I learned something recently. I love to write, and generally it’s fun for me; that’s no revelation. When all is right with my world, the writing flows fairly freely. And there’s the rub: when all is right with my world. What I learned is that a couple of bad days can knock me out of my rhythm faster than a broken drumstick will throw a marching band off cadence.
That lesson threw me for a loop. I found out the hard way that rain on my parade can blur my creative vision. It can drown my impulse to write. Whoa.
I learned something else, too. What distinguishes a professional from a hobbyist is that when the well is dry, the professional drills it deeper, while the hobbyist waits for rain. Serious writers write anyway. The true professionals gut it out and make it happen. Sometimes the hardest days to write end up leading to the best work. Those are the days we look closer, dig deeper, wrestle harder. Those are the days that prove our mettle, and that holds true for any discipline.
When the going gets tough, keep going.