This is the Write Now Podcast with Sarah Werner Episode 101: The Slog.

 

Welcome to Write Now, the podcast that helps all writers, aspiring professional and otherwise to find the time, energy and courage you need to pursue your passion and write. I’m your host, Sarah Werner. And today we’re talking about the slog. As a writer, you may or may not be familiar with this phenomenon we’ll call it. It’s not a phenomenon, but the slog is what I call it when we are stuck in the midst of something. When we are trudging our way through, perhaps it’s the soggy middle of a project or round three of editing, and there is just no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

It’s the part of a project, whether it’s a novel, a memoir, a book of poetry, whatever it is you’re working on that’s just really tough to get through. The part where you start to question, “Wait, why am I doing this?” The soggy middle, the never-ending revisions, maybe even the opening of chapter two. And what I want to talk about today is what gets us feeling this way about the project that we’re working on and what we can do about it. What does it mean for us as writers when we hit a point in a project that we used to be really passionate about, that makes us want to stop or give up or burn it all in a fire?

 

If you’re anything like me, you hate being uncomfortable. And the slog is 100% exactly what that is. It’s an area of discomfort where we feel stuck, we maybe feel trapped. We feel like we don’t have any more ideas. We feel like we’ve waited out into the middle of a bog and we don’t know how to get out again. When we’re in the slog, we have a couple of options, two options in fact, and those options are stop and go. And it’s often very tempting to stop. It’s very tempting to give up. It’s very easy to say, “This is uncomfortable and terrible, and I hate it. And I’m going to abandon this project and start a fun, shiny new project where I have lots of momentum and motivation. And I’m really excited to work on it.”

 

And our second option is to go, to keep moving forward through the slog, to keep trudging forward searching for some kind of light, for some kind of homing beacon, for some kind of relief from the discomfort and the trapped feeling that we’re experiencing. Whenever a project hits the slog and again, it’s not maybe necessary, it’s not essential, it’s not predetermined that you will hit a slog. Maybe you are going through a project that is completely slog-free and you enjoy every moment of it. And that is amazing.

 

And actually, that’s what I want for you. But if you find yourself in a project that has a slog, if you find yourself sinking into a pit of despair, actually, I just got a really powerful visual from if you’ve seen the NeverEnding Story and there’s that swamp. I don’t remember if it was like the swamp of despair or the swamp of sadness or the bog of whatever, but the horse gives up. And it’s so sad. I hope I didn’t just ruin your day with that image. But you know what? To be honest, that’s been me with several projects.

 

I hit that slog and for whatever reason, I’m not motivated to move forward. It seems more fun and easy to start a new project. I maybe put the project aside and say that ‘I’ll get to it later” and then later never comes. That soggy middle, that slog that’s my downfall as a creator. You may remember from episode 72, which is called Finishing What You Start that I never actually finished a creative project until season one of Girl in Space. And even then I dragged myself through the slog of that project kicking and screaming.

 

And honestly, the only thing that kept me moving forward was the knowledge that I had an audience waiting for the finale, for which I am honestly very grateful. But what if you don’t have an audience that’s sending you DMs on Twitter and saying, “Hey, when is this episode coming out?” What if you don’t have an editor who’s like, “Hey, just a reminder, your manuscript was due yesterday?” What if you don’t have a writers group or a group of creative friends who are texting you and saying, “Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a couple of weeks. Are you intentionally hiding because you can’t move forward with whatever it is you’re working on?”

 

What do you do when you can’t summon the willpower to move forward? This is not a question that has easy answers and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk about it today. It’s also one of those problems where if you go to somebody and you say “I’m stuck” or “I’m in this part of my novel where I just can’t move forward.” It’s so easy for someone else who doesn’t understand for someone else who’s sort of on the outside to say, “Oh, well just keep going.” I actually get that a lot. I’ve been really, really struggling with writing Girl in Space, season two. And if and when I say anything about that struggle, usually the feedback that I get is, “Oh, well just keep writing. Just move forward.”

 

If you remember Dory from Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” But sometimes we are so exhausted. Sometimes we’re drowning and the advice to just keep swimming rings so hollow because you’re like, “I’ve been in swimming and my sides are cramping up and my arms are falling off and there’s no shore in sight.” Now I do want to say complaining is a perfectly valid way to air your frustrations about being in the slog. That’s what writing groups are for. That’s what writing communities are for. That’s what Twitter is for.

