Sometimes you just can’t fight a bad mood. You woke up on the wrong side of the bed and your morning tea didn’t hit you just right. You are grouchy, hangry, and tired. But, you have a happy little commercial to write, so you plaster on a smile and get to typing. There’s just no way you can get to writing with attitude.

This may not be the best use of your time. Unless the deadline is drawing near, you are probably better off capitalizing on your emotions more productively. Do you have any projects with that emotion in the voice? Now would be the time to write them. Harness your inner grumpy cat and your realism will soar.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of forcing yourself to get in the right mindset, it’s writing when you are already there. Even if you do not have any projects that need that attitude, it’s a great time to capture some creative work or take notes; just so you can draw upon the experiences later if you need to.

In this way, we can focus on writing with attitude rather than against it. Moreover, this allows us to harness our natural abilities and to make stronger connections with our audience. Happy, sad, angry, or apathetic, we need to be able to recognize, describe and use these emotions daily. This can become one of the routines in our creative lives.

This can only make our writing stronger as good prose is always emotionally driven. Our audience gains connection through their feelings and not through the prettiness of our words.

So, instead of working against them, harness those emotions. Capture the moments and reflect them back in your work.

Write with attitude.