According to Merriam-Webster, a writer is defined as such:

"one who writes."

So whether you love writing and dive right into essays and papers like there's no tomorrow, or it's a dreaded, required task that haunts you in your dreams, if you write on the regular (even if you claim to not be good at it)...congratulations: you're a writer!

Certainly this should only be taken with a grain of salt, as a writer is oftentimes defined as so much more, but each and every one of us is, in some way, a writer: whether you write for a blog, have published your own novel series, or you just write because you're required to finish and submit your philosophy paper by midnight.

But regardless of whether you love writing or not, it certainly has its numerous struggles. If you're a writer, perhaps you can relate to at least one (or all eight!) of these struggles that I commonly face during the writing process:

1. Having so many great story ideas...

Issues facing society, a life-changing encounter you just had at Panera Bread, the Great Wall of China..there's so many options!

2. ...but then complaining about having NOTHING to write about

Is it that we really have nothing to write about, or is it that we have far too many options with far too little time?

3. Struggling to get your thoughts on paper (or, screen)

So many story thoughts seem to be zipping through your mind during the most inconvenient times: class, bedtime, while you're trying to focus on completing something else), but then when you finally get to sit down to your computer: BOOM. All ideas are either gone or jumbled up in your head, making it impossible to ever successfully complete the piece you have been thinking about when you should have been thinking about your professor's lecture on Tort Law.

4. DEADLINES

School papers, case briefs, time-sensitive news stories, and etc.: there always seems to be a deadline for our works daunting us and forcing us to write/type/think at supersonic speed. Can I have an extension, please?

5. Starting a new story before finishing the other 7 you've been meaning to finish

But this new idea is so much better than my old ones, I'll finish this one for sure!

6. Feeling like your work Is never good enough

It's true that we are indeed our own worst critics, but when it comes to writing, it's easy to become extremely critical.

What will people think? Is this story too long? Is it interesting? Is the title creative? Is this A-level work?

This is terrible. Why can't I just write a decent paper.

Is it actually terrible?

The list could go on.

7. Looking back at old papers/stories/anything you've ever written

The lack of proper grammar. The use of "your" when it was really supposed to be a "you're." The multiple stopped sentences when you really could have just used a darn comma. Cringe.

On the plus side, looking back at these old compositions helps you realize just how far you've come as a writer.

8. Rambling on

Which is just about exactly what I'm doing with this list.

But despite its (many) struggles, nothing is quite as rewarding as FINALLY finishing your story/paper/whatever the heck you've been endlessly working on and watching yourself grow as a writer!

But I'm curious...which struggle(s) can you relate to the most?