Any other writers on here struggling to get back into the habit this week? I’ve spent a lot of time staring at an empty page lately. If you’ve got any tips or tricks for getting your brain unstuck, I’d love to hear them. #amwriting #writingcommunity
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I'd been sitting on one spot for too long so I decided to outline the following chapter instead. Said outline was maybe 400 words, gave it to the husband, who started asking questions for me to continue to flesh out and make note of.
Now I'm just thinking about how to describe the environment.
When I write, I consider each character in the scene and see if I've left something unexplored for each one of them. That sometimes can give me the kickoff and a new insight.
Perhaps some very short freewriting exercises? The #vss365 hashtag gives a daily prompt word for folks to skeet a bit of microfiction. I've gotten some great story ideas by doing this daily practice. Although of course most of them are rubbish, there are some gems in there!
Maybe you need a break? Sometimes doing nothing is something, ie, when you take a break it allows your mind to rest and your creative energies to regenerate a bit. Maybe take a walk (weather and environment permitting) and see if that helps. A nice stroll always kicks things loose for me personally.
Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time walking my neighborhood trying to give my brain a reset, but it does tend to bump up against my inner voice telling me I need to be productive *right now* 😅 But at least there are a lot of neighborhood cats to pet 😸
What IS productivity anyways for a writer? Is is a mandatory word count? Is it daydreaming? Tinkering? Talking out plot points to oneself? Plotting/outlining? Doodling? There's a lot of stuff that writers do that isn't putting down words, but IS productive. Let yourself explore possibilities?
One of my favourite warm-up exercises I learned from @amalelmohtar.com ‘s newsletter is, describe a bird. Any bird. Just write about a bird, and see what happens. No pressure, and it gets visuals and words flowing (for me at least 😊)
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Go figure. The brain is a wild and strange place
Now I'm just thinking about how to describe the environment.
My writing is too dark for my wife, alas. I'm in need of readers, but not yet.
Tell him I'm grateful to know there's an avid first reader for your work!