 

And I want to tell you this. It’s really important that I tell you this because I went through a time in my life where I was told not to complain. Where I was told that complaining makes you look bad and that leaders don’t complain, they solve problems. If you don’t have an outlet for your frustrations and your emotions, which again, I want to stress are a 100,000,000% completely valid and normal. Then what tends to happen or at least what happens to me is I sort of curled in on myself like a dying insect. And then not only was I in the slog, but I was alone in the slog. And I was in the dark in the slog.

 

I was told years ago not to complain because the people I was around at the time wanted to keep up this veneer of a happy atmosphere. But when that butts up against the actual truth, the truth that you are frustrated and scared and uncertain and uncomfortable, that’s a problem. And it’s going to make you feel isolated and alone even more. So if you don’t want to be seen complaining, I totally get it. If you have a professional image to uphold, again, I totally get it. Your job is to find someone safe that you can complain to, that you can be completely honest with who won’t judge you for complaining or who won’t tell you, “Oh, just keep swimming” without understanding our processing the pain of going through the slog.

 

Or if you don’t care, you can kind of go out to Twitter and be like, “Oh my gosh, I am struggling so hard right now” and you can commiserate with your fellow writers.” Now as a marketing individual, is that the right word? I have no idea. I used to be a marketing professional. Maybe I still am. Who knows? You do want to be careful what you say in public spaces. So I don’t know and this is up to you. If you want your brand on Twitter to be the person who complains all the time nonstop. And so you might want to think about how to balance that out if that’s something you’re interested in doing or hey, maybe you’re just comfortable being your 100% honest, true self in the public eye online and more power to you if you are.

 

But allowing yourself to vent your feelings and frustrations to somebody or a group of people who understands what the slog is like can be really encouraging and refreshing, and they might not have answers for you. There is no easy answer. Like I said earlier in the episode, there’s no magic slog juice that will get you from one side to the other. There is no teleporter, but sometimes when you feel understood, it makes getting through the slog a little bit easier. When you feel like you have a friend in there with you to help you through, getting through it can be a little bit easier.

 

Another thing I’d like to encourage you to do if you are stuck in that slog is to journal and explore your feelings and ask yourself, “What’s going on? What’s at the heart of what I’m struggling with? What is this slog that I am trudging through? What kind of resistance is threatening to pull me under. Where’s that coming from?” I really strongly believe that in order to move forward with anything, we need to understand where we are and how we got there.

 

So setting a timer for 20 minutes and even if you’re not a journaling sort of person, allowing yourself to write out your feelings and to explore the discomfort and why it’s there can be very, very helpful. Again, it won’t make the slog completely disappear. If you have several rounds of edits ahead of you, you’re still going to have to do those several rounds of edits, but what’s going to change is your mindset. As you’re working through the slog, maybe now you’ll have a torch or a flashlight or a lantern so you can more clearly navigate your way.

 

Speaking of mindsets, I am not a mindset guru or anything like that. I am not an expert on psychology or a pop psychology or whatever you want to call it. But I do know that what you think about the situation that you’re in can directly impact the outcome. So going through the slog and saying, “Oh my gosh, I hate this. This is torture. I just want to give up. Oh my gosh, I’m suffering. This is miserable” is going to provide a different experience than if you go through the slog with a more positive mindset. For instance saying, “Okay, three more miles. Okay, I’ve got this. Okay, two more miles. Okay, I’m making progress. Okay, I’m in the last mile. Okay.”

 

Or maybe for you it’s switching from have to, to get to. Instead of, Ugh, this sucks and I have to do it and I hate it. And just everything is terrible.” It might be training yourself to say, “You know what? I signed up for this. I get to do this. I get to work on this project that I love.” And something that can help you do that is remembering why you started in the first place. Because sometimes our intentions get knocked astray. Sometimes we start a project and it’s one thing. And then through all of the sheds and obligations and the rules that we’ve internalized, it turns into something else.

