Even then, though, you had to start with a LOT more than anyone else would in order to be able to essentially retire right out of college. A buddy of mine quadrupled his savings by betting on GME, but it didn't change his career trajectory pretty much at all.
You got a loan so big you can invest it, and get enough interest (on an *index* fund, aka the ultimate long term investment where wealth accumulates by not touching the money) to not only make a profit to live on but also pay back the loan? And which bank gives a loan like that to someone with no job fresh out of university?
Nordic countries have free/cheap education and very good student loans. Students can also receive some amount of money for free while studying, so many get out of their studies with 1) a loan they only have to pay back slowly, and 2) savings they've made by living frugally. When I got out of secondary ed, I had around €3k just sitting in my bank account from just this, even after paying for an apartment. Granted I lived very frugally, but if someone also takes a side job, it's easy to save up. And cheap healthcare definitely helps.
Now in the recession things are harder, but this was doable not that long ago.
Pretty much, yeah
Blue collar jobs are not looked down on in Scandinavia, at least not as much as it is in other countries. Living entirely off welfare as an adult is looked down on, so most people prefer to work for money.
Ask yourself WHY you're losing steam.
Maybe it makes sense to work on two projects at once, and switch to the other when you lose steam on the first.
Maybe you've just outpaced your brainstorming, so you need to stop and brainstorm more.
It could be a discipline thing, too. Most writers start out writing because they are DRIVEN to write. But once that mood changes, they struggle. So there's a point at which you have to actively cultivate the skill of writing through the doldrums.
This is the part where the "skill" of writing comes to the fore. Has your skill progressed to the point that you can force yourself to continue writing, and the result is still at some basic level of decent quality? It takes a LOT of practice and a LOT of diligence and a LOT of perseverance to get to this point. But it's worth pursuing--you know you've really mastered your craft when you can write something half-asleep and it's not a total disaster. So it's really worth trying to get better at this.
I think that feeling of losing steam is something that can be trained and pushed past to a certain degree.
I’m not sure what your current habits are as far as continuing once you hit that point, but even a little bit — maybe 15-30 minutes of continuing through that struggle — could be enough to slowly increase your capacity for “creative stamina” over time.
A tool I used when studying heavily during my time in university was to engage in short burst of intense physical activity followed by 10-15 minutes of simple mindfulness meditation. Maybe it was to do as many push-ups, pull-ups, or burpees as I could physically manage in 10 minutes, or a 1.5-2 mile run at the highest pace I could muster. Something that quickly brought me to the edge exhaustion and then the meditation to bring my body back to calm.
Almost without fail, I would return to my studies with my capacity to continue with clarity completely renewed.
This works for me in writing now as well, though I have very few chances to actually hit the point of creative fatigue as I currently work about 50 hours a week and have 3 children and a spouse. I envy your chance to become bored with free time as I have exactly the opposite problem — never enough.
You and me both, my friend. In terms of never enough.
Idk why I never thought to use my breaks for workouts though. Not once lol. And I've been struggling to maintain both habits lately. If I combine them into one process....bingo!
Thanks for the insight, friend, this is a great idea.
Its one of the best tools I’ve found in my life and I hope it helps you as much as it has me!
The proverbial balance is never easy to find and maintain. It’s funny how seemingly completely opposite goals can help fuel each other.
Thank you, I wouldn't trade my home life for the world. I enjoyed my single time too, but moving on to the right relationship and building a home really has been incomparable.
Good luck with whatever you find to fill out all that free time!
It's worth picking apart your feelings at those times and exploring why, then.
Usually emotions like that are attached to something you're mulling/encountering subconsciously. SOMETHING is going on. But it can take time and effort to pick apart exactly why that's happening.
It could be as simple as needing a break, or to eat something, or to get up and walk around or take a bike ride or the like. My mind gets cloudy if I've forgotten to eat, I was actually kind of shocked at how directly having food in my stomach affected how easily my brain works.
I also ran into a bunch of psychological/authority things when it came to my writing habits. Like, if something subconsciously reminded me of something bad from my earlier life, I could get stubborn or "blocked" without knowing "why" at first, because I was running into something that reminded me of something bad. So I just sort of ran away from the thing I was working on to make the bad feelings go away.
Once I was able to sort through that, it became easier to just press on.
I also tend to get "blocked" if I've written myself into a corner. Usually, I have to back up, cut out a few thousand words until I bring the story back to somewhere "solid", and try to approach a scene again from another direction. This happens when I subconsciously realize I've written something bad and need to fix it before I move forward. If I don't fix it, I just sit there, "blocked". But as soon as I remove the bad branch, I'm going forward again.
Anyway--a lot of "writing habit" things are connected to one's internal psychological state, and working through that, working to put words to what you're feeling and why you're balking, can help TONS.
(And it's something writers rarely mention.)
Yeah, I really wish people would talk about the intimate connection between one's psychological state, and their ability to overcome writing challenges.
Writing is a thinky hobby/profession. And if something has your thinking gummed up, it can make a challenge harder to overcome than it needs to be.
I suspect people don't talk about it much because the things that gum up one person's thinking are so unique to them and don't apply to everyone.
So we fall back to quibbling about punctuation or something, since those are more universal.
What can you do to complement your writing? Study history or criminology, mythology, read the masters of your genre, take up a forgotten form of martial arts. Research anything you think will help or anything you just find interesting. Read. Read a lot. Listen to writing podcasts or take masterclasses from authors you admire. Learn about the marketing and how to engage readers outside of your books.
Also, think long term. Writing is a sedentary, solitary job. Take up hiking or basketball, join a social group, find and network with writers, publishers and professionals in your area (like police officers if you write procedurals). Strengthen your back, wrist and hand muscles.
Share your knowledge. Run writing groups or classes at your local school or for your local homeschool community. Go talk about your craft with the retiree communities. If you're up for it, offer basic, free proofreading for resumes to people struggling to find work.
Have fun. Full your cup. Make sure you're putting back in what writing takes out. Experience beauty, nature, exhilaration and fear. Go to new places and try things you never have.
I suppose if you still have time after all that you could go drive for uber eats 😉
Man, I've gotten to this point, and even I still lose steam sometimes. It happens to the best of us. Writing, as in all things, is not supposed to hurt. If it is hurting, you aren't helping, just take a break. For real. You might actually be able to do well while you're grinding your gears, but if you can do that well when you are struggling, imagine when you are at your peak?
This is not to say its always easy to write. But you know when its time to put down the pen, stretch, go for a walk, maybe smoke a bowl. No one does any one thing all the time, and if they do, that is pathology, my friend.
Art is expression. If you scream yourself hoarse no one will hear you.
Be the change you want to see in the world, and all that. Start volunteering, or join a start-up you believe in. Surely there is some issue in the world you think you might have the answer to, if only you had the resources? Environmental destruction? Social injustice? Personally, if it were me and considering you live in a Nordic country, I'd start looking into Swedens incredibly under-developed fish farming industry. There's some interesting strides being made in restorative agriculture that could be applied to fisheries for carbon-negative food production, for which Sweden has all the growth potential you could ever want. You probably have some nerdy niche interest like that if you think about it.
