• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Travel
  • Sustainability
  • Food
    • Food Culture
    • Recipes
  • Living Abroad
  • Reviews
  • Resources & Discount Codes
  • All Blog Posts
  • About ⋁
    • Contact
    • Work With Me
    • Press & Portfolio
    • Privacy
  • Tilted Map
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
Tilted Map

Tilted Map

Travel, sustainability & life between two cultures

Dealing with Writer’s Block, Too Much Free Time & Living Abroad

June 21, 2017 by Ketti Leave a Comment

Instead of stressing over my expat travel blog, I should be relaxing like this older couple on a bench in Siracusa, Italy. ©KettiWilhelm2017

As I’m getting back to writing, I’ve been contemplating the blogging business, writer’s block, living abroad (most recently in Italy), and the elusiveness of ever feeling like I’ve got it all together.


The more I learn about the industry, the more I believe the most important factor in blogging – and maybe in any writing or creative endeavor at all – is confidence. Just blind, unwavering confidence. I’m not saying it’s the most important ingredient in a good blog, but it’s the common glue that sticks a lot of successful bloggers together.

Confidence allows a person to believe that, despite all the other writing on the Internet (and in books), whatever she has to say is unique.

Whatever story he has to tell is important and even worthy of staking a little bit of his reputation on, without any outside help. No editor to filter for typos (please, tell me if you find typos) or to guess whether anyone will, in fact, care about the ideas we think are brilliant.

And I’ve lived abroad for the past of years, in a couple of interesting countries – I’ve been lucky to actually be living an adventure that’s worth blogging about. But still, it can be hard to feel like anyone cares about what I have to write about, whether or not I live abroad.

If you think about art or blogging or writing from this perspective, as I have been doing lately and to my own detriment, the idea of publishing without supervision seems almost too narcissistic to bear. (Maybe that’s why so many travel bloggers are white men. On average, they’re a very confident group.)

More importantly, I’m beginning to think the true origin of writer’s block is a crisis in confidence. This is a pretty sad thing to realize so clearly and to recognize in myself.

But it’s also a starting point. What has been going on with me – in my mind, in my life, in the rest of the world – that has kept me from developing an idea enough to share it with people for the past seven months?

Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Who knows, maybe there’s something in here that’s been keeping you from something as well, whether it’s writing your own travel blog, moving abroad, or something entirely different.

  1. Distraction. Distraction caused by moving to another country for the second time in three years, by being more interested in my relationship than my work, and by learning a new language from scratch. But this is obviously not my biggest reason, and in all honesty it’s sort of a cop-out, because I have also had more free time in these months than maybe any other time in my life.
  2. Having Too Much Free Time. All freedom, no oversight. I can do whatever I want; but I can always do it tomorrow, too. Tomorrow never comes. That is what I am learning. I have read that procrastination lurks and works its evil ways in the minds of highly creative people, but that makes me very confused by museums and libraries being all filled with stuff made by people who actually did things. They finished their imperfect works of whatever they were doing, which ended up being much better than all the unfinished, perfect stuff.
  3. Being (Allegedly) A Perfectionist. It’s hard to click “publish” when the story is not perfect yet, but IT WILL NEVER BE PERFECT. This is another thing I’m learning. My mother and my dentist have both told me I’m a perfectionist, and of course I did not believe either of them. I was also slightly creeped out that my dentist would know such a thing. As far as I’m aware, the only evidence she has is that I floss (daily), and I always require heavier than normal doses of things to be calmed, numbed, or knocked out. “Better done than good.” – Elizabeth Gilbert’s mom. (She did a TED talk I enjoyed. She also wrote a book that I was highly skeptical about, but turned out to be a good read and a wonderful response to these feelings. You can order it here on Amazon, or here on Bookshop – both are affiliate links. See the of the article for more about this.) 
  4. Social Pressure. Hating social media is trendy, but I do have to say that seeing so many people in my past and present social circles moving forward with their lives – doing apparently random yet extremely cool shit, climbing mountains, publishing books, marrying, babying – somehow makes me feel I need to do the same. Or at least it makes me wonder, “Hey, do I need to do that?” But I’m also hoping most people just do things and do not give a shit what other people think. Most successful people, at least. (By which I mean, most people who are generally content with their lives.) They just do what they want, put things out there, and see what happens. 
  5. Everything Else Going On in The World Right Now, and how it all seems like a much bigger deal than whatever I might write. Part of this is probably what’s called imposter syndrome – the kind of thinking that makes people think they do not belong; they are not really writers or whatever other thing they want to be – other people are that and they are just kidding themselves by trying.

