So true! I also think about where you would be if you wrote X amount of words every day you chose not to write.
@Tea@3, that's the same advice that my therapist gave me. We were talking about my inability (at that time) to even finish a story that I started. So, he told me to carve out an hour from my schedule and just sit at the computer to write. Even if I don't write anything, it's more about being in the space than anything else. However, to try and make that time somewhat productive, if I didn't have anything more to add to my story, I would sometimes write in my journal. I found that when I started writing about other things, not related to my story, just the act of getting my thoughts on paper (so to speak) generated an interest in continuing my story. I don't think I said that as well as I meant to, but I'm sure you can get the gist of it.
Spend some time brainstorming. Jot down ideas, let yourself do some free writing. I'm working on regaining motivation too after a long illness. Life as a writer is always challenging.
This may sound a little strange, but I spin wool and created my world on the wheel. I get lots of ideas when spinning. If you have creative things that you do, set yourself a task, or draw or colour something in, but restrict it in some way, certain colours only, drawing in certain style, to make yourself think about what you are doing. It will keep your brain creative, but make you focus on your new thing keeping your mind open for inspired thoughts. Also, it takes the focus off worrying about not feeling creative with your writing. : )
Oh my goodness there are so many good ideas here! It seems that @Tea@3 and @datahound2u butt in the chair idea seems to be what has done the trick, but I plan to keep all these ideas in mind for next time. Thank you all so much!
I like to make a fake book cover in Photoshop. Nothing like visualizing the finished book to make you want to finish it -
That's a cool idea. I've thought of doing that. Are there templates for it or do you build it from scratch? I could see 'knocking off' some of my favorite authors' covers supplanting my own name and title.
I build from scratch. But I think if you Google there should be some templates out there. I usually try and find a cover I like and borrow something creatively to make it easier. For Worms of Wicher Woo - I loved the corner embellishments I seen on old book covers so I used them. Right now as I'm working on Not Pink I found a great tone on tone cover that I liked and am trying to incorporate that detail. Brusheezy is also a good site for free wallpaper and brushes.
This is going to sound trite... perhaps even glib... unplug your Ethernet cable, sit in that chair, type. I think we get too caught up in wanting to know what we'll be writing before it's written. I also think that attitude comes from wanting to have something to sell. If the goal is to write, just sit down and do it. Of course, most writers don't actually want to write; they want to have written.
1. Find a good idea for a plot and/or interesting characters. If you don't have either of these you're in for a bad time in writing. Don't be afraid to look at other authors stories to find inspiration. 2.Sitt your butt down for at least one hour a day, with no distractions. I prefer to put pandora on but sometimes no music is good too. Stare at the paper and screen and if nothing happens in that hour its still progress, trust me though, you will write something. 3. If you think something is crap don't be so quick to delete it. Leave it. What I like to do is repetition Write the same sentence over and over if its not working but modify it ex. Jane tossed her bag out of the car Jane tossed the heavy bag out of the car Jane struggled to toss the bag full of jewels out of the car Jane struggled heaved the bag full of jewels out of the jeep Jane reluctantly heaved the bag full of jewels over her shoulders and out of the jeep and into the ravine, if she couldn't have them no one would. Jane reluctantly heaved the bag of jewels over her shoulders and watched as they fell out of the jeep, hurtling down a ravine. If she couldn't have them no one would. See? I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write and still ended up making an interesting sentence.
Dude, you are oozing wisdom in your posts. Once again, brilliant in its simplicity. (Tom Clancy fan?)
I agree with Sack-A-Doo. Been writing a year, just finished first edit of my second book. Everytime i struggled with the current or next scene, or where i want the story to go, or how to develop. I started writing something else, and i mean anything else. Each time I started thinking on this brand new project - some just started with the name of a character - I always soon ended up with a solution to the original problem. The age old, take your mind off it. As a result of this. I have now outlined at least 7 new books. Two of which i have already written chapters for. So now I have finished first edit, and have sent it off to family for pre ideas. I can already start concentrating on my new project, my only issue being...which one So my advice, if anyones struggle, start writing something, anything. Rgds Mikey
I am... sort of. I used to read everything he wrote, but then I got tired of reading about Americans saving the world.
If you're open to a self-help book, I found the Motivation Manifesto to be extraordinarily helpful. After a few pages I was balls deep into stuff I had been lacking the motivation to do. A friend borrowed it and she became immediately industrious after reading a few pages as well. Sometimes I'll flip to a random page and feel motivated shortly after. Pretty amazing stuff.
Hey can you give the author's name? There are multiple books with this title by different authors and I want to know which one you are talking about.
@sprirj I totally agree! Every day, when I sit down to write, before I actually get going, I take the time to peruse the site a bit. It helps keep me motivated and remember that there are other people out there writing and dealing with the same sorts of writing problems I am. Plus, everyone here is so kind and helpful, that if I'm ever seriously stuck (as I am/was/will be again I'm sure) they'll help out.