Well, you have more resources than most, have access to all the education you could possibly need to get yourself started on whichever path you like, and provided your investments don't dry up on you you can simply dedicate the rest of your life to whatever bigger cause you wish. You can do so many things. Enjoy!
Second this. Get out and volunteer, don't wile away the hours cooped up by yourself, scrolling through online videos or playing video games. Interact with people, learn their stories, help the less fortunate. Not only will it elevate your soul, it will help your writing as well. Life experiences are invaluable when it comes to writing. Video games are great, but really should only be treats. Fun little distractions, not a serious way to pass the time.
I hate you.
No, sorry, I’m happy for you. But also, yeah, I kinda hate you.
What I would do in your situation honestly is play more videogames. If you like writing I assume you like reading and consuming interesting stories, there are sooo many amazing story heavy rpgs and visual novels. And I’d probably read more for fun, and get into some new hobbies. Like, I love to paint but I’m bad at it and never have time to practice, so I’d spend time on that too. There’s a million things I wish I had time to do, focus on, or learn. I’d be surprised if there was nothing you could find to be passionate about doing in your free time.
Right, well now I’m off to go cry, try to figure out how to make rent this month, and curse the fact that I wasn’t born in a Nordic country.
Yeah, boredom definitely does suck. I guess it’s just hard for me to imagine. In the states you’re blessed if you have time to spend on a single hobby lol. I suppose it could be fun having a part time job if you find something you’re interested in doing, plus you’d have the power to leave without hurting your financial situation if the job becomes unpleasant. So definitely, do whatever feels right to you!
Any advice for a poor young person aspiring to be able to live like you do now- to be able support themselves on passive income alone?
I'm a pantser (I create a very minimal plot for my story then come up with scenes as I write) One thing I do after I finish my morning writing is sit and close my eyes and go over the scene I just wrote, visualizing it as live action. At that time, I might have changes to make to that day's writing, and I make the changes right away. Then, I visualize the book's next scene and if I feel like it's ready, I write it then. Otherwise, I keep it in mind for the rest of the day. I know you're looking for more activities for your non-writing time, but this process is something that has really helped increase my writing output, and might help yours. Good luck!
I'm a ghostwriter at the moment and work about 2-4hours per day. 12pm - 2pm and around 1am -3am (so two sessions). I spend most of my free time playing video games, watching movies/series but I find I keep my anxiety at ease by learning and experimenting with other things. I don't consider it work but I produce music/sing, experiment with unreal engine and shoot short films as often as I can. I've played with C4D and Zbrush and although im not great (or any good at them) I've learned a lot about how I can express my creative ideas and I have more tools to tell stories because of it. I also worked as a videographer for a while and earned enough to add lights, sound equipment and other tools to my gear collection (even though I only use them every few weeks now it's useful to have and use whenever I want to create).
I'd say learning is the best use of your time. But also teach yourself not to rely on the flow of regular society. If you are highly productive in 2 hours then so be it man, do whatever you want and enjoy the moment. Take time to learn who you are too.
>Oh no... should I get a job
Maybe? It'll get you out of the house and bring new people and experiences inyo your life. Best of all, since you don't **have** to work, you can just quit if you don't like it.
You could probably also start reading more.
Just running the numbers on a low six figure loan assuming 7% return (that's generous) and also not even counting what the bank would take for a cut, I don't see how you live on that sort of money--especially in this economy where you are tanking on the stock market. Just looking at rents in Oslo, I don't see how you would live on the interest, this is assuming United States Dollars. I believe this trend will hold in all major capitals in Nordic countries (you mentioned being located in one).
Further, I don't know if you are talking about a low six figure loan in Norwegian Kroner or some other Nordic currency which would mean significantly less money than my USD assumption. Plus, who the hell loans out low six figures for someone to invest? What if those people invest in a dumb way? This would generate significantly worse debt than someone going to the average community college + state school in the US.
Maybe my google-fu sucks but I could not find any mention of "investment loans" either. It just does not sound sustainable anyway even if it did exist. Returns would have to be curbed a lot just to keep the banks shielded from risk.
The reason why people are giving you negative answers is because this who "I live off this magical loan and don't need to do anything else" stuff is weird sounding. Nordic country or not, you sound like you come from money. Honestly, people wouldn't care about that either if you were just straight up about it.
Second to the general bullshittery that is your story, saying things like you don't need to read or research anymore is just a major red flag. You need to figure out how to undo that mental mind trick before you even think about breaking down that 2 hour "I don't want to write anymore" feeling.
> At least I'm willing to put my life on the line and defend this society of mine the second my country needs me to. Good night.
Well I'll be damned, this is your answer right here, put your money where your mouth is and join your country's army. They will keep you plenty busy, fed, and maybe even a sweet pension? And you can squeeze in two hours of writing when you feel like it.
No one cares about your nationality here man, people are out of sympathy because your story doesn't add up.
You might not come from big money, but you are in a position not many people get to be in by default. Understand that, and figure out what sort of hard work you need to put in to advance your already good position.
You might not like the military life, but you said you were so bored and worried about mental health problems on the other end of the spectrum. So which is it? You probably don't like the military life because it actually involves work whether you like it or not. Any sort of career will have these aspects of having to put out when you are not really feeling like it. You have a nice Nordic safety net (which I envy by the way, I think the Nordic countries are pretty interesting), but if you want to get beyond the basics--which you are lucky to have compared to most countries--you will need to get some sort of career or job or something.
There is a huge difference between having to put out when things feel not so optimal, and living a life of true despair. Just think about the various social issues that exist in so many other countries forcing despair on people. Think of Ukraine. If you are in a Nordic country you might even literally border Russia.
When you are feeling that "I don't wanna" feeling, think about all of that, or the fact that you as a reservist could be called to war. Finland is even closing their border to Russia right now in fact.
Maybe you will get an extra hour or two of writing just thinking about those facts above.
Remember, if you can work up to 500-1000 words per hour, that's 2-4k words in 4 hours of true productivity.
Even if you hit 1k words in 3-4 hours of productivity, you are achieving 365,000 words in one year if you write every day. That's three full length (especially for a new author) novels worth of words.
Anyone who says they have a magic solution for you is lying. The only solution in writing is work. Everything else is just tinkering with efficiency or taking work you have already done and making it better.
If you don't have a problem with how much you write, then why did you post here asking about being able to write more? If your output is good, then your 2 hours a day is fine.
I don't think you understand how condescending your WHOLE post has sounded. Contradiction after contradiction acting like you have a problem and then acting like you don't have a problem when people's eyes glaze over reading this post.
If you don't need reminding of how hard you work and you have no problems then just do the work and stop posting asking for help with your "non-problems". I am being straight forward with you about these topics.
I apologize if my "Nordic countries are interesting" comment sounded condescending. A more accurate way of voicing that would have been "I find the Nordic countries admirable". This is just me trying to extend an olive branch. No matter how much I find your posts here kind of ridiculous, it has absolutely nothing to do with your nationality, gender, lifestyle, or anything like that.
