A guest post by Sean Farley of Boulder Uphill

It is always my pleasure to bring you the truly great people that I have met on Twitter, Facebook, or through other methods. Sean Farley is one of those people. He is like a brother to me. We have been writer friends for a while, and though we have never met, I believe that we would cary on like we had known each other forever. Sometimes you run into people like that. He is also a great blogger. I love his blog! You should check it out! You will love it too! So.....without further ado...Here's Sean!

 

 

There is a lovely feeling of euphoria when someone you haven’t met in person asks you to write a guest post on his blog. In fact, it goes beyond mere flattery. It’s something much more than that. Now, had I been more respectful of deadlines, I’d have gotten this post to Jason much earlier than you’re reading this. Much earlier. To be brutally honest, he asked me to do this months ago.

 

And I was a complete and total flake. Disrespect at its worst.

But, as life comes around and pieces begin to fall in place, I have to say that I think this post comes at just the right time. I was toying with a subject for my own blog, something I thought might be of general interest, when I realized it was quite fitting as a post for Jason’s blog. He did, after all, ask me to write a post, and my idea as to a subject was this:

How do we continue on as writers when life gets in the way? How do we shovel past the mountains of circumstance that puts us in a position of remaining sedentary? When writing teachers say “Just sit down and write,” how do we go about doing it when we feel like we can’t?

This was something I’d been experiencing myself as of recently, which is why I hadn’t gotten a post to Jason for some time. I know that Jason, too, had been dealing with some difficult situations in his own life, and I was thankful when he understood my own dilemmas after emailing him and explaining why the post I’d promised hadn’t made it his way. Of course I was relieved that he understood completely. And it’s true - I was basically going through an all-around crappy time in my life.

But don’t we all? Of course we do. This is what makes us human. But one thing I had found solace in - writing - had fallen by the wayside. I wanted to write, I truly did. I had a number of short stories I’d been working on, sitting idly on my desktop, waiting to be brought to life. But I just didn’t have the energy. No, that’s wrong; I didn’t have the desire.

Does this make me a horrible person? I mean, my goodness, isn’t one of the major goals in my life to be a published author? And how, truly, could any of what I was going through be so detrimental that I couldn’t write a few sentences here and there?

Well, whether we want it to be true or not, the fact of the matter is that we all experience those “down times” as writers. I take comfort in knowing I’m not alone in any of this. A writer friend of mine suggested that taking such a break might be just what I needed. She reminded me that I hadn’t stopped writing because of my personal issues, but that I should look at it like a silver lining: my writing might actually benefit from the break. This was a truly baffling, yet eye-opening, critique.

And it’s true. I spoke with a number of my writer friends and when I expressed what I’d gone through, the responses were fairly the same. “It goes with the territory,” one friend offered. “If I wrote everyday,” another friend admitted, “then I’d have twenty finished novels instead of an uncompleted one.” This was refreshing, and it made me smile.

Now that I’ve sufficiently rambled, let me say I am pleased that I’ve fallen back into the writing fold. I’m even more pleased that I’ve come across other writers like Jason who gladly understand that life will often times toss us more than we can handle. When we prioritize, writing might not jump to the top of the list. But, like the responsible, grown-up people that we are, we will eventually get to a place when other areas of our list are crossed off and writing eventually falls into a comfortable, habitual place.

I must express thanks again to Jason. He made me feel like a true writer when he asked me to do a guest post on his blog. He’s a true gentleman. He is a man I will happily have a garage sale with any day. 

 

 

Sean Farley is a great guy and a great blogger, and funny as hell!  You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, or on his own blog. I recommend hooking up with him. You won't regret it! :)

 

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