• Home
  • About
  • Shop
    • Custom orders
    • Cards
    • Classes
    • Notebooks
    • Watercolour prints
    • Cart
    • Account
      • Orders
  • Blog
    • Beauty
    • Faith
    • Family
    • Food
    • Me Time
    • Writing
    • Work Life
  • Working with me
    • Project Callout: Our Ways With Words
  • Portfolio
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Finding Joy

Words that uplift and empower | Hand-made Lettering Art & Blog by Joy Adan

  • All
  • Cards
  • Classes
  • Custom orders
  • Home & Decor
  • Notebooks
  • Watercolour prints
You are here: Home / Work Life / Writing / My writing mojo is hiding in a double-taped packing box

My writing mojo is hiding in a double-taped packing box

27 May, 2015 By Joy Adan Tagged With: motivation, writer's block 15 Comments

It’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post I can barely string my sentences together. It’s embarrassing.

I get home from work, walk into my room, my laptop and journal catch my eye… and I ignore them. I fear I’ve actually developed a phobia of writing. I wish I had an excuse, but I don’t.

It’s not even that I’ve lacked the time. That certainly was the case throughout late March and all of April. We moved house. I was shoulders deep in masking tape, cardboard boxes and the piles of random junk that had accumulated in the dark recesses of our built-in wardrobes over 5 years. Every day, throughout April, I would find something else in the house that we didn’t know we had (but that I almost certainly bought online while I was on maternity leave) and I spent the following days trying to sell it online. By the end of April we’d made close to $2000 on the random stuff I’d found… but I’m sure we spent more than double that when we bought it…

But that part’s over. We’re now one week away from June. We’re almost at the end of the financial year. And I haven’t written a thing. Sure, I’ve packed stuff, sold stuff, moved stuff and stored stuff. And I’ve managed to squeeze a 3-bedroom townhouse worth of belongings into two bedrooms of my in-laws house. Mum even cooks dinner before we even get home from work, so one would argue I have more time now than ever before. But I still haven’t written a thing (excluding stuff I’ve written for work because, well, a woman’s gotta make a living).

Instead, when the opportunities arise and I a half hour appears and I find myself wondering what I should do, I’ve actually avoided writing.

I’m not proud of this. In fact, I’m ashamed of it. So ashamed that the longer it occurs, the worse it gets.

I find myself caught in an awful loop where I avoid writing by finding something else to read… and then time passes and I realise how much crap I’ve read on the internet and I become acutely aware of how much noise there is on the internet, and I tell myself not to add more noise. So I don’t write. Instead, I read. I read more crap, find more noise, refuse to add to the noise, then read some more… and so it goes. The result is not much writing.

I tell myself I haven’t had much I’ve wanted to add to the conversation. That I’ve got nothing I want to say.

But… that’s not true. I had quite a lot I wanted to get off my chest when the Federal Government decided to say “happy mothers’ day” by calling women like me “double-dippers” who “rorted” the system by accepting both government and employer-funded paid parental leave. Talk about a slap in the face. I am still not over that, even though they’ve admitted how dumb that was.

But I still didn’t write.

I have a few draft articles sitting in a folder, waiting to publish in another online magazine.

But I haven’t finished them.

I’ve had a few hours I could’ve dedicated to writing another chapter in my book. But I washed clothes and did the ironing instead. Like… I actually CHOSE housework over recreation. WTF, Joy?

I even went to Sydney Writers’ Festival last week and got all teary after meeting one of my literary heroes, John Marsden. But instead of putting pen to paper, I buried my head in a book. Or three. Over the past 10 days I’ve read The Rosie Project, The Fault in Our Stars, Happiness by Design and am now well into The Rosie Effect.

Book count = 3.5. Word count = 0.

Whyyyyy??

Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’m afraid that what I have to write or say doesn’t actually matter at all. Not that it mattered much in the first place. Maybe PMS is just lasting extra long this month. Maybe the removalists lost the box that has my writing mojo in it.

WHO KNOWS.

All I know is I better find it soon. Can’t be much of a writer if I’m not doing much writing… right?

You might also like...

Hi

Joy Adan

I'm Joy. I'm a 30-something, storytelling, coffee-drinking, book-devouring, ocean-obsessed freelance writer, brush lettering enthusiast, speaker and content producer. You'll find some of my stories and art here, along with my advice about attempt at balancing the creative career + family life hustle.

Don't miss a beat - subscribe below and join me on this crazy adventure!

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

DON’T MISS A SINGLE POST! SIGN UP HERE:


Thank you!

You’ve joined Finding Joy’s mailing list. No spam, only love. I promise. 



Like what you see here?

Please keep this writer going.
Show your support:

Buy me a coffee!