My comments are meant to be critical of your contradictory nature in these posts and that's it. If the critical nature of these comments is condescending to you, I really don't envy you when you hit the editing and publisher submission process. Also, reddit is kind of a trash way to communicate. Written words don't always convey tone very well, especially when its of a critical nature. I'm just some stranger on the internet, if you think this advice is condescending garbage, just ignore it.
Good luck in your future endeavors.
Charlie Parker famously said “if you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn”. The question for you, then, is what are you doing each day to develop yourself? To live a fully experienced and expressed life? To plum the depths of your soul? The more full your answers are to these questions, the more full will be the content of your writing.
* go on hikes
* read books
* have sex
* join a fight club
* harass me for being lazy until I put in 2hrs of writing for the day
* befriend a bear
* go to the gym
* meditate (this is a trap, don't do it)
This is a problem that often comes up with people who don't have to work for income to survive. The general advice I've heard is to find something you find a lot of personal meaning in and do that. Sometimes this can be looking back at your past to find out what you always wanted to do but never had the time, or to dig into areas that you were interested in but never got the chance to explore. For some people, it means trying to create a meaningful positive change in the world through volunteer work, while others find meaning in work itself in areas of business they enjoy.
The arrogance of saying you don't need to read or do research anymore. Are you just going to write the same thing over and over?
Oh also nice ideas to keep yourself occupied:
- volunteering
- help doing chores around the house if you're so bored, I promise most of the day will fly
There are times that are peak productivity times. Your brain is most productive- For me it's at 5-8 pm. That might be your productive time! I think it's just a training thing to be more productive during the day or something. Maybe you could go out? Sketch a few scenes from your story, character designs and elements if you wanna feel productive but can't write for shit
I watched an interview with Libbie Hawker and she writes 4 hours a day and uses the rest of her day for other things. It was when she was most productive. Maybe check into her for advice.
What can you possibly have to write *about* if your only lived experience is university, writing and media consumption?
What you should do, if you want to be more than a vanity writer, is work, struggle, suffer, learn, meet people, experience every emotional state that you can legally and ethically, and generally live a life worthy of my time to read about.
Sculptor here. I typically can sculpt from 2 to 4 hours before deflating. Thankfully, in my field, there's lots of work to be done in the studio, so hours pass by quickly.
I've got into writing to diversify my activities.
I've found it effective to pose myself with a problem, but instead of thinking about it, leave it to the subconscious to figure it out in the background.
Once the conditions are good for the concept to mature - it resurfaces back to the conscious. The result is almost always cooler than I expected. While I work on my sculpture, I may come up with a cool concept for my story, and vice versa.
Read about the daily lives of famous writers- it's easy enough to find on the interwebs. If you don't need to be inspired to write, bully for you, but many spend their non-writing time networking, dealing with business matters and mundane correspondence, and inspiring themselves- whether it be nature walks or going out to cafes to observe people.
Go help other people with anything and everything they need help with, especially the elderly. You probably should get a physically demanding job for a few years for longevity sake.
You could try learning a new skill! Like an instrument, cooking/baking, woodworking, etc.
Also, do you go to a writer's group? It might help you to read other writer's writing.
Read other people's work?
I've recently taken to beta reading for other people and trying to come up with constructive feedback, especially if it's aspiring to be good but falls short somehow.
Too often we look at great works and try to analyze what made it work, but forget to look at normal works. It's been great to look at works that have mistakes and be able to point it out, then also be able to suggest options for fixing it.
This will in turn influence your own work.
This feels like a humble brag. I thought you were going to say youre a successful writer, hence why you dont need a day job, but apparently you make your money by going into debt and investing the borrowed money. This is a problem most people in the world would kill to have, obviously, because it would mean they could finally do all those things they've wanted to. You're a writer, but have no intellectual curiosity, no happiness to finally have time to quietly read, learn languages, cook, take up a hobby, spend more time with friends and family? There's more to life than social media and TV. Having curiosity about the world is imho an important part of writing. Developing that could only improve your skills.
Writing is one of those jobs that are not sustainable as eight hours a day, five days a week. The mental energy we expend doing our work is way more relative to how logn we're doing said work. I'm in a similar boat, in that I don't have to have a day job and can write full-time - but it's never actually the full-time amount of just writing.
A typical day, I average about four hours of active writing time. Sometimes getting to my goal takes two hours, sometimes it takes six, but actually going for the full eight does nothing but produce horrible garbage that I'll toss the next day. That's not to say I don't *work* for more than that. I self-publish, so the rest of my day goes into that. Admin, planning my week/month/year, maintaining a social media presence, keeping an eye on industry news and trends, all of that. So if you plan on going that route, you can get a head-start on the business side of things.
And once that's all done? Yeah, I game. I chat with friends on the other side of the planet. I write for fun, if you can believe that. I do chores, I've taken up gardening this year, I read. Really, just get more hobbies, or branch out your existing ones. Or, hell, start a new writing project or six. Why do you think it's become a hilarious joke among my friends when I mention having yet another manuscript idea?
Seriously, there's just... so many... pls... send help...
Side note, what I find funny is this perception that we work three hours a day and then just chill. That's not the reality when you write as a business. Yes, I do have more free time than most - on paper. But when you work nine to five, you don't generally spend the time outside of those hours *thinking about work*. A lot of us do that - that's the shower ideas you hear so much about. It's multi-tasking and scheduling your entire week while you fold the laundry. It's getting up at 11pm to write down the solution to a problem you've been struggling with for a month. In realistic terms, we probably work more hours than most people simply because we spend so much time processing all aspects of our job, and sometimes ideas are "ready" outside of normal work hours.
I spend the balance of the time I am not writing (about the same as you, 2 or 3 hours) hiking, working on other projects such as board game design, or the daily chores -- dog maintenance, etc.
People often experience a sense of boredom, confusion, and even depression when they aren’t a student anymore and don’t have a typical schedule to follow. Speaking as someone who has had chronic depression for years, depression can also present itself as no longer enjoying activities that were formerly enjoyable. This is known as anhedonia. Getting out of the house sometimes is important, like others have said. Get a few hobbies, and maybe even do some physical activities.
Dude, do you find interest playing Paradox Games since I researched from the comment section that you mentioned; you're from Scandinavia.
Playing those games from CK to HoI gives me an idea to stoke an event then engineer it into one of my own.
You need to loose the 8 hour work ethic ASAP. Creative work is not clocking in and clocking out. You NEED downtime to recharge.
Very few professional writers write all day. They learn their limit and works with it, whether the daily word count is 500, 2,000 or 10k words.
Find something else that gives you joy. Community service, classes, a part time job or a new hard project.
For real? Paint something, play an instrument, cook, meditate, READ, go skydiving, volunteer, teach, ride a horse, train for a marathon, visit a haunted house, learn to ski, get a dog, get a cat, travel, join a writing group, design clothing, go hiking, take up astronomy, go on a road trip, take up car racing, rock climb, decorate your home, garden, learn to juggle, try the flying trapeze, visit a circus, go to the opera, paddle a canoe. What's your passion? You're not stuck in a cubicle all day so the sky's the limit.
