Blogocentric Formulations

Current Frustration

Prompt ▼

What is a current frustration you have?

I came across this blog prompt tonight and it's the perfect question because I'm currently frustrated with my writing output. This is another NaNoWriMo where I've failed to write much, in a year where I haven't written much, in a season where I haven't written much.

You know the saying, you never forget how to ride a bike? I'm not much of a cyclist and a few years back, I decided to try riding again after more than a decade without ever getting on a bike. And even though it's true, I didn't actually forget how to ride, I sure as hell was out of practice, wobbling away and desperately trying to keep my balance at a speed I can only describe as embarrassingly slow.

Ever since then, I've had a new perspective on my various skills. I haven't necessarily forgotten how to do anything, but I do get out of practice at things I don't regularly maintain. I'm out of shape physically, and I'm out of shape as a writer, because I haven't devoted the time or focus to maintaining my abilities.

All that I've accepted.

The frustrating part for me is that I haven't really found anything that's worked to get me back into practice. I join activities like "I Write: Enter the Second Decade"  (which I'm writing this blog post for) in hopes that the regular writing will help me shake the rust off, but so far nothing has helped me regain that spark I used to have for writing. Maybe it's just the phase of life I'm in now, as a father with a demanding day job who's still grieving his mother's death two years ago and trying to find meaning and purpose behind everything. Maybe I'm not dedicating enough time to my writing, or not following through enough with the ideas I do come up with.

I honestly don't know where to go from here. As I close out NaNoWriMo in a few days, and I Write with this blog post, I'm going to need to really think about what it is that I need to do to get back to my writing, Because my inability to hit my stride with my writing is my current frustration right now.