Witty Blog Post Title

It’s really hard to write sometimes. When the mood hits and ideas start flowing and Evernote is standing by to capture any random thoughts as they occur, then yes, writing is easy. Sometimes, the inspiration is far away, hidden behind responsibilities and the day-to-day. Then, it doesn’t matter what the Evernote file says. It doesn’t matter what course of action is presented in the outline in the Moleskine. When inspiration is gone, then it doesn’t even matter how many “Just grind through it and write EVERY DAY!!!!!” pep talks you hear. It’s just impossible to put into action the thoughts you have when inspiration is completely gone.

It’s really hard to write when being bombarded with constant rhetoric of building brands and shameless self-promotion. The clanging bells of blogging ring proudly. It’s incredibly difficult to focus on an original idea when people only want to sit through a few sentences and leave a comment that will (hopefully!) generate more traffic back to them. It’s easy to write on the internet. But all too often, the message is lost behind melodramatic 140 character Twitter teasers, promising that whenever you click the link, you’ll be incredibly impressed with who you discover.

It’s really hard to write when the rest of life gets complicated. It’s easier to weave words together when the biggest obstacle in front of you is free time and video games. Things get tricky when the obstacles turn into unemployment and sick family members and friends in need. Real life issues become obstacles, and they are much harder to see around than laziness.

It’s really hard to write when realistic demands push out ideals. When you begin to realize that the thing that seems most important and the thing others care about the most is making sure there is enough money around, it changes motives. When you write for free on a website with a stupid name, but you require some sort of financial gain in order to continue living, it clouds vision. It’s much easier to write when entire days are spent in front of computers in an office with not much else going on. When that is removed, and writing is no longer the escape from the mundane, it’s hard to remember why you write. It’s hard to stay locked in on what you love when others love cash.

It’s really hard to write when you can’t remember why you do so. Am I writing for me? That’s selfish. Am I writing to make an impact? To serve an audience? To entertain others? Or even, heaven forbid, to build a brand? Then the question changes to: what does that accomplish? Am I writing because I love it and need to write? Then why is it I can live perfectly fine without writing for a few days? Am I writing because I want to turn it into something I can profit from? But is that betraying the art of writing? Why do I try to create words and sentences and paragraphs? What do I want people to think of me?

It’s really hard to write when you can’t for the life of you remember why it matters.

And sometimes, you just have to sit down and write about that.