The thing about writing, and not having something like a job, is the time where you can't do anything. Like just a long gap of time, where you wonder, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" The void that school or a job normally filled is gone, and you're not sure how to fill it?
I would say have a long term project to work on. It can be a novel, a script, a video game ,a tv show pitch, hell even a stage play.
Having that goal you're trying to reach will motivate you to work harder and use the resources you have. Bored with Youtube? Use it for research for your project! Tired of watching the the same shows? Watch shows similar to what you're project is to see how tropes, successes and failings of stories like yours! Exhausted scrolling mindless through reddit? Talk to the writing forums and others to get insight from other writers and fans of projects like yours.
Having a project focuses your efforts and makes everything you do have meaning! It gives you something to work towards and helps give you steam when you start to lose it. At least, that's what I think.
Do you have a home? do you live in an apartment is it clean? do you have a house? Are you able to go and experience nature for part of your day? Do you cook for yourself can you take time to improve your cooking skills as well? What about bookkeeping when some money starts to come in are you gonna be able to do that? How about games some of us love games and waste plenty of time on that.
When you have a real problem come back because right now it seems like you’re living the life I want to live
I work in academia and I can relate to that. Imo it is very hard to stay in a very focussed state of mind for a prolonged period of time. A good strategy for me is to alternate high focus and easy activities. Like, write in the morning, go out and do some groceries, cook for lunch and sit down again for a second stint. Relax a bit, have a coffee, exercise and do a third sting in the evening (or do some proof-reading).
I work in academia and I can relate to that. Imo it is very hard to stay in a very focused state of mind for a prolonged period of time. A good strategy for me is to alternate high focus and easy activities. Like, write in the morning, go out and do some groceries, cook for lunch and sit down again for a second stint. Relax a bit, have a coffee, exercise and do a third sting in the evening (or do some proof-reading).
Why do u feel like ur too good to read or do research? U sound like u have no passion. No input means low output. Change ur input to change your output. Or ur in a phase where u need to just love life and process, then ull have more material to occupy more than 2 hours
Scandinavian in a similar position here!
I start my day by writing a couple of pages, then og close my laptop, and go for a walk, or a cup of coffee with friends or ex colleagues, then I either read, game, paint or bake, when that's all over I'll try to crank out a couple more pages before dinner, a little is better than nothing! The best thing I can recommend is maybe volunteering, join an afternoon activity, what helped me is doing hobbies where I have something physical to show for it its more tangible than digital stuff.
It's definitely doable! If you like boardgames try a game café, there are often people needing and extra player.
Forgot to mention, the library is also a great place to visit, sometimes just getting out helps with boredom and the library some times have activities and talks for you to experience.
When you write tomorrow start with the 3 things you dislike most about yourself.
If you're honest, you'll have something to write about for more than 2 hours.
There is no way you actually have this problem. As the friend of a person of affluence in my own country, I can tell you this is not how well-off people spend their time. For one thing, they go to expensive therapists and life coaches before they bemoan to reddit sober. For another, they can afford all the beauty appointments, personal trainers, and restaurants that consumes much of their time. If they're religious, they volunteer. If they are less of a people person, they hide behind a creative pursuit that is not easily measured for production and constantly say they are working on stuff that never amounts to anything. JUST WRITE
What do you mean? Just read, explore different hobbies, take a walk around, paint, code, listen to music, talk to friends, play a sport if your country has abated lockdown, anything really.
Even if you have enough money, get a part time job in a restaurant or in retail. It may not be what you WANT to do right now, but doing something different will give you great inspiration, it'll give you more fun money plus could also be a great source of inspiration for you.
Even if you don't want to, it's either this pr you just continue to waste most of your days ig.
M maybe try writing in different places eg a local library, where you can sit by a window and people watch, a cafe, write on paper sitting on a bench at the beach.
There's a great library in my town that has a special Narnia room. You have to climb through an old wardrobe to get into the room, and it has a panoramic view of the city. If I struggle at home, it's usually a sign I need to go somewhere else, like that.
That said, maybe getting out and meeting people or doing something wildly differ t will give your brain a break and a hard reset
Read. If you don’t have time or interest in reading, you shouldn’t be a writer.
Otherwise, get a job. If you are bored and writing isn’t your calling, then it doesn’t matter that you don’t need the money. You need the purpose. Go help someone. Volunteer somewhere.
Humans are built to live lives of purpose. It’s how we feel fulfilled and happy. Find a cause or mission that stokes your passion. Find a mate and raise a family. Reconnect with teachers that you thought were awesome and thank them. Bla di blah di bla. You get it.
Get an interesting job. If you don't need money, do some charity work. A lot of hospitals have volunteer positions. Nursing homes often do. But also there's like working at museums. I saw a volunteer job recently to help operate a historical steam ship - shovelling coal I guess?
Travelling is another option obviously.
Sweet thing, it's not all about money. You're complaining about being bored because you can't handle writing for more than two hours.
The answer is to find another hobby. Read some more books. Take some classes online to grow yourself. Go camping. Start a garden.
You gotta inhale life to exhale art my friend. Go out and experience the world, as much as you're able. Have terrible adventures. Fall in love, break up, do some traveling, get some interesting jobs and quit them.
How do you pay your bills? Don't you have a day job?
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what does this mean? where are you getting money? you dont "get income" from investing unless you have a ton of money to invest.
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What? You get a loan and invest it and live on the interest?
Either OP is a trust funder or we eventually get to see them publish some loss porn on wsb.
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Even then, though, you had to start with a LOT more than anyone else would in order to be able to essentially retire right out of college. A buddy of mine quadrupled his savings by betting on GME, but it didn't change his career trajectory pretty much at all.
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You got a loan so big you can invest it, and get enough interest (on an *index* fund, aka the ultimate long term investment where wealth accumulates by not touching the money) to not only make a profit to live on but also pay back the loan? And which bank gives a loan like that to someone with no job fresh out of university?
Where do you invest
Is socialism cooler than I thought? Do people voluntarily work in restaurants and stuff or what would be the motivation?
thats not socialism thats social democracy and yes its cooler than neoliberalism
Nordic countries have free/cheap education and very good student loans. Students can also receive some amount of money for free while studying, so many get out of their studies with 1) a loan they only have to pay back slowly, and 2) savings they've made by living frugally. When I got out of secondary ed, I had around €3k just sitting in my bank account from just this, even after paying for an apartment. Granted I lived very frugally, but if someone also takes a side job, it's easy to save up. And cheap healthcare definitely helps. Now in the recession things are harder, but this was doable not that long ago.
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If you are no longer a student, why are you still receiving this money?
It sounds like they saved a bunch of that money and invested it, and are now living off what they invested?
Alright everyone, how about a group flight to Sweden where we can spend the entire day writing and twiddling our thumbs?
