From Edie: Struggling with writing discouragement or a creative dry season? Discover how God uses difficult seasons to grow your voice, restore your creativity, and lead you into a fresh start.
How to Overcome Writing Discouragement: Finding Hope and Growth After a Creative Winter
By Edie Melson @EdieMelson
Sometimes we have a difficult writing winter.
That’s what I call a season of writing discouragement—when the words feel stuck, the ideas seem distant, and the joy we once found in writing feels buried beneath doubt, fatigue, or even silence.
The following is what I experienced one spring, after walking through a particularly difficult winter of my own.
That year, there had been a lot of dreary days and very little sun. The ground outside was still boggy with sticky mud, and gray had been the color du jour for so long it almost felt normal. I had grown used to the heaviness—not just outside my window, but inside my creative life as well.
Then one morning, as I glanced out the window, a glint of yellow caught my eye.
Sure enough, the jonquils were emerging.
They had pushed their strong green stalks toward the sun and had begun to bloom—bright, cheerful, and completely out of place against the gray backdrop of lingering winter.
And in that quiet moment, one simple truth rose to the surface of my heart:
After winter comes spring.
If ever there was a year I needed that reminder, that was it.
What the Jonquils Taught Me About Writing Through Discouragement
As I stood there watching those first signs of spring, I began to notice things I’d never taken the time to see before. And what I saw didn’t just apply to the changing seasons—it spoke directly into my writing life.
1. They were untouched by the mud around them
In spite of being surrounded by mud, the jonquils were as fresh and clean as if they’d been raised in a greenhouse. They didn’t carry the evidence of the mess they had grown through.
And that truth settled deep.
As writers, we often walk through messy seasons—rejection, comparison, burnout, unanswered prayers, or even long stretches where nothing seems to work. It’s easy to assume those things define us or stain our calling.
But God doesn’t work that way. He is a God of new beginnings. When He brings us into a new season, it is not marked by the residue of the last one. His renewal is clean, fresh, and full of possibility. No matter what your writing winter looked like, He is not holding it over you. He is inviting you forward.
2. They flourished because of their environment—not in spite of it
That year, the jonquils were especially vibrant. And it struck me that they were flourishing not in spite of the harsh winter—but because of it. The cold, the rain, the heaviness of the season had created the very conditions needed for their beauty to reach its fullest expression.
That’s not always easy to accept.
As writers, we want smooth seasons. We want creativity to flow easily, opportunities to open quickly, and progress to feel steady and visible. But often, it’s the difficult seasons that deepen us.
The seasons where we question everything…
The seasons where we feel hidden…
The seasons where growth feels invisible…
Those are the seasons where God is doing some of His most important work.
- He is refining our voice.
- Strengthening our calling.
- Shifting our focus from performance to purpose.
What feels like a setback may actually be preparation.
3. Growth began long before it was visible
Perhaps the most powerful realization of all was the fact those beautiful flowers didn’t wait for spring to begin growing. They began their reach toward the sun in the middle of winter’s hardship. Long before I saw any evidence, something was happening beneath the surface.
And that truth changed the way I looked at my own writing journey.
There are seasons when it feels like nothing is happening. No progress. No movement. No breakthrough. But that doesn’t mean growth has stopped. It simply means it’s happening where you can’t see it yet.
You may be learning.
Healing.
Rebuilding your creative rhythms.
Reconnecting with your “why.”
And those quiet, unseen steps matter more than you realize. Because when the season shifts—and it will—you’ll already be further along than you thought.
What This Means for Your Writing Season
Even as I wrote these observations, I could feel God’s truth soaking into my soul regarding my own difficult writing winter. And those same truths hold true for you.
God is the God of new beginnings.
His fresh start for you is not limited by your past season. It is full of grace, possibility, and purpose.
Your hard season has not been wasted.
Everything you’ve walked through is shaping you into a stronger, wiser, more grounded writer.
Progress is often invisible before it becomes visible.
Just because you don’t see movement doesn’t mean you’re standing still.
So if you’ve experienced a long writing winter, take heart.
- You are not stuck.
- You are not behind.
- And you are not done.
After winter comes spring.
And when it arrives, you may just discover that something beautiful has been growing all along.
How have you see beauty come out of a writing winter? Share your stories below—so often we find strength and hope in someone else's story.
Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
TWEETABLE
She and husband Kirk have been married 44+ years with three grown sons and four grandchildren. They live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and can often be found with their big black dog hiking the mountains.
Connect with her at www.EdieMelson.com and through social media.
Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteThank you Edie for the email and the insight. It is easy to see how time passes on and miss the growth that is taking place. And there are a number of examples of quiet growth here and in our readers.
ReplyDeleteTim Suddeth