 

If you can ground yourself and remember, “Oh yeah, I love this. I get to do this.” That can help as well. Now again, I want to stress that I am not a mindset guru and that for me at least changing my mindset is extremely difficult. I can’t just lie to myself and say, “Oh, I’m really enjoying this ha ha. I love writing. And I embrace the slog and I’m going to just keep swimming.” This may or may not work for you. But if you want to try it a really great way to start changing your mindset is by doing daily affirmations, by reminding yourself through a written set of affirmations what you love about this, what your intentions are and why you want to keep moving forward despite the discomfort.

 

Reminding yourself by telling yourself every day, “I am a writer. I am strong. If other people can get through their work, so can I.” If you want some help crafting some affirmations, you can go back and listen to episode 69. I have a whole episode all about affirmations for writers. And I encourage you to check that out. Now sometimes when I’m in the slog and I explore why I’m in the slog, I realize that a huge component is my own ego, that I hate where I am or I’m frustrated with where I am because it should be so much better. My writing should be better and I’m frustrated that it’s not.

 

I’m frustrated that I cannot create perfection and I stop writing or I get trapped in that slog because expectation and reality aren’t on the same level. My reality of what I’m writing is not matching up to the beautiful, perfect dream that it was in my head. Sometimes my ego causes me to overthink things and to get in my own way and to make the slog seem a lot darker and more tangled than it actually is.

 

If this sounds familiar to you, if this is the case for you, a great way that we can get out of our own way is to acknowledge that writing and creating is a messy process. And that draft that we’re working on is not going to be perfect. It’s going to be gross and it’s going to be frustratingly childish, and it’s going to be so, so shy of the masterful work we’d imagined. Something that helps me get through this part of the slog if this is your particular mindset, is that you can’t improve what’s not done.

 

If your current slog is fueled by your ego, then you can get out of your own way by reminding yourself that it’s okay to write a terrible first draft. That what matters right now is just getting through the slog is getting it done and that you can make it beautiful and important and grand later when you’re editing. Another thing that exacerbates or worsens the slog as I’m trudging through it is my own impatience. Now I am not a patient person. Patience is a virtue that I just missed out on somehow.

 

And when I’m in the slog, my impatience by thinking “I should be out of the slog already” makes it worse. When I’m in the slog and I just want to be out of the slog, that’s when I give up, that’s when I stop. That’s when I start to sink. So if you’re in the slog and you find yourself frustrated, disheartened, seeking out distractions, or maybe leaning toward a shiny new project. If you struggle with impatience like I do, I want you to remind yourself that your job right now is to show up. Your job right now is to move forward. Your job right now is not to get airlifted out of the slog, but to move forward through it.

 

And make your peace that the slog is going to take as long as it takes and that that’s okay. That is a natural part of the creative process. It’s not something you can teleport your way through. You can make it better and more pleasant and more enjoyable, but you can’t skip it. You can’t skip the hard work. And that’s really what a lot of this is about. There’s this paradox, there’s this uncomfortable and unpleasant reality that yes, we love writing, but also it’s really hard sometimes. It’s really hard work.

 

It’s not all lattes and beautiful notebooks. Those can help us along the way, but the whole writing experience can at times be extremely painful, difficult and frustrating, and it’s really easy to lose our patience. So when this happens, give yourself permission to release that impatience, to move forward, to find sure footing, to take one step at a time and to move forward on your journey, which is going to take as long as it takes. Wow, this one, oh, this is especially hard for me because I’m used to working very quickly. And I have that as part of my identity.

 

Back when I was working an office job, I always prided myself that I did work extremely quickly and extremely well, but writing isn’t data entry. Telling our story isn’t as simple as outlining a strategy. And I feel like it’s so good and so healthy and so human and so honest to acknowledge that. That what we’re doing is important and worth doing and that it will take as long as it takes. Sometimes when I’m feeling lost in the swirl of panic and impatience, I hear the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi from the fifth Star Wars movie, the Empire Strikes Back. And he says to Luke Skywalker who is again in a figurative and literal slog, like he’s actually in a bog on Dagobah. So that’s why I feel this is really appropriate. He says, “You will learn patience.”

 

And maybe there’s a little bit of community in that. Maybe there’s a little bit of relief to think that it’s not just you alone going through this slog. That if you want to grow and improve and change, that discomfort and that hard work is necessary. And yeah, it sucks. It’s not fun, but it’s part of the creative journey. And you’re going to come out on the other side of this a better and stronger writer, and that’s going to be an amazing feeling.

