Don't Try So Hard

Consistent effort and persistence count, but writing doesn't only happen at the desk.

I was sitting at my desk, staring hard at the screen. I’d been there for hours. The story wasn’t quite right—the pacing was off. The tension, not at all tense. I kept tweaking, revising, adding to, deleting more, rewriting the same sentences. Forcing it. Until I realized the piece wasn’t getting better. I was making it worse.

You Don’t Have to Push, You Must Persist

We hear that real writers power through. But creativity doesn’t respond to pressure like that. When we overschedule, overthink, and grind, persistence can become a liability that leads to burnout and often drab, dull work that we don’t enjoy anyhow.

What Works Instead