When Writing Hurts: How to Keep Writing Through Pain and Struggle

From Edie: Henry McLaughlin shares how to keep writing when painful memories and emotional struggles surface, with practical, faith-filled ways to move forward and find healing.

When Writing Hurts: How to Keep Writing Through Pain and Struggle

by Henry McLaughlin @RiverBendSagas

There are times when writing is hard or at least seems harder than it should be. Ideas don’t come. Or the ideas do come, but the words to flesh them into coherency flutter away like a butterfly in a swift breeze. You reach for the words, and they’re gone.

Then an idea comes, and the words start to flow. And we freeze because the words trigger memories and the memories trigger pain. Pain we thought was healed or resolved or forgotten.

When Writing Hurts

by Debb Hackett @Debb_Hackett

“I’ve been thinking I should write a book.” “I’ve always thought I’d write a book one day.”

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard these remarks, from people who have never tried to write, much less revise or edit a full manuscript. To many who haven’t written a book, doing so seems easy. You just sit down and write, right?

Let Your Writing Wounds Lead to Wisdom

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

We writers wear our hearts on their sleeves, metaphorically speaking. 

We pour our inner selves out on the page, drawing on the highs and lows of life to interpret the world through words. 

This is an exhilarating journey. The highs are incredible, and the lows…well…they’re tough. 

If we don’t take time to process the difficult experiences, those writing wounds can leave disfiguring scars. But when we do evaluate what’s happened, there is wisdom to be found in those writing wounds.