Whenever you don’t feel like writing, use these 2 tricks to turn your dread into enthusiasm and you’ll be back in the chair and re-energized to get your writing done.
As Shrek says, “Better out than in!” Check out the 3 reasons writing makes you feel better and how to remember this any time you’re feeling blue, so you can more easily turn your mood around ~
We’ve all experienced it – you’re working away on a project and realize after several paragraphs have gone by that you veered substantially off course. Rather than get frustrated at the loss of time or wasted effort at making such a “mistake,” instead, turn your perspective upside down and celebrate it! Such creative mistakes may not be fruitful immediately, but in the long term, they always show you the true energy of your project or become excellent material for another.
Learn how to stop being a perfectionist and just write your first draft, so the writing becomes innovative, fresh, and dynamic, and you feel freer doing it!
Do you hold onto your best material, thinking that once you use it, you can’t write about it again? If so, here’s some great news: not only can you write about the same theme, topic, characters, settings, and general ideas over and over to get the most mileage out of your writing, but you can repurpose your content into all manner of other work. When you use your writing as a launching pad for yet more writing, you’ll have a near endless resource of options for future publications!
Some writers love the bells and whistles of online writing apps, but many find staying simple is best. There’s much to praise about writing on index cards for organizing your ideas, mapping out a project, and feeling connected to the process..
Need a break from your writing? Try doodles: the best way to “write not write.” Playing with other creative forms is guaranteed to loosen your blocks, open up your flow, and reinvigorate your soul and spirit so you can get back to writing every time!
A gift of a physical thing can be wonderful, but when you give an experience, you’re helping change a person forever and shaping their life story.
Recently I sat down to talk about writing with Thea Sutton, author of historical novel, The Women of Blackmouth Street and writing coach and mentor on the One Lit Place creative team. We discussed the three Ps: perfectionism, permission, and pleasure in writing and how writers can avoid, give, and enjoy them in turns by making minor shifts to our expectation of the creative process.
Writers need to unplug as much as anyone. Yet while how writers unplug may look like work to the layperson, our continuing to stay creative refuels us in important ways.