As seen in

Essential Baby

Practical Parenting

The Catholic Weekly

2017 Bupa Blog Awards Nominee | Celebrating Health and Care

Find more like this

Tagged With: motivation, writer's block

Categories

Recent posts

  • Inktober Prayer Prompts
  • So much to (un)learn
  • Simbang Gabi – The Best is Yet to Come
  • So blessed, I can’t contain it
  • Starting (again)

Instagram

Hamilton themed anniversary card for the man who r Hamilton themed anniversary card for the man who raps, sings, strums and drums his way through 11 years of putting up with me. ❤

#customcard #happyanniversary #hamiltonmusical
Feeling really weary today. Not sure if it's just Feeling really weary today. Not sure if it's just the virus lingering (I've been coughing through March 🥴), playing nurse to a brave little boy with a broken (but healing) elbow, hormones, or just a head clouded with all that's happening around the country and around the world and the fact women have to fight so hard to exist - let alone thrive - in a world that seems hell bent on destroying us. 

So here's a photo of nice things that make me happy. Full bookshelves, coffee cups, and plants... things that remind me that if we are open to learning, conversation, and blooming amongst even the shittiest of shit, we can still flourish. ❤
A reminder for anyone who needs to hear/read this A reminder for anyone who needs to hear/read this today. I've been so inspired, so honoured to experience the strength of the women who are at the @wearethemainstream's event today. It seems our strength is often forged and fortified through pain... but to be able to share it, to bear it together, to transform it and alchemise it... to turn into a sisterhood that rebuilds this world. 

#IWD2021 #iwdaiaw
Throwback to a year ago... The perfectly timed hol Throwback to a year ago... The perfectly timed holiday that ended days before the words “global pandemic” became a regular part of my vocabulary. I've been on the weirdest roller coaster ride of a year since this photo was taken. Even the past few weeks have seen so many highs and lows. What is this craziness? And where is the pause button?

#midnightreflections #IShouldSleep 

Image: Photo of the sun rising amidst grey clouds over the ocean on the east coast of Bali. A man is walking on the sand, in the distance along edge of the water.
Today, we celebrate the women of the world. I th Today, we celebrate the women of the world. 

I think of my mother and my sisters - the women who have always inspired and encouraged me to up my game. To be respectful of self so I am fully able to respect others. To be unapologetic in my faith and my fight for the underdog. The women who have shown me time and time again that heroines are forged in the fire of love. 

I think of the women in my life who are a beacon of strength, hope, compassion, charity, healing, life, power, humility, leadership and service. The dear friends, teachers, mentors, bosses and colleagues who have paved their own path and helped me lay my own. The world needs more of you. I hope to be one of you.

And for the women in the world who need healing (who, let's face it, is all of us at some point or another). I celebrate you today. Your brokenness can be a beacon too. The world needs WHO you are: cracks, fears, mistakes, insecurities and all. Because deep beneath those cracks, fears, mistakes and insecurities lie desire,  dreams, redemption and a hope that there is better out there. 

We will create better, together. 

Image: Close-up of a hand-made sticker with the words: “The nation doesn't simply need whay we have. It needs who we are. Edith Stein (St Teresia Benedicta a Cruce)” in black ink.

#IWD2021 #InternationalWomensDay
Don't mind me - I'll just be sitting there with te Don't mind me - I'll just be sitting there with tea and treats in hand while the other three women on this panel wow us with their words of wisdom. Join me? 

#westernsydneyartists
***

Posted @withregram • @blacktownarts Hear from award-winning women writers and artists of diverse backgrounds – including Evelyn Araluen (@evelynaraluen), Maryam Azam, Sarah Malik (@sarah_b_malik) and artist Joy Adan (@joyadanwrites) – about their experiences of living in Blacktown, and what makes the area a potent source of artistic inspiration and the hottest rising arts scene in Sydney. Then relax and mingle with a cup of traditional tea and savoury or sweet treats from Afghan Women on the Move (@_awotm).

Stories from 2148 
Saturday 17 April 
12pm – 2pm
Free
Link in bio to book 

@sweatshop.ws #sweatshopws #storiesfrom2148 #women_artists #women_writers #inspiration #blacktownarts #blacktown #ThisIsHowWeMakeArt #fromthehoodtothepage #writing #westernsydney #culture #diversity #community
It doesn't matter how old I get, it doesn't hurt t It doesn't matter how old I get, it doesn't hurt to be reminded... 😜

Image: A quote from the Dr Seuss book “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” hand-lettered in rainbow watercolour ink. The text reads “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
Had one of those “pinch me, I must be dreaming” moments today. I finally opened this book set from @philipjamolin & @simmyyyy and Mr Z asked me to read him the one about Maya Angelou. Then Mr 8 joined us and read his little bro the other two books. 🥰

These books remind me of the ones I used to read in primary school. There was a collection of illustrated books about different historical figures in our school library and I was obsessed with them! That's where I first discovered Helen Keller and a bunch of other inspiring, everyday heroes. Now... to collect the rest! 

#littlepeoplebigdreams #raisingreaders
Follow @joyadanwrites
  • About “Finding Joy”
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Terms of sale
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

KEEP IN TOUCH - SUBSCRIBE BELOW

Thank you!

You've joined Finding Joy's mailing list. No spam, only love. I promise. 

Copyright © 2021 · Joy Adan · 22 657 108 897