What Rainy Weather Can Do For Your Writing

Last night around dinner time I mowed the lawn. It needed it. After all the fertilizing my husband had done and the wicked rain we've had recently, there just wasn't any other choice.

Photo by aussiegall, courtesy of Flickr

I'd considered mowing this morning, but THAT choice would have been poor seeing as it's pouring today. I love and I hate rainy days. I love them because I am often in-doors when it's coming down and out and about when it's not.

If you're cooped up today as well, consider these options for your writing:

• Get one or both of my e-books and Amazon.com TODAY for FREE and do some reading. Reading is always helpful to writers who want to learn a particular style of writing or improve their craft.
• Take some time off to relax. Most of the time we're going a hundred and one miles an hour, down a curvy street. (Have you been down the one in San Francisco?) After relaxing, you often feel rejuvenated; something all writers need to keep going on their projects. 
• Write like there's no tomorrow. One thing about rainy days--you often want to stay indoors, so why not get your next novel going?
• Visit over the phone rather than through email. When we get busy, we send off emails because it's quicker and easier to get the information we need. Convenience is often the key, and we may neglect to speak with our loved ones live because we are so busy doing other things. But talking with others often brings up great ideas for your next work, you may even find yourself digging into that stalled project because of the great talk.



Photo by FindYourSearch, courtesy of Flickr

• Turn off the television and listen to music. I know writers who play certain pieces of music to get their creative juices flowing. 
• Watch the rain through the window and write a scene about it. You may decide to use this scene in your next short story or book, but being there and writing as the raining is happening will help your writing to be more authentic than if you were merely remembering what it was like the last time. Use your five senses so the writer will feel the scene.
• Go dancing. When was the last time you danced in the rain? 

Perhaps the rain is coming down and you didn't mow your lawn--the grass looks more like a jungle. I've experienced that too. Write about it.