 

One other thing I want to talk about regarding the slog is asking yourself, “Is the slog I’m in really necessary?” And like I just said, sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes you need to get through something really difficult in order to change and learn and grow. But sometimes if your slog is say the soggy middle of your novel and what you’re feeling in this slog is boredom, or like you’re stuck in a rut, then maybe you need to change up how you’re writing.

 

Stephen King said that, “You can tell when an author is having fun. That joy really shines through a project and the reader can tell.” And if what you’re writing is dragging you down, then maybe it’s time to examine what you’re putting into your story at this point. Because if this is a slog for you to write, is it going to be a slog for your readers to read? I recently spoke to a writer who is struggling with the soggy middle of a project. And he was like, “Oh, I can’t wait until this stupid chapter is over and I can move on to the fun stuff.”

 

And I had to ask him, “Why is this chapter in the novel if it’s not entertaining? Like is this a chapter you can just cut?” If it’s not providing any value to the reader, if it’s terrible and annoying and just soul-sucking for you to write, what does that say about whether it’s going to be enjoyable for your reader to read? Do you maybe need to inject a little bit of suspense? Do you maybe need to have some additional plot points or twists happen? Do you maybe need to up the stakes and make this chapter more interesting? Do you need to drop in a fun surprise for your reader and make it more fun for you to write?

 

Again, this isn’t always the answer, but it’s a good idea to look at again why you’re in this slog in the first place. So I hope that talking about the slog today was helpful for you. I would love to hear about how you handle the slog. How do you get through it? What traps you in it? What advice do you give other writers when they’re stuck in the slog? I would love to hear your thoughts and your comments. You can let me know what you think by navigating out to the show notes for today’s episode, episode 101, which is out at sarahwerner.com. That’s S-A-R-A-H, W-E-R-N-E-R.com.

 

And again, navigate over to episode 101, the show notes for that. And if you scroll down to the bottom of the show notes, you’ll see a place where you can post comments. And I would absolutely love to hear what you have to say. I read every single comment and I respond to every single comment that I get there. I’m really interested in your own insights about the slog. Also out at sarahwerner.com, you can sign up for my weekly newsletter. It’s called Dear Creators. It’s a newsletter for creators. It gives you inspiration and advice every week and it’s free. And yes, that’s all I have to say about that. I don’t want to pressure you into signing up if it’s not something you’re interested in, but it is out there it’s available. It’s a free resource if that sounds interesting to you.

 

Special thanks for this episode. Go up to my beautiful and amazing supporters out on Patreon. Patreon is a secure third-party donation platform that lets you donate a dollar per episode, $2 per episode, $10,000 per episode, whatever you feel is right. And that does cover hosting costs. That covers production costs. That covers the costs for making this show available to people around the world. So special. Thanks go out to supporters Amanda L. Dickson, Julian Vincent Farnberg, Laurie, Leslie Manson, Regina [Callabris 00:24:35], Sean Locke, TJ Brick, Tiffany Joiner, Leslie Duncan, Ricardo Lugo, and Sarah Lozan.

 

You all keep this show going for everyone and I appreciate you so very much. Thank you. If you would like to become a Patreon and supporter, you can do so one of two ways. First you can go out to patreon.com. That’s P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/sarahrheawerner. That’s S-A-R-A-H, R-H-E-A, W-E-R-N-E-R. Alternately, you can go out to my website at sarahwerner.com. Go to the show notes for this episode and click help support this podcast that will direct you over to my Patreon page, where you can make your pledge. So if that’s something that you are interested in doing, please do do that.

 

And if it’s something that you’re not able to do at this time, that is totally absolutely fine. One of the best ways you can help support this podcast non-financially is just by telling someone else about it. Let a friend know, let another writer know, another creator and just let them know the podcast exists. Show them where to find it, how to download episodes if they’re not sure how to do the podcasting thing. Yeah, I would really appreciate that.

 

And with that, this has been episode 101 of the Write Now Podcast, the podcast that helps all writers, aspiring professional and otherwise to find the time, energy and courage you need to pursue your passion and write. I’m Sarah Werner and together we are going to get through the slog.