In a writing rut?

“What you are is what you have been.
What you’ll be is what you do now.” Buddha

In reading through posts on various writers’ blogs and boards, I am struck by how many of us are engaged in the process of redefining who we are and what we offer. The economy has obviously had a lot to do with this, with those of us who pay our bills with our pen (so to speak) struggling to find new income sources to replace those that have vanished. 

But some of this creative evaluation is just part of the growth process. We may have started our writing career doing hard-hitting or investigative articles and then over the years developed a taste and talent for softer, more introspective pieces. We may have been poets who shifted to essays, non-fiction writers who moved to the fiction side of the fence, or (as it is in my case) short story writers who have fallen in love with the novel form. 

And beyond changes in what we write, we may have changed our focus and broadened our interest in what we write about. When I started writing for publication years (and years and years!) ago, my articles were all about business: how to run it, how to build it, how to survive it. Then, somehow or other (I’m not sure how!), it shifted to health and wellness and design and architecture. During this time, I ended up writing an inspirational book, The Gifts of Change — which came as a complete shock to me since I had never planned on writing that type of book at all. And started teaching writing workshops as well. 

My point is that if I had stayed where I started, that’s all I would have to offer the market — and more importantly, that would have been the self-imposed limit I would have set on my creative ability. 

This month, think about what you want for yourself as a writer. What type of writing do you want to do? Where can you direct your abilities? What has interested you that you have not yet explored? 

Don’t restrict yourself by thinking I’ve never done that before but move in that direction. You may surprise yourself!