Does anyone else suffer from depression, and if so how do you find it interferes with your writing?
I tend to find that when I have a depressive episode, the well pretty much runs dry. It's not a writer's block as such, in that I'm not trying to write and struggling. I just find that I don't have the motivation to sit down and try to write.
Anyone else experience the same, or do you still manage to be productive?
In these moments hope sometimes is not a resource available to you to draw upon hope is the probably single most catalystic force in life and art. Knowing what exactly it is you hope for from writing is a big step. Depression sometimes shows you what is important essentially in your life, and writing - rightly - sometimes doesn't add up to a whole hill of beans.
I don't consider it depression but I often can't get motivated. That's why I'm where I am today.
Depression's a funny one, its like the flu commonplace, lots of people get it, but it can still kill.
My writing seems to turn on and off irrespective of my mental state.
I think writing is a lot about positivity, sitting down, alone, and writing something you think other people will want to read is the most positive state of mind you can have. So when depression tags in it chases away the positive and you find to hard to see a future in writing. Although writing depressed can often produce very honest work in a voice you thought you never had.
Why not just write what you want to read?
What's that got to do with the price of turnips?
Blahblah said "writing something you think other people will want to read is the most positive state of mind you can have"but I think you can waste too much time trying to please others.
I meant writing something you have confidence in
Quote: blahblah @ 9th June 2014, 9:00 PM BSTI meant writing something you have confidence in
Nevers happens if the writing is any good.
How do you mean?
Pretty much what I said. I don't always it is true say what I mean here, sometimes I am a tad dry for humour's sake. But not in this thread.
I have an anxiety disorder and get panic attacks etc. meaning I can often get quite depressed. I find what I write is often a lot darker or more psychedelic when I am like that
As with all advice about depression, it's basically finding a soft way of saying "just get up out of the bed and do it." I suspect, but have no facts supporting this, that there is a higher percentage of depression amongst writers than in, say, bricklayers. We're prone to introspection.
I find that putting a good shift in of writing can lift me out of a dark mood. But there are also times I just can't motivate myself to do it. And sometimes, sitting there and forcing yourself to write can do more harm than good because if you're producing utter rubbish, it makes you feel worse and even more unmotivated.
I think, like Rupert mentions, you can just embrace writing dark stuff when you're in dark times. When the doldrums have you is probably not the time to write a Mrs Brown's Boys spec.
Bbb. Depression is a medical condition ... Nothing whatsoever with occupation, perceived or otherwise.