5 Questions For Writers Seeking Clarity and Focus
If you’re feeling a little lost in your creative writing life, I invite you to ask yourself five questions that will help you get clear about your writing motivation, desires, and needed support. Let’s get right to it.
Why am I writing?
Your motivation for writing will drive the way you approach the task, the subjects you choose, and the energy you put into the words themselves. The “why” behind your writing can be as individual as the story you tell, but some examples are:
To inform
To instruct
To entertain
To explore events in your own life
To provide hope
To expose injustices
To escape the hardships in your own life
The list could go on, but take some time to ponder why you are writing. You can have more than one “why,” and the “why” can evolve and change. It’s just a good practice to connect with the motivation behind the urge to write.
What do I hope to achieve with my writing?
Be honest with yourself. Do you want to make a book of family stories that you can give as a gift? Do you want to be published? Do you want to blog for your business or personal enjoyment? Do you want to write poems in your journal just for yourself?
Pursuing publication is a great goal, and so is writing for personal enjoyment. And everything in between. Just be honest with yourself about what you truly want, and you’ll find an element of peace in knowing what this whole endeavor is aiming for.
Why now?
Please, do not take this question and twist it into something discouraging that makes you list all of the reasons you should not prioritize writing at this moment. That is not the goal here.
The goal is to look at how things have aligned to bring you to the point that you want to write something. Are your kids getting older, so you have more time to try something new? Have you hit a crossroads in your career and want to find a new path? Are you simply interested in exploring a new creative outlet?
Have your life experiences led you to this point? Every success, failure, moment of despair, act of generosity, and major life change has led you to this point. I could make up answers to this question all day, but what is the answer for you? Why now? When you have the answer, grab onto it and use it to propel you to take action.
How do I want to feel when I’m writing?
Do you want to feel empowered? Confident? Curious? Inspired? The first three questions might help you find this answer. The way you want to feel can tell you much about what you expect and desire from the writing experience. If you don’t feel the way you want while writing, you’ve taken a big step by identifying how you want to feel. It’s time to work towards it. This leads us to the last question.
What do I need to create the writing life that I want?
People aren’t born knowing how to write stories, publish books, and create killer blog posts. You might need tools and support to help you create the writing life that you want.
Think about the writing life you would love to have. Envision it in your mind. Now ask yourself: What do I need to make this happen?
Some common answers:
A writing space
A writing routine
Someone to watch the kids for an hour
Noise-canceling earbuds to block out distractions
A mindset shift that allows me to prioritize writing in my daily life
A creative writing course to get me started.
I co-created this holistic approach to creative writing courses.
What do you need? How can you get it? Take action. It might not happen all at once, but you can take one step toward the writing life you want.
Revisit these questions as often as you need. Happy writing!