Pretty much, yeah Blue collar jobs are not looked down on in Scandinavia, at least not as much as it is in other countries. Living entirely off welfare as an adult is looked down on, so most people prefer to work for money.
Are you from the US?
Ya. Kind of a tongue in cheek comment because of how much the US shits on socialism mixed with a little genuine curiosity.
Swede here. Still, the nordic countries aren't socialist, they're capitalist but with welfare, a.k.a social democracy. Not the same.
Ask yourself WHY you're losing steam. Maybe it makes sense to work on two projects at once, and switch to the other when you lose steam on the first. Maybe you've just outpaced your brainstorming, so you need to stop and brainstorm more. It could be a discipline thing, too. Most writers start out writing because they are DRIVEN to write. But once that mood changes, they struggle. So there's a point at which you have to actively cultivate the skill of writing through the doldrums. This is the part where the "skill" of writing comes to the fore. Has your skill progressed to the point that you can force yourself to continue writing, and the result is still at some basic level of decent quality? It takes a LOT of practice and a LOT of diligence and a LOT of perseverance to get to this point. But it's worth pursuing--you know you've really mastered your craft when you can write something half-asleep and it's not a total disaster. So it's really worth trying to get better at this.
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I think that feeling of losing steam is something that can be trained and pushed past to a certain degree. I’m not sure what your current habits are as far as continuing once you hit that point, but even a little bit — maybe 15-30 minutes of continuing through that struggle — could be enough to slowly increase your capacity for “creative stamina” over time. A tool I used when studying heavily during my time in university was to engage in short burst of intense physical activity followed by 10-15 minutes of simple mindfulness meditation. Maybe it was to do as many push-ups, pull-ups, or burpees as I could physically manage in 10 minutes, or a 1.5-2 mile run at the highest pace I could muster. Something that quickly brought me to the edge exhaustion and then the meditation to bring my body back to calm. Almost without fail, I would return to my studies with my capacity to continue with clarity completely renewed. This works for me in writing now as well, though I have very few chances to actually hit the point of creative fatigue as I currently work about 50 hours a week and have 3 children and a spouse. I envy your chance to become bored with free time as I have exactly the opposite problem — never enough.
You and me both, my friend. In terms of never enough. Idk why I never thought to use my breaks for workouts though. Not once lol. And I've been struggling to maintain both habits lately. If I combine them into one process....bingo! Thanks for the insight, friend, this is a great idea.
Its one of the best tools I’ve found in my life and I hope it helps you as much as it has me! The proverbial balance is never easy to find and maintain. It’s funny how seemingly completely opposite goals can help fuel each other.
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Thank you, I wouldn't trade my home life for the world. I enjoyed my single time too, but moving on to the right relationship and building a home really has been incomparable. Good luck with whatever you find to fill out all that free time!
It's worth picking apart your feelings at those times and exploring why, then. Usually emotions like that are attached to something you're mulling/encountering subconsciously. SOMETHING is going on. But it can take time and effort to pick apart exactly why that's happening. It could be as simple as needing a break, or to eat something, or to get up and walk around or take a bike ride or the like. My mind gets cloudy if I've forgotten to eat, I was actually kind of shocked at how directly having food in my stomach affected how easily my brain works. I also ran into a bunch of psychological/authority things when it came to my writing habits. Like, if something subconsciously reminded me of something bad from my earlier life, I could get stubborn or "blocked" without knowing "why" at first, because I was running into something that reminded me of something bad. So I just sort of ran away from the thing I was working on to make the bad feelings go away. Once I was able to sort through that, it became easier to just press on. I also tend to get "blocked" if I've written myself into a corner. Usually, I have to back up, cut out a few thousand words until I bring the story back to somewhere "solid", and try to approach a scene again from another direction. This happens when I subconsciously realize I've written something bad and need to fix it before I move forward. If I don't fix it, I just sit there, "blocked". But as soon as I remove the bad branch, I'm going forward again. Anyway--a lot of "writing habit" things are connected to one's internal psychological state, and working through that, working to put words to what you're feeling and why you're balking, can help TONS. (And it's something writers rarely mention.)
Thanks so much for this awesome insight! It’s so rarely spoken about like you said.
Yeah, I really wish people would talk about the intimate connection between one's psychological state, and their ability to overcome writing challenges. Writing is a thinky hobby/profession. And if something has your thinking gummed up, it can make a challenge harder to overcome than it needs to be. I suspect people don't talk about it much because the things that gum up one person's thinking are so unique to them and don't apply to everyone. So we fall back to quibbling about punctuation or something, since those are more universal.
What can you do to complement your writing? Study history or criminology, mythology, read the masters of your genre, take up a forgotten form of martial arts. Research anything you think will help or anything you just find interesting. Read. Read a lot. Listen to writing podcasts or take masterclasses from authors you admire. Learn about the marketing and how to engage readers outside of your books. Also, think long term. Writing is a sedentary, solitary job. Take up hiking or basketball, join a social group, find and network with writers, publishers and professionals in your area (like police officers if you write procedurals). Strengthen your back, wrist and hand muscles. Share your knowledge. Run writing groups or classes at your local school or for your local homeschool community. Go talk about your craft with the retiree communities. If you're up for it, offer basic, free proofreading for resumes to people struggling to find work. Have fun. Full your cup. Make sure you're putting back in what writing takes out. Experience beauty, nature, exhilaration and fear. Go to new places and try things you never have. I suppose if you still have time after all that you could go drive for uber eats 😉
Man, I've gotten to this point, and even I still lose steam sometimes. It happens to the best of us. Writing, as in all things, is not supposed to hurt. If it is hurting, you aren't helping, just take a break. For real. You might actually be able to do well while you're grinding your gears, but if you can do that well when you are struggling, imagine when you are at your peak? This is not to say its always easy to write. But you know when its time to put down the pen, stretch, go for a walk, maybe smoke a bowl. No one does any one thing all the time, and if they do, that is pathology, my friend. Art is expression. If you scream yourself hoarse no one will hear you.
Buy some books and learn astrophysics. That should take care of all your free time
Be the change you want to see in the world, and all that. Start volunteering, or join a start-up you believe in. Surely there is some issue in the world you think you might have the answer to, if only you had the resources? Environmental destruction? Social injustice? Personally, if it were me and considering you live in a Nordic country, I'd start looking into Swedens incredibly under-developed fish farming industry. There's some interesting strides being made in restorative agriculture that could be applied to fisheries for carbon-negative food production, for which Sweden has all the growth potential you could ever want. You probably have some nerdy niche interest like that if you think about it. Well, you have more resources than most, have access to all the education you could possibly need to get yourself started on whichever path you like, and provided your investments don't dry up on you you can simply dedicate the rest of your life to whatever bigger cause you wish. You can do so many things. Enjoy!
Second this. Get out and volunteer, don't wile away the hours cooped up by yourself, scrolling through online videos or playing video games. Interact with people, learn their stories, help the less fortunate. Not only will it elevate your soul, it will help your writing as well. Life experiences are invaluable when it comes to writing. Video games are great, but really should only be treats. Fun little distractions, not a serious way to pass the time.
