Don't Forget to Live

Writing is a lonely activity. It is just you and your imagination, conjuring up new worlds.  Sometimes the time, effort, and love you put into writing makes it easy to get caught up in the world of fiction and forget reality. It's also easy to excuse this behaviour by saying, "if you want to get good at writing, you have to write. You can't waste free time doing other things."

I'm here to say that is only partly true. While you may have to write to get better at writing, you have to do more than write to tell a story. That's because even though a story is fictional, it is a reflection of life. Therefore to write a story about life, you also have to live.

Don't be quick to cancel plans or turn down new experiences. Instead, try to embrace them. Everything you do can be added to your story to give it a more realistic feel. For example, many full time authors travel to the places they wish to write about, so that they can gain experience and knowledge to use in their writing. 

Now, many of us can't afford to travel across the globe and must settle for internet research. This means that every opportunity that you can afford, you have to take advantage of. I'm not saying you have to do every activity that pops up; you know your own limits and are allowed to work within those. But, it does mean that you should make an effort to people watch, join clubs and groups, hang out with your friends, and step out of your comfort from time to time. In the end, these things will add up and give you a range of experiences you can use to make your writing life-like. 

So yes, try to write everyday, work to improve, and explore the world inside your head, but don't forget to live as well. 

Have you ever forgot to live while writing? Continue the conversation down below!