The F-Word For Writers

This post was originally published on September 11, 2018. It was updated on December 8, 2022.

Fun, of course.

How much fun do you have as a writer? Or as a human being?

Writers have a way of talking about writing that makes everything sound very tortured. Full of strife and anguish, and I guess that will always be there. For myself, included. But what about all of the fun stuff?

Like getting to hang out in your own imagination with all the worlds and characters you’ve got floating around up there. Or learning something new about writing or about publishing. How about getting to know other writers, either in person or online? Some people really get into doing research for their stories. I could go on, but you get the point.

The fun tends to get pushed aside by self-doubt, fear, worry, anxiety, pressure, and stress, but I wonder if focusing in on the fun might lessen those other beasts we have to contend with.

I remember the first story I wrote called Their Love Could Follow Moonstones. I happened upon a writing prompt, and in fact, the prompt was the title of the story, and I just went at it. It’s a piece of flash fiction, so it’s under 1000 words. I wrote this story with a lot of enjoyment, just enjoying my imagination and the flow of the narrative arc, enjoying getting to know the characters and the little details my imagination supplied me with about them. A little while later, I was finished.

I was so pleased with my little story. Not because it was going to bring me fame and a billion dollars but just because it had been fun to write, and now it was complete. I moved on to other stories.

Fast forward to last month, and I’m starting to fret about what my next novel should be. I’ve had this idea that’s been urging me to write it, but I don’t know. Maybe I should write something that’s in a more popular genre or would be a little easier to sell once I publish it. I’ve got a writing career to think about. Is this the right novel at this time?

So I did what any sane person would do. I consulted The Secret Language of Color Cards.

I silently asked for guidance regarding my next novel, and I picked a card randomly from the deck. The card I picked was White, and the little message underneath it read, “Lighten Up.” 🙂

Message received and understood!

I think the Universe was clearly trying to tell me to stop worrying and bring a little more fun into the process, just like when I wrote that first little story. So that’s what I’m going to do when I get started on this next novel in the next couple of months–focus on fun and enjoyment. I’m betting the other details will take care of themselves.

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Amanda Linehan is an Independent Author, Coach, and INFP. She is the author of Productivity for INFPs: How To Be Productive Within Your Natural Rhythms and has published 16 titles since 2012, including five novels. Since 2017, she has run her author business full-time. Get exclusive access to her INF Summitt Interview on fiction writing, self-publishing, and being self-employed by joining the For INFPs newsletter here.