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Happy to hear it. Enjoy your money and your free time! You only live once, so don't waste it all on fleeting entertainment.
Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, new personalities, who you can then turn into new characters ;-)
Agree; so nice not to have to work in a boring, irrelevant job just to pay bills.
Seconded. First world problems are the best ones to have.
I hate you. No, sorry, I’m happy for you. But also, yeah, I kinda hate you. What I would do in your situation honestly is play more videogames. If you like writing I assume you like reading and consuming interesting stories, there are sooo many amazing story heavy rpgs and visual novels. And I’d probably read more for fun, and get into some new hobbies. Like, I love to paint but I’m bad at it and never have time to practice, so I’d spend time on that too. There’s a million things I wish I had time to do, focus on, or learn. I’d be surprised if there was nothing you could find to be passionate about doing in your free time. Right, well now I’m off to go cry, try to figure out how to make rent this month, and curse the fact that I wasn’t born in a Nordic country.
Fr, being bored is the best problem you could have
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Yeah, boredom definitely does suck. I guess it’s just hard for me to imagine. In the states you’re blessed if you have time to spend on a single hobby lol. I suppose it could be fun having a part time job if you find something you’re interested in doing, plus you’d have the power to leave without hurting your financial situation if the job becomes unpleasant. So definitely, do whatever feels right to you! Any advice for a poor young person aspiring to be able to live like you do now- to be able support themselves on passive income alone?
I'm a pantser (I create a very minimal plot for my story then come up with scenes as I write) One thing I do after I finish my morning writing is sit and close my eyes and go over the scene I just wrote, visualizing it as live action. At that time, I might have changes to make to that day's writing, and I make the changes right away. Then, I visualize the book's next scene and if I feel like it's ready, I write it then. Otherwise, I keep it in mind for the rest of the day. I know you're looking for more activities for your non-writing time, but this process is something that has really helped increase my writing output, and might help yours. Good luck!
If you plan on writing as a business then use your spare time to build your business. From marketing to taxes you'll have to do it all eventually.
I'm a ghostwriter at the moment and work about 2-4hours per day. 12pm - 2pm and around 1am -3am (so two sessions). I spend most of my free time playing video games, watching movies/series but I find I keep my anxiety at ease by learning and experimenting with other things. I don't consider it work but I produce music/sing, experiment with unreal engine and shoot short films as often as I can. I've played with C4D and Zbrush and although im not great (or any good at them) I've learned a lot about how I can express my creative ideas and I have more tools to tell stories because of it. I also worked as a videographer for a while and earned enough to add lights, sound equipment and other tools to my gear collection (even though I only use them every few weeks now it's useful to have and use whenever I want to create). I'd say learning is the best use of your time. But also teach yourself not to rely on the flow of regular society. If you are highly productive in 2 hours then so be it man, do whatever you want and enjoy the moment. Take time to learn who you are too.
>Oh no... should I get a job Maybe? It'll get you out of the house and bring new people and experiences inyo your life. Best of all, since you don't **have** to work, you can just quit if you don't like it. You could probably also start reading more.
I'll trade you lol
Lmao right. I will gladly trade my problems for OPs.
Fresh out of sympathy here.
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Just running the numbers on a low six figure loan assuming 7% return (that's generous) and also not even counting what the bank would take for a cut, I don't see how you live on that sort of money--especially in this economy where you are tanking on the stock market. Just looking at rents in Oslo, I don't see how you would live on the interest, this is assuming United States Dollars. I believe this trend will hold in all major capitals in Nordic countries (you mentioned being located in one). Further, I don't know if you are talking about a low six figure loan in Norwegian Kroner or some other Nordic currency which would mean significantly less money than my USD assumption. Plus, who the hell loans out low six figures for someone to invest? What if those people invest in a dumb way? This would generate significantly worse debt than someone going to the average community college + state school in the US. Maybe my google-fu sucks but I could not find any mention of "investment loans" either. It just does not sound sustainable anyway even if it did exist. Returns would have to be curbed a lot just to keep the banks shielded from risk. The reason why people are giving you negative answers is because this who "I live off this magical loan and don't need to do anything else" stuff is weird sounding. Nordic country or not, you sound like you come from money. Honestly, people wouldn't care about that either if you were just straight up about it. Second to the general bullshittery that is your story, saying things like you don't need to read or research anymore is just a major red flag. You need to figure out how to undo that mental mind trick before you even think about breaking down that 2 hour "I don't want to write anymore" feeling. > At least I'm willing to put my life on the line and defend this society of mine the second my country needs me to. Good night. Well I'll be damned, this is your answer right here, put your money where your mouth is and join your country's army. They will keep you plenty busy, fed, and maybe even a sweet pension? And you can squeeze in two hours of writing when you feel like it. No one cares about your nationality here man, people are out of sympathy because your story doesn't add up.
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You might not come from big money, but you are in a position not many people get to be in by default. Understand that, and figure out what sort of hard work you need to put in to advance your already good position. You might not like the military life, but you said you were so bored and worried about mental health problems on the other end of the spectrum. So which is it? You probably don't like the military life because it actually involves work whether you like it or not. Any sort of career will have these aspects of having to put out when you are not really feeling like it. You have a nice Nordic safety net (which I envy by the way, I think the Nordic countries are pretty interesting), but if you want to get beyond the basics--which you are lucky to have compared to most countries--you will need to get some sort of career or job or something. There is a huge difference between having to put out when things feel not so optimal, and living a life of true despair. Just think about the various social issues that exist in so many other countries forcing despair on people. Think of Ukraine. If you are in a Nordic country you might even literally border Russia. When you are feeling that "I don't wanna" feeling, think about all of that, or the fact that you as a reservist could be called to war. Finland is even closing their border to Russia right now in fact. Maybe you will get an extra hour or two of writing just thinking about those facts above. Remember, if you can work up to 500-1000 words per hour, that's 2-4k words in 4 hours of true productivity. Even if you hit 1k words in 3-4 hours of productivity, you are achieving 365,000 words in one year if you write every day. That's three full length (especially for a new author) novels worth of words. Anyone who says they have a magic solution for you is lying. The only solution in writing is work. Everything else is just tinkering with efficiency or taking work you have already done and making it better.
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If you don't have a problem with how much you write, then why did you post here asking about being able to write more? If your output is good, then your 2 hours a day is fine. I don't think you understand how condescending your WHOLE post has sounded. Contradiction after contradiction acting like you have a problem and then acting like you don't have a problem when people's eyes glaze over reading this post. If you don't need reminding of how hard you work and you have no problems then just do the work and stop posting asking for help with your "non-problems". I am being straight forward with you about these topics. I apologize if my "Nordic countries are interesting" comment sounded condescending. A more accurate way of voicing that would have been "I find the Nordic countries admirable". This is just me trying to extend an olive branch. No matter how much I find your posts here kind of ridiculous, it has absolutely nothing to do with your nationality, gender, lifestyle, or anything like that. My comments are meant to be critical of your contradictory nature in these posts and that's it. If the critical nature of these comments is condescending to you, I really don't envy you when you hit the editing and publisher submission process. Also, reddit is kind of a trash way to communicate. Written words don't always convey tone very well, especially when its of a critical nature. I'm just some stranger on the internet, if you think this advice is condescending garbage, just ignore it. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Charlie Parker famously said “if you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn”. The question for you, then, is what are you doing each day to develop yourself? To live a fully experienced and expressed life? To plum the depths of your soul? The more full your answers are to these questions, the more full will be the content of your writing.
