Bedroom Cool: Relax & Kick Back

Writers: Your Skills May Need Time to Catch Up to Your Vision

Are you endlessly frustrated with most things you write? Do you find writing difficult, nay, impossible? Do you get the most fabulous ideas, only to find that executing them is incredibly challenging? That’s actually a good sign.

If you’re a new writer, and you have good taste, ambition, and originality, it’s going to take a while for your skill set to catch up to your vision.

If your story is difficult to write, it’s not a sign that you should quit or change your idea. Keep writing, keep reading, keep practicing, keep studying, keep learning, keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

I repeat: If writing is hard for you, it does NOT mean you are a bad writer. If your story is difficult to write, it does NOT mean your idea is bad.

It means you have a complex vision and you haven’t developed the skills you need to pull it off yet.

Many times, you’ll gain those skills in the very process of writing your story. Other times, you’ll have to put down that story for a few weeks, months, or even years until your skills catch up.

The process can be slow, but your abilities will catch up with your ambition if you keep writing. So keep going forward. It’s cool if you get discouraged: That’s part of the process, too. But please don’t quit.

One more thing: Don’t throw away or delete anything. Keep all your writing, including ideas and first drafts that went nowhere. I have stories I started five years ago that I’m just now able to carry out as I had originally intended. If you get that you didn’t have a bad idea, just a skill you haven’t developed yet, then you’ll be less tempted to throw away your writing in frustration or shame. And in the future when you develop the skills you need, you’ll be really glad you have them to go back to.

study playlist

calming musicians to listen to while studying:

- cavetown

-troye sivan 

- the 1975

- the neighborhood 

- declan McKenna 

- arctic monkeys

 - lorde 

Book addiction

heartbreak songs ‘17

james tw - when you love someone

kodaline - all i want

ed sheeran - perfect

james arthur - can i be him

amber run - i found

luke sital-singh - nothing stays the same

ron pope - a drop in the ocean

passenger - holes

the goo goo dolls - iris

james arthur - say you won’t let go

shawn mendes - a little too much

ed sheeran - all of the stars

niall horan - flicker

sam smith - too good at goodbyes

coldplay - fix you

chord overstreet - hold on

ed sheeran - save myself

zara larsson - i can’t fall in love without you

kodaline - high hopes

the script - breakeven

ed sheeran - supermarket flowers

shawn mendes - roses

snow patrol - chasing cars

james arthur - safe inside

lewis capaldi - bruises

jaymes young - i’ll be good

camila cabello - i have questions

james tw - ex (acoustic)

shawn mendes - never be alone

blackbear - idfc

linkin park - one more light

one republic - let’s hurt tonight

fink - looking too closely

hozier - someone new

shawn mendes - life of the party

james arthur - certain things

lewis capaldi - fade

niall horan - this town

hurts - stay

shawn mendes - running low

austin percario - never be the same (camila cabello)

x ambassadors - unsteady

alfie arcuri - if they only knew

sam smith - lay me down

little mix, jason derulo - secret love song

harry styles - sign of the times

andreas bourani - auf anderen wegen

niall horan - too much to ask

family of the year - hero

ed sheeran - give me love

hozier - like real people do

austin percario - boys in the street

passenger - let her go

birdy - skinny love

zayn - fool for you

ed sheeran - happier

one direction - love you goodbye

linkin park - iridescent

shawn mendes - imagination

justin bieber - purpose

one direction - if i could fly

linkin park - nobody can save me

calum scott - dancing on my own

gnash, olivia o'brien - i hate u, i love u

ed sheeran - lego house

halsey - hopeless

kc rebell - ich brauch dich

russ - losin’ control

Awkward Sibling Hug

“Look, I’ve been thinking about it. I won’t be gone forever, okay? I’ll still visit you at home, and we’ll chat online. We’ll make it work.”

“I don’t want it to work… I just wish summer could last forever.”

“But it can’t, Mabel. Look, things aren’t gonna stay frozen this way. It’s part of growing up. Things change. Summer ends.”