I hadn't written anything at all in over a year, that is until a couple days ago. I just didn't have the drive, or urge. Like you, it just dried up one day, so I simply moved on. Luckily for me my day job is in a factory, and not writing. But a couple months ago, I had to buy a new laptop, and over this time I had been slowly transferring files over, and I finally got to the folder with my old stories in it, and ones I had jotted down ideas, and several stories I simply never finished. But out of sentiment, I wanted to go back and read through my last story I wrote, one I had big plans for but never got all the way through the second part of what I figures as a four or five part story. So I sat there and started reading it, then I realized I did a pretty good job on it, many parts I don't even remember writing. So I started noticing small mistakes, double words, misspellings, words that just didn't. So I corrected them as I read. Next thing I knew I was at the spot where I stopped writing when the words and story just left me one day. Much to my amazement I started feeling what I did way back then, and the words and story were suddenly there, just waiting to come out. I wrote for over four hours that day, finished part two, wrote all of part three, and now am getting ready to start part four, the one I was imagining the most back then because it's were all the action and fun takes place. So basically I suggest to look back over your old work (hopefully you still have some of it) and your mind might get creative again, or urge you to change stuff or maybe write sequels, maybe even get ideas for future stories.
Tell urself its ok to write shit. Alot of problems with writers is that they are afraid to write something kmperfect when in reality there is no perfection.
I was dedicated to writing every day from the early 1990s until 2004. That year, I took a post-grad course in screenwriting and, over the next nine months, burned myself out. Over the next ten years, I made a few meager attempts to write that all ended with me feeling exhausted, but early in 2015, I finally got back to it. What I learned: I can only write four to five hours per day, five days per week. Any more than that and I burn out. Not going there again. I have to stick to one form of writing, novels. Trying to write screenplays, radio scripts, stageplays and novels alternately or all at the same time is far too much for me. Finding my ultimate writing genre got me back into the game (humorous science fiction) I kept poking at the writing monster until it got up and took a piece out of me. Now I've once again been devoured. Getting past emotional roadblocks helped a lot. If this is a factor for you, I suggest meditation as opposed to medication. I do hope this gives you some ideas for how you can get past all the crap and get back to it.
So what does one do when the block is medical in nature? I can think of ideas and what happens next, I just have zero drive to do it. I recently had surgery (nasty stuff) and Im not there yet, but this could be my default for the rest of my life... So what to do? I realized that my entire novel was written while on painkillers. Not exactly good (although LOTS of artists take "stuff" for creativity. But is that what I want to be?)
Sorry to hear that. Is it that you're in too much pain to physically write/type, or that you're mentally exhausted? Or both?
My husband is still in hospital after his complicated surgery nearly two months ago for mouth cancer. He is doing very well (and the cancer is gone, requiring no further treatment ) but he has experienced exactly what you describe, and is only now becoming more brain-active. For a long time he couldn't concentrate on things like emails, or reading, or watching TV. His brain just wouldn't focus on these things. Even reading a newspaper was difficult for him, because he couldn't concentrate. Our consultant told us that this is a very common reaction after such a traumatic illness, and that we needed to be patient about all his prior interests returning. And sure enough they have started to. His emails are now more than just a sentence long, and he's starting watching his programmes again and reading his Kindle. I would say to just relax. There is a dictat that many adhere to, that if you're not writing every day that you're slacking off and will never be a writer. This is not true, as many bestselling writers will attest. If you can't concentrate or create right now, just take the pressure off yourself. Wait till the muse comes back. Allow yourself to daydream stories, maybe live in another world for a while. Or just stare into space and allow yourself to heal.
@Tenderiser Yes, its both. I'm still relearning how to do things with my hands from the nerve damage (playing guitar is the worst) But its the lack of sleep and complete lack of mood. I made a conscious effort to post here, to force myself to type again. @jannert I don't have much of a choice but to "take it easy" Its driving me a bit nuts because I'm bored, I can't sleep but I can't do much else. The thing is that I have the muse. I wrote the outlines to the sequels to my novel (3 sequels and a paragraph for the 5th) plus a very interesting standalone novel, a somewhat dark sci fi...Ill post on that later... So the inspiration is there, but the will to sit down and actually write is not. I write and everything I see on the page seems like garbage to me, so I delete it, and start over, and again, it's trash and so on. I just can't focus enough. Of course it makes a person wonder if the painkillers were the spark to my writing. I hate to think that's the case, but what if that's true? I had others read my work before, and they all loved it (and they are sci fi readers) so I wasnt in some drug stupor. It's just frustrating, but I don't have much of a choice. I have to go on, because I still can't work, my employer (which I'm suing) is beyond difficult and refused to sign any papers so I could get workers comp, so Im just a few months away from ending up living in my car. Life's grand, aint it? AB
