For Those Who Try
By: P.G. Barnett
Tags: Self-awareness, Self, Writers On Medium, Awareness, Writing

For those who try to write something meaningful, something which will resonate with the reader, take heart. Prepare yourself. It’s another day, possibly one of frustration and sadness, because you just looked at your stats and realize you have fewer reads than the day before.

Perhaps you’re sitting in front of your computer at the moment, staring at white space, wondering why you can’t think of anything to write. Maybe you’re telling yourself it doesn’t matter because no one’s going to read what you write anyway.

For those of you experiencing this right now, it’s not over yet. Now is not the time to quit. Now is a momentary splash of worry and difficulty which will pass. Maybe it will come back tomorrow, perhaps not, but it shouldn’t be your focus. For those of you who try, now is the time to do just that.

Try again.

What we do is challenging. We all know it because we live it every day as we try to make our way forward, as we attempt to claw our way to the top. We struggle with set back after set back. And for all our hard work, we often achieve lackluster results. It’s just so damned frustrating most days, isn’t it? Up to this point, you’ve probably thought about moving on, searching for something else to nurture your creative spark what, at least a thousand times?

We all have.

But the dream still lives inside of us. It lives in you, doesn’t it? We all have that burning desire that won’t go away, the constant urge which prompts us to sit down and write something.

Even if we know the chance of what we do going viral is maddeningly slim, we have to write. For those who try, it’s never been a conscious decision, a purposeful choice to become a writer. It’s not a choice. It’s a dream, a firm resolve, and an understanding of what and who we are. If you’ve not thought of yourself in this light before, remember this, hold on to this.

You’re a writer.

And you may be thinking based on the poor results you’re currently experiencing, you probably aren’t a good one, but that’s okay. We all start the same way; we all share the same pains, the same frustrations, the same heartbreaks. It’s how you deal with them that makes the difference. Remember, it’s not over yet.

Unless you decide it is.

For those who try, the difficulties and challenges experienced will never go away, and if we do it long enough, we eventually figure it out. We learn that we’re only as good as, or as bad as, the last thing we wrote. Even if the last thing we wrote was yesterday. And when we sit in front of that white space, we often remember all those dreams which prompted us to begin this writing journey in the first place. We remember and compare them to our current progress.

Most times, it saddens us. Sometimes it infuriates us; it makes us so angry we want to just check out and quit. But we don’t stop. Instead, we try again. Somehow an idea manages to bubble up from where we neither know nor care.

All we know is that it’s something we want to say. It’s something compelling us to speak, and so we say it. We tell the story the best way we can. We forget all the challenges which have knocked us about all these days, and we write.

Another day, another story, and without us realizing it, another life lesson learned.

For those who try, it’s essential to remember while the yield of our harvest may be poor most days, we must continue to plow the fields. We must continue to sow these fields with our writing. Though not backbreaking work, I’m sure to all those who try, it seems that way most days.

At the very least, it’s mind-numbing, isn’t it? Most days, it seems as if it’s mind-numbing, grueling tedium as we lay down word, after word, after word. Somedays it all becomes an endless stream, a blur of things written and things yet to be written. And yet, we continue to plow those fields, don’t we? So, if you take away nothing else from this piece, remember this.

It’s not over yet.

There’s still time for you to write something, time for you to tell us another story, give us another opportunity to think differently about something, provide a perspective only you can provide.

For those who try, it’s what we do.

Thank you so much for reading. You didn’t have to, but I’m certainly glad you did.

Let’s keep in touch: paul@pgbarnett.com

© P.G. Barnett, 2020. All Rights Reserved.