The only solo trip you shouldn’t plan for the new year is a guilt trip.
As writers, us lot often tend to be procrastinators. (Though of course there are the occasional, irritating, prolific ones that make us turn green with envy each consistent time they put forward their creative expressions for the world to read, notwithstanding how amazing those may be!)
Being one among those most afflicted by this malady (procrastination), I had myself convinced, for sometime now, that I was actually a patient of writer’s block.
But all this changed when, somehow overlooking the fact that I was already struggling to revise a novella that I aimed to publish this year, I dared to join a month-long flash-fiction writing challenge in the middle of November ’24.
AN ASIDE…
For the unversed, flash fiction refers to stories that are complete in themselves within a certain number of words—ranging from six to a thousand.
The most revered example, which I just found out is misattributed to Ernest Hemingway (looking things up, an editing habit, is pretty useful even while not editing!), is:
The challenge I signed up for was specifically a daily, prompt-based drabble challenge initiated by fellow editor Dagny Sol. (To know more about drabbles, read my article on this unique genre/format of storytelling on my personal blog.)
What I discovered as the days progressed, though, were two simple truths.
One, that it was all in my own head.
And two, that I love writing!
I don’t need to keep feeling bad that I’m not regular with it as long as I feel the same pleasure whenever I wrap up writing a story.
During the challenge, I let the prompt sit in my mind for at least half the day before forcing myself to put pencil to paper. (Not self-promotion, I swear; I ideate better with pencils than pens!)
Often, ideas would jump at me when I least expected them, because I didn’t put pressure on myself to create.
In the end, it turned out I’d been feeling guilty all this time only because I was thinking of my writing as a task I had to complete on a deadline rather than as a leisure activity.
There’s no guarantee that:
1. ideas will keep coming to you at a set time each day (unless you, too, try a prompt-based writing challenge!).
2. all your writing will be equally good.
And that’s all okay.
Which is why my advice to writers looking to be more productive in 2025 is a simple one: Enjoy your craft! Don’t treat it as a job, and don’t succumb to the pressure to conform to rigid schedules and lofty goals, because writing a good story is always more than just that.
P.S. The writing challenge I took up is restarting soon. It’s open to everyone regardless of age, qualifications, profession, etc as long as you write in English. Comment if you would like to be in on it!
P.P.S. Also let me know if you’d like to read my stories from the challenge 🙂
Hey there! I’m Shruti, a professional freelance copy editor and proofreader from Lucknow, India. I’m also the author of two self-published children’s mystery books.
At The Green Pencil, I offer editorial services to help fiction as well as non-fiction authors (from India and other corners of the globe) elevate their writing from final draft to delivery-ready.
Like all editors, I genuinely want to see your book out there in all its glory, unblemished by errors of any kind; and I do not intend for an exorbitant fee that you can’t afford to come in the way of that.
Reach out to me today to know my custom quote for your work-in-progress! 🙂
Cover Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-paragliding-2132013/
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