Fleabag creator/writer and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pictured) has been quoted as saying, “Better to feel the pain of writing than the pain of not writing.”

This hits home for me, as there is always some pain in getting started each day, in the block of time I’ve devoted to writing.

And it often feels easier to avoid doing it – like most writers, procrastination always tempts. And I have to force myself to schedule it, to show up, and do it.

That doesn’t mean it’s always painful while I’m doing it. But there is definitely emotional inertia that wants to prevent me from shifting into the way of thinking that makes for the best writing.

As I’ve written about before, that state of mind is open, relaxed and even playful – at least for the “creative” part. 

Then there’s the self-critiquing part, which also happens every day.  It’s more analytical. And sometimes even self-condemning. That’s where the pain tends to come from. And it sometimes leads to “writer’s block,” which is more pain. 

When I first started writing, it could be really fun. But once I’d had my work professionally critiqued enough to realize how hard it can be to find success, that started to change. And my critical mind – an important tool – began to develop.

And it started to hate everything I came up with – as well as everything I had come up with prior – and the entire project – and myself. And some writing sessions could turn into spirals of doom where no forward progress happened.

Today those are rare for me, but the pain is memorable – and it’s what my mind wants to avoid even the possibility of. Every single day.

And yet… if I let that win… I’ll never write another word.

Of course, if I don’t write, I feel even worse, because I’ve told myself I will. Or I should. So that’s the pain of not writing. Which in the long run is worse.

So how do I do successfully face or even conquer the other kind of pain?

It starts with having a discipined regular schedule. Even if I can only clear an hour (or less) a day, 5-6 days a week, that’s enough. I’ve had many years where that was my daily schedule for writing.

But the key is to keep it sacred and do it, no matter what. (Other than a true emergency.) Planning my life around it, to some extent. And not leaving it for “when I have a big block of time free.” 

Writing every day normalizes it as an activity, in a good way, and can lead to momentum. Small but steady daily progress is preferable to fits and starts.

It also helps to know what the next task is each day, before I start. And to make that task achievable in the time allotted. Breaking down the huge challenge of creating something “finished” into small daily chunks.

Then diving in – facing the pain. With a professional “worker” mentality, as The War of Art suggests. Or a “problem-solver” mentality, which is what so much of writing consists of.

While also knowing that there’s a magic to writing, a creative mind greater than my inner critic, that I can trust in. That will ultimately bring forth valuable ideas, if I let it. As the book Big Magic teaches.

So much of the writing discipline is about controlling the mind – deciding when to turn the “critical” part on, and what to use it for. And knowing how and when to turn it off, so good ideas can flow. Some call this moving between “left brain and right brain.”

Don’t ever expect the pain of writing to go away. Not completely. Especially the pain of getting started each day. Or of not liking what you’ve written or not having ideas you think are good. Or getting notes from others that disappoint you.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge also said, in her Emmy acceptance speech, “I find writing really, really hard and really painful.” And yet she’s capable of doing it at an extraordinarily high level.

My guess is that some parts of writing aren’t painful – when she can suspend her critical mind and ideas she likes start to flow. And things come together in satisfying ways. For a small and satisfying amount of daily progress. Where she actually did it.

It’s not always easy. But it’s worth doing.