How To Deal With Bad Days: An Essay on Writing and Life

As writers, we all have the poor days. Our quota, whether it be 1,000 words or 5,000, was not reached. The articles we had to write or edit did not even get touched. The novel writing was boring us so much we quit on it-and considered giving up the whole project. Perhaps the job we applied to that would support our writing did not come through. This essay will distill how to deal with the bad days in writing and life, why we should stop questioning ourselves, and how to make the next day better.

In life and writing, we are taught not to look back at failures. It is crucial for us to continue. If we are out of work and looking for a career, we may find the jobs are hard to come by. If we chose writing as our career, we have to wait months for replies-and often they are rejections to our stories or articles. What we need is something to help us get through these bad days. The answer is not in alcohol or drugs, whether we are a writer or a factory worker. We must apply what led to some successes-we all have had some success at one point-and remember them first. We should not hold back on the last day's failings. We cannot afford it financially or mentally. The key to positive mental health is to find the good in the bad. Perhaps the day before we did not get any writing done or the job did not come through. Instead of living in the past, we work on the day we have-and are thankful we have it.

Questioning every decision we make will solve nothing. The day is ours if only we can take it. The writer can experience bad days just as much as the factory worker. But often they are more pronounced. The writer has to deal with life on life's terms. And they are trying to support themselves through writing. Another bad writing day could mean the electricity will be gone and the dinner will be a TV dinner. The regular worker is less to this degree, but may hate their job more.

The day after the failure, we can do many things. We act. We think. We make decisions when we don't want to. If the writer feels a story is junk, they should show it to someone with a good eye. If the regular worker hates their job, they need to find another means of paying the bills. Jobs are all about risks and pressures. We have to find what works for us, but remember some days will be better than any other.

There are no simple solutions in life and writing. The novelist can work for nothing, but cannot afford to. The worker hates their job but is stuck. If anything would be the best advice, it would be to survive the bad days and remember the good ones. Often negativity breeds upon itself; find the power of positive thinking.