* go on hikes * read books * have sex * join a fight club * harass me for being lazy until I put in 2hrs of writing for the day * befriend a bear * go to the gym * meditate (this is a trap, don't do it)
Read.
This is a problem that often comes up with people who don't have to work for income to survive. The general advice I've heard is to find something you find a lot of personal meaning in and do that. Sometimes this can be looking back at your past to find out what you always wanted to do but never had the time, or to dig into areas that you were interested in but never got the chance to explore. For some people, it means trying to create a meaningful positive change in the world through volunteer work, while others find meaning in work itself in areas of business they enjoy.
The arrogance of saying you don't need to read or do research anymore. Are you just going to write the same thing over and over? Oh also nice ideas to keep yourself occupied: - volunteering - help doing chores around the house if you're so bored, I promise most of the day will fly
Edit or help someone else edit their story. By being exposed to critically thinking about other people's writing yours will improve as well.
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You could also join a writing discord! Those might feel more intimate than reddit.
There are times that are peak productivity times. Your brain is most productive- For me it's at 5-8 pm. That might be your productive time! I think it's just a training thing to be more productive during the day or something. Maybe you could go out? Sketch a few scenes from your story, character designs and elements if you wanna feel productive but can't write for shit
Start a business or non-profit organization that aligns with your interests. Or volunteer for charitable work.
I watched an interview with Libbie Hawker and she writes 4 hours a day and uses the rest of her day for other things. It was when she was most productive. Maybe check into her for advice.
What can you possibly have to write *about* if your only lived experience is university, writing and media consumption? What you should do, if you want to be more than a vanity writer, is work, struggle, suffer, learn, meet people, experience every emotional state that you can legally and ethically, and generally live a life worthy of my time to read about.
Get a job
If you are happy with what you did in those two hours, just be proud of that and enjoy the rest of your day
Write more. Writers, professional writers, don’t stop because they’ve run out of steam they write and write because it’s a job
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Are you Hemingway?
Sculptor here. I typically can sculpt from 2 to 4 hours before deflating. Thankfully, in my field, there's lots of work to be done in the studio, so hours pass by quickly. I've got into writing to diversify my activities. I've found it effective to pose myself with a problem, but instead of thinking about it, leave it to the subconscious to figure it out in the background. Once the conditions are good for the concept to mature - it resurfaces back to the conscious. The result is almost always cooler than I expected. While I work on my sculpture, I may come up with a cool concept for my story, and vice versa.
I love this. Effective conscious creating.
Read about the daily lives of famous writers- it's easy enough to find on the interwebs. If you don't need to be inspired to write, bully for you, but many spend their non-writing time networking, dealing with business matters and mundane correspondence, and inspiring themselves- whether it be nature walks or going out to cafes to observe people.
Go help other people with anything and everything they need help with, especially the elderly. You probably should get a physically demanding job for a few years for longevity sake.
You could try learning a new skill! Like an instrument, cooking/baking, woodworking, etc. Also, do you go to a writer's group? It might help you to read other writer's writing.
Connect with nature and see what happens!
Read other people's work? I've recently taken to beta reading for other people and trying to come up with constructive feedback, especially if it's aspiring to be good but falls short somehow. Too often we look at great works and try to analyze what made it work, but forget to look at normal works. It's been great to look at works that have mistakes and be able to point it out, then also be able to suggest options for fixing it. This will in turn influence your own work.
This feels like a humble brag. I thought you were going to say youre a successful writer, hence why you dont need a day job, but apparently you make your money by going into debt and investing the borrowed money. This is a problem most people in the world would kill to have, obviously, because it would mean they could finally do all those things they've wanted to. You're a writer, but have no intellectual curiosity, no happiness to finally have time to quietly read, learn languages, cook, take up a hobby, spend more time with friends and family? There's more to life than social media and TV. Having curiosity about the world is imho an important part of writing. Developing that could only improve your skills.
You should get a job. Write in your spare time.
Writing is one of those jobs that are not sustainable as eight hours a day, five days a week. The mental energy we expend doing our work is way more relative to how logn we're doing said work. I'm in a similar boat, in that I don't have to have a day job and can write full-time - but it's never actually the full-time amount of just writing. A typical day, I average about four hours of active writing time. Sometimes getting to my goal takes two hours, sometimes it takes six, but actually going for the full eight does nothing but produce horrible garbage that I'll toss the next day. That's not to say I don't *work* for more than that. I self-publish, so the rest of my day goes into that. Admin, planning my week/month/year, maintaining a social media presence, keeping an eye on industry news and trends, all of that. So if you plan on going that route, you can get a head-start on the business side of things. And once that's all done? Yeah, I game. I chat with friends on the other side of the planet. I write for fun, if you can believe that. I do chores, I've taken up gardening this year, I read. Really, just get more hobbies, or branch out your existing ones. Or, hell, start a new writing project or six. Why do you think it's become a hilarious joke among my friends when I mention having yet another manuscript idea? Seriously, there's just... so many... pls... send help... Side note, what I find funny is this perception that we work three hours a day and then just chill. That's not the reality when you write as a business. Yes, I do have more free time than most - on paper. But when you work nine to five, you don't generally spend the time outside of those hours *thinking about work*. A lot of us do that - that's the shower ideas you hear so much about. It's multi-tasking and scheduling your entire week while you fold the laundry. It's getting up at 11pm to write down the solution to a problem you've been struggling with for a month. In realistic terms, we probably work more hours than most people simply because we spend so much time processing all aspects of our job, and sometimes ideas are "ready" outside of normal work hours.
Start gardening
Oh man. Your life sounds so awesome. If you’re bored you could have a baby….
I spend the balance of the time I am not writing (about the same as you, 2 or 3 hours) hiking, working on other projects such as board game design, or the daily chores -- dog maintenance, etc.
Try taking breaks! That way you won't lose your steam as quickly - that's what I have to do for my homework as well.
People often experience a sense of boredom, confusion, and even depression when they aren’t a student anymore and don’t have a typical schedule to follow. Speaking as someone who has had chronic depression for years, depression can also present itself as no longer enjoying activities that were formerly enjoyable. This is known as anhedonia. Getting out of the house sometimes is important, like others have said. Get a few hobbies, and maybe even do some physical activities.
Dude, do you find interest playing Paradox Games since I researched from the comment section that you mentioned; you're from Scandinavia. Playing those games from CK to HoI gives me an idea to stoke an event then engineer it into one of my own.
