Linda K Sienkiewicz

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You are always a writer: motivation

June 3, 2024 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

You are always a writer so find your motivation

Are you unable to write?

Don’t worry if you fear you’ve lost motivation. I don’t know who said it, but “writing is like a disease. It may go into remission, but it never leaves you.” This sounds like a negative analogy (because as author Lev Raphael says, “writing is a gift, not a disease”) but it’s also true. Let me tell you my story.

I stepped away from my writing for nearly two years after my son took his own life in 2011. During this time, I didn’t look at my short stories or half-started novels. I did not revise the manuscript I had finished, the one I loved best, the one my then-agent couldn’t sell. I did not write or revise a single poem.

While I was grieving, focusing on my writing seemed hedonistic, almost sinful. Not to mention, my ability to concentrate flew out the window. I shut my computer down. I let it all go.

I had to trust that the desire to write would return when I was ready. If not, well, that was okay, too.

Eventually I wondered if I would ever write again. What if I had used up all my good ideas? What if I only had so many words, phrases or sentences in my vocabulary that could be put on paper, and now they were all gone? Where would I find inspiration? Would I ever feel the same thrill when I discovered a new angle in what I was revising? What if everything I wrote really sucked?

Have you ever feared the same thing?

Rest assured

The writing, along with the motivation to write, will come back to you.

After my break, I returned to the novel I loved and started revising, and, what do you know: I found myself thinking like a writer again. Ideas flooded my head. Okay, maybe not a flood, but when I was driving to my daughter’s late one night, I had to pull the car over to take notes. When walking the dog, I had to whip out my cell phone to dictate an idea. It made me so happy that I found my jam again. I hired an editor and rewrote the entire novel.

It’s true, writing is a disease. A wonderful disease. I didn’t worry about whether or not the writing sucked because it just felt good.

All I’m still writing years later. Since In the Context of Love was published, I wrote and illustrated a children’s picture book, a poetry collection about my late son, and now my second novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, will be published by Regal House Publishing in 2026.

So, if you have to take time off from your writing to concentrate on caretaking, work, grieving, or for whatever reason, don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. You are always a writer, even when you’re not actively writing.


Thank you for visiting.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist
Books: In the Context of Love | Gordy and the Ghost Crab | Sleepwalker
New novel,  Love and Other Incurable Ailments, coming fall 2026 from Regal House Publishing
Connect with Linda on social media: LinkTree

Filed Under: It's Personal, Writing Tagged With: Fiction, grief, motivation, poetry, suicide, writing tips

The book I never wanted to write

January 30, 2023 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

Sleepwalker: I'm proud to announce publication of my fifth poetry chapbook, Sleepwalker. This collection contains the poems I never wanted to write, the ones I fought against writing for years. … Continue reading >>

Filed Under: Books, Grief and Loss, It's Personal Tagged With: books, family, grief, poetry, suicide, writing

Courageous Memoir of a Restless Life

August 23, 2021 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

Self examination isn’t easy. Writing about it is even harder. Nancy Owen Nelson was an army brat whose military father struggled with depression and alcoholism. She says about her family … Continue reading >>

Filed Under: Books, Grief and Loss Tagged With: depression, memoir, nonfiction, suicide

What, Why, How: Andrew Devendorf

November 4, 2019 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

What: I wrote a personal essay on the grueling experience of having my brother go missing, and later learning that he died by suicide. When my brother went missing, I learned that we have … Continue reading >>

Filed Under: Grief and Loss, What, Why, How Tagged With: grief, loss, nonfiction, personal essays, suicide

What, Why, How: Herta Feely

February 8, 2017 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

Herta Feely, author of Saving Phoebe Murrow, about cyber bullying

What: I was working on my second novel (In Search of Che) and had reached page 100 when the story came to a screeching halt. I felt like a person trekking through a forest who’s lost sight of the … Continue reading >>

Filed Under: What, Why, How Tagged With: bullying, cyber-bullying, suicide

Birthdays After You Lose a Child

September 29, 2016 By Linda K Sienkiewicz

I vividly remember the moment Derek was born. The doctor laid him across my chest and there he was, my first baby -- his round face like a pale moon, his eyes open and unblinking, his little body warm … Continue reading >>

Filed Under: Grief and Loss, It's Personal Tagged With: birthdays, children, death, family, grief, loss, suicide

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About Linda

Award- winning writer, poet & artist. Cynical optimist. Super klutz. Corgi fan. Author of two novels, a children's picture book, and five poetry chapbooks. More here.

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