Running Out Of Things To Write About

Q&A With Shay Every Other Sunday

A previous version of this post appeared in January 2019.

People ask me often if I run out of things to write about or if I have trouble thinking of story ideas. The answer is definitely no. However, it might be more complicated than simply running out vs. not running out.

Q: Do you ever run out of things to write about?

A: As you can even see from how a previous version of this blog was posted a few years ago, we recycle and expand and take on different points of view all the time. So, even if we’re addressing the same stories or ideas, it’s not running out. Though, I’ll admit it can sometimes feel like that to the writer. You could write the same thing from a bunch of different angles and it would still be different.

To that point, with my blog posts, sometimes I feel like I’m scrambling for questions that people will find relevant to my life as a writer. This is why I no longer put the pressure on myself to post a blog every single week, because I felt I was getting stuck when it came to writerly topics and even though they might not have been repetitive blogs, they would have felt repetitive to me. But even sometimes every other week or three weeks I still think my topic could be better and I end up wanting to skip more blogs. Plus, there’s the whole making time for thinking of topics and actually writing them—so maybe that’s actually the toughest part rather than running out of things to write about. I like to stay connected and engaged, though, and really I could write about anything and have endless ideas for topics unrelated to writing. Sometimes I do create blogs that are not writing focused, but I like to link my Q&A to that theme when I can even if the question doesn’t initially seem to be linked to it.

And it’s not that I run out of things to write, but sometimes my posts just don't feel or seem interesting. And I guess this idea can even be connected to my fiction and other writing because it’s one of my struggles in life. Especially growing up selective mute and having anxiety disorders, I am constantly battling against feeling irrelevant. I typically decide for other people whether what I have to say will be interesting or not, and I have been told: Let them decide. So, that’s what I am attempting to continue with these posts—and even more so with publishing my books, poems, and stories. I know not everyone will connect or find my writing worthwhile, but that’s okay. Well, it doesn’t always feel okay, but it has to be because we’re all different.

So, no, there’s not a shortage of things to write about, but I enjoy writing about certain topics much more than others—like anyone else. There have been quite a few of my blogs where I’ve been like: meh.

Now, when it comes to fiction writing, I can say with certainty: I NEVER RUN OUT OF IDEAS.

BUT…it’s getting myself to actually write all the different ideas I have that is the struggle. Or even one of them really—lately anyway as I’ve been on something of a fiction writing hiatus.

I think of ideas for stories or books or poems, even personal essays all the time. That certainly doesn't mean I write them, or even ever will, but the ideas always come. I think most of us have tons of ideas every day about life in general that we think we want to pursue, or ways to improve ourselves, but when it comes to actually doing it that’s always a different story. That’s the same struggle of a writer. The ideas will be endless but we have to accept that we won’t write them all. I had a professor in my MFA program who joked that any time someone brought up a certain topic she’d say, “Oh, I have a book about that.” (The book was in her head.) That’s what writing, or creativity is, an abundance of ideas with a lesser degree of actual creating.

Most themes are recycled in different ways, which is amazing. There are so many different ways to tell essentially the same story and they resonate differently with everyone. This is just one of the reasons I love writing. So, any idea you have can be pursued, but you have to be cognizant about when the ideas are occurring, because they may be subtle or fleeting if you’re not on the lookout. Then, the real difficulty is deciding which ones to take on.

Do any of you fellow writers run out of ideas to write about? (I suspect not.) Or what about simply on a daily basis, unrelated to writing, do you experience tons of ideas that you don’t necessarily do anything about?