How do I keep myself writing when nobody is actually reading it?
Starting off to become a writer is a tedious business. What if nobody reads your texts? I will share how I deal with that feeling and what it does to me.
Starting off to become a writer is a tedious business.
A lot of big and small obstacles are crossing our paths. And the nasty ones are those which come from between our ears.
What kept me from writing for 4 years is what writers call writer’s block. Writer’s block is not only about not writing at all. It is writing but feeling empty and shallow while doing so.
The whole writing process, usually encouraging and mind-opening, feels like a giant showoff of being an imposter.
I started several blogs in the past four years with several topics:
- Online Marketing — I earned good money with it during my self-employment
- Customer Succes — my main job at the moment
- Writing personal stories to train my storytelling skills (you can find some of them on Medium, but they are in German)
I stopped all of those after a few days. The initial fire went off, and all that was left was the feeling of utter failure.
An infuriating loop of thoughts. Driving me deeper and deeper into my writer’s block.
Every person, not only writers, can be hit by writer’s block
As the name suggests, writer’s block is something writers especially encounter. But from my experience, it could also be called a “life block”, “project block” or “creativity block” overall.
I was stuck in a “life block” for at least 4 years. My life block destroyed every small or big idea that came into my mind — it showed itself through negative thoughts, dangerous beliefs, and low self-esteem.
Every I started was canceled after a few days.
And I realized that this is a systemic problem because it would prevent me from every project I start in the future.
I realized this even more when I started to work through some of my business ideas:
After a few days, sometimes even less, my life block kicked in, and self-sabotage started.
So, what should I do?
Through sheer luck, I stumbled upon an old technique I used when I was younger: Flow writing.
Flow writing helps to overcome my writer’s and life block
When I first used Flow writing, I didn’t know what I was actually doing. Flow writing is the simple concept of writing like your mind flows:
Am I doing this every day? Nope. But I try to do it as often as possible.
You are reading these lines solely due to the impact of Flow Writing. One morning, after spending several days doing so, I asked my subconscious mind what to do next.
And it answered me with a single word “intuition”.
I asked more questions, and throughout this Flow Writing session, I realized that writing about intuition and getting back in touch with it is self-therapy.
Writing is self-therapy
“I’ll take care of quantity. You take care of quality.”
Julia Cameron
Later I should discover that Flow Writing is widely used and nothing special. One of the most famous advocates is Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist Way”.
She teaches creative people to overcome their blocks solely through the power of Flow Writing (she calls them Morning Pages).
Through writing, I gain insides into my inner nature. I learn something about myself and discovered the sensations of my intuition better. My intuition guides me through every word in this article.
If you want to know more tools on how to improve your intuition and find your inner compass: Try out my newsletter, “The Intuitive Edge” and be informed when I release my new book “ Trust Your Gut — 6 Proven Tools to Improve Your Intuition, Make Better Decisions and Life with Ease “.
Originally published at https://dennistroeger.com on March 22, 2023.
