through them on a regular basis. As long as I'm on ONE of them, I'm good.

catian · Feb 25, 2012

No I don't brood about it.
In fact I prefer to take breaks to rewind/rejuvenite otherwise I stagnate.
It is best for memory and imagination to take breaks and do other outdoors activities.

jaksen · Feb 25, 2012

catian said:
It is best for memory and imagination to take breaks and do other outdoors activities.

Not for me. I write every day. Even on 'family days' I have to go off and write. On holidays, too.

I took a day off on the day my third child was born.

Seriously, even if I'm away from my PC, I find a notepad or something.

I do not think I am the only like this either.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 25, 2012

How long is "a while"? I've had only one prolonged period of not writing. I was in a coma, came out of it, but recuperation time was several months. I'm always fidgety when I can't work, and writing is my work. For the first three months or so, I didn't really miss writing, anymore than I missed all the other things I couldn't do, but it was good to get back to being productive again. .

Other than this, however, the only time I've been away from writing for the last thirty-two years is when we go on a planned vacation, and that week before Christmas, up the Jan. 1. I never write during that ten day period.

But I have a tough boss, and he doesn't allow me to miss work without very good reason. I just can't find a good reason to be away from writing more than I would be away from any other job.

Niiicola · Feb 25, 2012

No, you're not the only one. It feels almost like nicotine withdrawal from back when I smoked -- a kind of restless, fidgety thing.

ETA: Makes you wonder if writing might release brain chemicals in a way similar to addictive substances.

soullesshuman · Feb 25, 2012

When I'm not writing I'm thinking in writing, or I'm dreaming stuff that may someday inspire my next tale. I don't know what it's like to think or feel otherwise.

When I don't write...

celticroots

twm

smellycat6464

fredXgeorge

I heart sexy elves and wizards.

mario_c

Your thoughts are not real...

EzzyAlpha

Unable to write straight females.

leahzero

The colors! THE COLORS!

Marya

In search of distractions

pandaponies

in ur boardz, correctin ur grammar

catian

jaksen

Caped Codder

Jamesaritchie

Niiicola

Twitchy

soullesshuman

Through a Child's Eyes