This week’s Daily Post Discover Challenge, Obstacles:
Can limitations and obstructions push us forward in our creative work?
Unfortunately, there are two kinds of limitations and obstructions that hinder the creative work of a writer: the kind we create (putting up barriers, resisting the ability to try something different – like a new writing style), and the kind that sneak up on us (writer’s block). But obstacles only become such if we allow them to.
While I’m never hard-up for ideas, the fear of it is never far from my mind. But one obstacle to me pursuing writing as a career comes from the idea that being a paid writer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – deadlines (which are hard, being that I have a full-time job), the pay scale (not enough to live on), and the worry of writer’s block. I am a niche writer, and don’t work well with fiction. I love the idea of researching a topic and running with it, compiling screenshots, photos, and videos. I feel like an archaeologist, digging deep for my nostalgic gems that populate my blog and my gig on the website The Retroist. Writing on the level that I do (dry, observation-based, and commentary-laden) isn’t for everyone.
I also love to write on a personal level – finding something to write about and being able to relate it back to my own life. I’ve written on diverse topics, I keep up a regular feature, and I have fun doing it. Yes, I set up obstacles, and no, they don’t always get in my way, especially when it comes to doing something I love…on my own terms.