These things, plus the whirlwind-y ups and downs of living abroad have me in a weird mood lately. Being far from family and old friends, trying to rebuild another social life, learning another new language just to get by, not immediately finding work here – it adds up. It has bruised my confidence and left me not feeling like writing and sharing very much. 

But I’m also starting to feel hopeful again that this stress is all temporary.

This experience with uncertainty will eventually help me bounce back.

It will help me be more confident than I would be if I stayed home, with a normal job, and some boyfriend who shared my national and cultural identity, surrounded by a bunch of English-speaking friends who would understand just how smart and witty I think I am, plus all the craft beer I could drink. But that’s just me. What’s good and challenging and inspiring for you is probably different.

And here are my responses to these challenges:

  1. Making time (to write) but also filling time (with other engaging activities, so I don’t have excessive amounts of free time to think about all the writing I have not done).
  2. Generally just trying to care less about what I say and do, and what people think of it all, and what other people say and do, and what I think about all that. None of it is as big of a deal as it looks. (For example, the title of this article doesn’t really make sense, but as of this week, I don’t really care. The other title I had in mind was “Being Creative Tomorrow.” Maybe that’s better, but it’s too late now.)
  3. Remembering that we shouldn’t be serious all the time, and thinking too much about politics and other apparent disasters is probably toxic, and it is not my responsibility to only produce things that are hilarious or important or change the world. Vaffanculo. That’s a word Italy has taught me. It means fuck off; I do not care, I’ll do whatever I want regardless of what you think. And I think that will help, too.

The couple in the photo below, sitting by the dock in Siracusa, on the island of Sicily, looked to me like they just didn’t care.


2019 Updates!

Two years after writing this, I’ve moved to France for a spell, and most recently to Chicago. It’s been a busy couple of years, and a lot has changed.

Both the Amazon and Bookshop links are affiliate links, which means if you buy anything through them, I will likely make a commission – but at no extra cost to you! (Amazon and Bookshop just give me a small cut of the sale.) So if you want to buy a book, thank you in advance for your support! For more info, here’s my detailed privacy policy.

Related

Filed Under: Italy Tagged With: Advice, Culture Shock, Living Abroad, Personal Updates, Writing & Blogging

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to Tilted Map! A travel blog about sustainability & culture.

I’m Ketti, and I started blogging when I moved from Montana to China on a whim. That turned into 5 years abroad, a master’s in sustainability and a passion for travel!
On this site, you’ll find a lot about US & Italian cultural differences (which, of course, includes a lot about food) plus travel ideas and plastic-free product reviews. Hit me up with questions! Read More on My About Page…

Subscribe here!

The BEST way to see new posts & quick updates.

(I send emails ~ 1x/month.)

Latest Blog Posts:

  • Why These Are the 2 Best Zero-Waste, Plastic-Free Deodorants [+ PAPR Discount Code]
  • What It Was Really Like Visiting Maui During COVID-19
  • Bite vs Everyone [All The Plastic-Free Toothpaste Tablets, Reviewed]

Popular Posts:

The view of steep cliffs and turquoise waters from the front of a long tail boat in Thailand. ©KettiWilhelm2019

My Favorite Non-fiction Books for Traveling Vicariously While Stuck at Home

A plate of spaghetti con vongole (spaghetti with fresh clams) in Naples, Italy. ©KettiWilhelm2020

How Italians Stay Thin Eating Pizza & Pasta All the Time

Search the Blog:

HOW TO SUPPORT THIS BLOG ❤️

If you find this blog useful + want to show your support, following my Instagram + Facebook pages and sharing my blog posts on social media are HUGE helps, and/or you can contribute a few “thank you” dollars here!