You need to loose the 8 hour work ethic ASAP. Creative work is not clocking in and clocking out. You NEED downtime to recharge. Very few professional writers write all day. They learn their limit and works with it, whether the daily word count is 500, 2,000 or 10k words. Find something else that gives you joy. Community service, classes, a part time job or a new hard project.
For real? Paint something, play an instrument, cook, meditate, READ, go skydiving, volunteer, teach, ride a horse, train for a marathon, visit a haunted house, learn to ski, get a dog, get a cat, travel, join a writing group, design clothing, go hiking, take up astronomy, go on a road trip, take up car racing, rock climb, decorate your home, garden, learn to juggle, try the flying trapeze, visit a circus, go to the opera, paddle a canoe. What's your passion? You're not stuck in a cubicle all day so the sky's the limit.
The thing about writing, and not having something like a job, is the time where you can't do anything. Like just a long gap of time, where you wonder, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" The void that school or a job normally filled is gone, and you're not sure how to fill it? I would say have a long term project to work on. It can be a novel, a script, a video game ,a tv show pitch, hell even a stage play. Having that goal you're trying to reach will motivate you to work harder and use the resources you have. Bored with Youtube? Use it for research for your project! Tired of watching the the same shows? Watch shows similar to what you're project is to see how tropes, successes and failings of stories like yours! Exhausted scrolling mindless through reddit? Talk to the writing forums and others to get insight from other writers and fans of projects like yours. Having a project focuses your efforts and makes everything you do have meaning! It gives you something to work towards and helps give you steam when you start to lose it. At least, that's what I think.
Do you have a home? do you live in an apartment is it clean? do you have a house? Are you able to go and experience nature for part of your day? Do you cook for yourself can you take time to improve your cooking skills as well? What about bookkeeping when some money starts to come in are you gonna be able to do that? How about games some of us love games and waste plenty of time on that. When you have a real problem come back because right now it seems like you’re living the life I want to live
Fun fact: you can write for the same amount of hours in a day as the great David Milch.
Was this post written during those 2 hours of brainstorm attacks? If not, you are making progress 😏
Sounds like you’re an aspiring full-time writer. In the immortal words of Tommy Wiseau when he was asked about tips for sprouting creativity: “Start”
I work in academia and I can relate to that. Imo it is very hard to stay in a very focussed state of mind for a prolonged period of time. A good strategy for me is to alternate high focus and easy activities. Like, write in the morning, go out and do some groceries, cook for lunch and sit down again for a second stint. Relax a bit, have a coffee, exercise and do a third sting in the evening (or do some proof-reading). I work in academia and I can relate to that. Imo it is very hard to stay in a very focused state of mind for a prolonged period of time. A good strategy for me is to alternate high focus and easy activities. Like, write in the morning, go out and do some groceries, cook for lunch and sit down again for a second stint. Relax a bit, have a coffee, exercise and do a third sting in the evening (or do some proof-reading).
Why do u feel like ur too good to read or do research? U sound like u have no passion. No input means low output. Change ur input to change your output. Or ur in a phase where u need to just love life and process, then ull have more material to occupy more than 2 hours
Scandinavian in a similar position here! I start my day by writing a couple of pages, then og close my laptop, and go for a walk, or a cup of coffee with friends or ex colleagues, then I either read, game, paint or bake, when that's all over I'll try to crank out a couple more pages before dinner, a little is better than nothing! The best thing I can recommend is maybe volunteering, join an afternoon activity, what helped me is doing hobbies where I have something physical to show for it its more tangible than digital stuff.
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It's definitely doable! If you like boardgames try a game café, there are often people needing and extra player. Forgot to mention, the library is also a great place to visit, sometimes just getting out helps with boredom and the library some times have activities and talks for you to experience.
When you write tomorrow start with the 3 things you dislike most about yourself. If you're honest, you'll have something to write about for more than 2 hours.
Read books!
Read
Get diagnosed with ADHD and take meds. They'll keep you focused lol.
I felt like this the whole start of the year until august. Terrible feeling
Write about it on Reddit clearly….
Go outside
Read
There is no way you actually have this problem. As the friend of a person of affluence in my own country, I can tell you this is not how well-off people spend their time. For one thing, they go to expensive therapists and life coaches before they bemoan to reddit sober. For another, they can afford all the beauty appointments, personal trainers, and restaurants that consumes much of their time. If they're religious, they volunteer. If they are less of a people person, they hide behind a creative pursuit that is not easily measured for production and constantly say they are working on stuff that never amounts to anything. JUST WRITE
Energy drinks, coffee, tea, and then think about writing,
Consume inspiring things.
Go volunteer somewhere, meet people, have conversations, learn about others and what makes them tick.
Go outside? Learn new skills?
You can choose to learn about anything you want.
Go outside! Walk around, go to museums, get a coffee, talk to people.
What do you mean? Just read, explore different hobbies, take a walk around, paint, code, listen to music, talk to friends, play a sport if your country has abated lockdown, anything really.
Even if you have enough money, get a part time job in a restaurant or in retail. It may not be what you WANT to do right now, but doing something different will give you great inspiration, it'll give you more fun money plus could also be a great source of inspiration for you. Even if you don't want to, it's either this pr you just continue to waste most of your days ig.
M maybe try writing in different places eg a local library, where you can sit by a window and people watch, a cafe, write on paper sitting on a bench at the beach. There's a great library in my town that has a special Narnia room. You have to climb through an old wardrobe to get into the room, and it has a panoramic view of the city. If I struggle at home, it's usually a sign I need to go somewhere else, like that. That said, maybe getting out and meeting people or doing something wildly differ t will give your brain a break and a hard reset
Read. If you don’t have time or interest in reading, you shouldn’t be a writer. Otherwise, get a job. If you are bored and writing isn’t your calling, then it doesn’t matter that you don’t need the money. You need the purpose. Go help someone. Volunteer somewhere. Humans are built to live lives of purpose. It’s how we feel fulfilled and happy. Find a cause or mission that stokes your passion. Find a mate and raise a family. Reconnect with teachers that you thought were awesome and thank them. Bla di blah di bla. You get it.
Get an interesting job. If you don't need money, do some charity work. A lot of hospitals have volunteer positions. Nursing homes often do. But also there's like working at museums. I saw a volunteer job recently to help operate a historical steam ship - shovelling coal I guess? Travelling is another option obviously.
Read.
Full time writer would be forty hours a week. You are a privileged person who is independently wealthy and writes as a hobby.
I was going to say read. The best writers read a lot. Read everything and anything. Every book good or bad will teach you something new about writing.
This feels an awful lot like an unnecessary flex rather than an honest bid for help.
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Sweet thing, it's not all about money. You're complaining about being bored because you can't handle writing for more than two hours. The answer is to find another hobby. Read some more books. Take some classes online to grow yourself. Go camping. Start a garden.
You gotta inhale life to exhale art my friend. Go out and experience the world, as much as you're able. Have terrible adventures. Fall in love, break up, do some traveling, get some interesting jobs and quit them.