Dear Geist,

Is it a mistake to try to write when you really aren’t in the mood? There’s serious disagreement in my writing group, and all sorts of opinions online. But we all agree that writing time is precious and we don’t want to throw it away.

—Corky, Chilliwack BC

Dear Corky,

If every writer abandoned the writing desk whenever the going got rough, we’d be short a few gazillion life-changing published works. Writing is usually hard, and often slow—which may explain why writers aren’t always in the mood to write. The worst thing that can happen is that you’ll spend an awful lot of time trying to get hold of something in a piece of writing, and not getting it. In our view that is not a mistake, but a necessary first (or third, or tenth) effort to get hold of a tone, or a character, or a scene, or some other aspect of the writing that eludes you. The best thing that can happen is that you’ll hit your stride and gladly follow the writing energy, wherever it takes you.

What’s writing, anyway? Here is Shirley Jackson’s well-worn but timeless note on the subject: “I cannot find any patience for those people who believe that you start writing when you sit down at your desk and pick up your pen and finish working when you put down your pen again. . .” Yup, it’s all writing.

—The Editors