Sustainable Partner: Last Object

Read my LastObject review, and use the code TILTEDMAP10 for 10% off!

Join me on Wanderful!

An inclusive, supportive, all-ages community of women+ who love to travel!The logo for Wanderful (a women's travel community membership) – a profile of a female traveler sitting with a backpack on.

Hotel & Hostel Search:

This form takes you to Booking.com (same selection & prices!) and a fraction of your hotel bill will help me run this website – at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Booking.com

Want to Read More? Subscribe below!

If you get my posts via social media, that's great! But those websites change their algorithms all the time, and that can leave people not seeing my posts. Signing up for emails is the surest way to see when I write something new!

Privacy Policy

(Don't worry, I never send more than one email a week. Often less.)

If you can put this photo into words, I'll put it If you can put this photo into words, I'll put it on my tombstone. (Except please compost me instead.)  Anyway, happy Earth Day! I’ve been MIA for a bit (working on a bunch of new blog posts + sustainable product reviews, so stay tuned!), but I had to come back online for this.  📸 This shot was last month on the road, settling down for the evening in @sequoianationalforest , California. Not sponsored, but should be, by my @yeti tumbler, @jackeryusa solar panel + of course our 25-year-old @chevyvan.it .
ZOOM IN. Working on our #capoeira moves at the end ZOOM IN. Working on our #capoeira moves at the end of a hike in the absolutely gorgeous Capitol Reef National Park.  Having a stranger take your photo (on a phone, no less, while doing crazy poses and trying not to fall off a cliff) doesn’t usually work out too well, but I’d say @lilmacri327 did a great job with these. Thanks, Katie!
NEW BLOG POST: We stopped for a work day at Lake M NEW BLOG POST: We stopped for a work day at Lake Mead, and this was the backdrop where I finished a review of my 2 favorite #zerowaste deodorants, including these from @papercosmetics . They've been keeping us impressively un-stinky during the past couple of (almost shower-free) weeks on the road!  And best of all, NO SINGLE-USE PLASTIC. We don't need it, we really don't. We've just been beat over the head with years of marketing from big companies who want us to believe we do.  The full review is on my blog (link in bio), and if you try @papercosmetics , use the discount code MAP15 for 15% off!
Moab can get overwhelmingly busy (and of course, t Moab can get overwhelmingly busy (and of course, these days, my crowd tolerance has fallen through the floor). But this stop at the Windwhistle Campground just south of town was a peaceful break from the busyness, and even half-empty on a Saturday night!  I love that empty places like this still exist - and it’s only because we protect them that they stay clean & wild.  #blmland #KeepUtahWild
I swear that’s the Grand Canyon behind me. A c I swear that’s the Grand Canyon behind me.  A couple of posts ago I mentioned leaving parka weather behind. Well, the best laid plans... Luckily we got there early enough to get some views the night before!  Am I the only one who gets #climateanxiety from extreme/unseasonable weather? As in.... Even if a storm like this in late March isn't *totally* unheard of in northern Arizona, maybe it's not supposed to be happening, and it's really hard to be sure, and that drives you crazy?  📷 photo of me, of course, by @theaviaoexperience
Follow on Instagram

Footer

HOW TO SUPPORT THIS BLOG ❤️

If you find this blog useful + want to show your support, following my Instagram + Facebook pages and sharing my blog posts on social media are HUGE helps, and/or you can contribute a few “thank you” dollars here!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Blog
About
Contact
Work With Me
Privacy Policy
Resources & Discount Codes

Searching for Something?

Join me on Wanderful!

A supportive social network for travelers & travel bloggers (online & off). Details here!Tilted Map travel blog is a "proud member of Wanderful. Women helping women travel the world."

Tilted Map

Copyright © 2021 · Ketti Wilhelm & Ketti Wilhelm Communications LLC | All Rights Reserved