Writing What You "should be" writing vs. Writing What you Love

 As this year comes to a close, I wanted to share about the battle of writing what you think you should be writing vs. what you love. When I first started writing, I thought I should write a YA fantasy very much along the lines of Twilight. Now, I still love Twilight to this day as much as my 13 year old heart did, and I will forever be in the fandom and my heart in Forks, WA, but as I was writing my Twilight-esque book, I noticed it got harder and harder as I went on. I wasn't loving the book anymore. It's because I was reading and loving all of these steamy contemporary billionaire romance novels and that is where my heart was, and what I was supposed to be writing. Not forcing out a book that teenage me would like. Or I found "more respectable or credible" somehow. But the truth was I wasn’t reading YA anymore and  I shouldn’t have been writing in a genre I wasn’t passionate about anymore. 

 So, I quickly wrapped up that book to give myself some closure and then set aside my twilighty vampire book.  I finally began again with a new idea that was in the genre of what I enjoyed reading. And let me tell you, my writing work ethic went from pulling teeth and struggling along, to flowing and getting easier the more I wrote. It's how writing should be. 

So, if you are in the middle of the self battle of writing what you think you should be writing, but know in your heart it's not what you like to read anymore, here is your permission slip to set that manuscript aside, stop killing yourself over it, and move on to a book idea that sparks joy in your heart and soul. That is the best thing you can do for your writing, as books written with love and joy will always outshine others. Don't do what I did and waste a year writing a book you don't absolutely love, when you can spend that time writing a masterpiece of your heart. 

I hope this is helpful for you going into the new year! Have you wasted time writing what you thought you “should be”writing? Let me know in the comments below! 

Happy New Years Eve everyone!