5 Unique Tips to Get You Writing

Can't get that first sentence on the page? Try these tips to get you writing.

Magazine shop. Great ideas can come from opening a magazine and pointing to the first sentence or picture your finger lands on. "Shampoo and condition, then apply oil..."

Book shop. Use the first sentence you point to as the first sentence of your story. "They should ask Baal to send a fire to consume their offering..."

Dream a little. Wake up in the night? Write down your dream. Use the dream as the first line. "I was trapped in an elevator."

Listen to conversations. "You wouldn't believe what my son did last night."

Write about what you did the day before.  Choose something from your list that strikes you as funny - or a bit - odd. "I ate ice cream. Chocolate. My favorite. I wasn't hungry."

What I have learned is that there is always something to write about, I just have to wake up my brain from sleep mode.

Here's something to write about :)

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

How To Stop Getting Stuck - Four Ways I Get Through Writer's Block

Writer's block you say?

I know exactly how you feel. You're speaking beyond your roof. To the clouds. And then - whack! the clouds are gone and the roof has caved in.

Photo by Matt Artz

Now what? First things first. Pick yourself up. Writer's block happens for a reason, a least for me. 

I need to relax. 

I need to focus on something else.

I am not interested in what I am writing.

I should be doing something else.

Relaxing usually helps me. I take a break. I read. I sleep. I go outside for a walk. I breathe in and out.

When I go back to writing my mind is refreshed.

Focus. I need a break from what I am currently doing. I focus on another project that I have been putting off. I focus on a new idea - something still in the creation stage. I write nonsense. 

I am not happy with what I am writing. Maybe the writing isn't me. I pick up the book, "A Writer's Year -365 Creative Writing Prompts" by Emma Bastow. Great book to pull stuff out.

I should be doing something else like marketing. I don't want to market [necessarily] but I have a new book coming out at the end of August and I need to get the word out.

Writer's block doesn't have to stay - at least for very long.

See that hole in the roof?

When you look up you can still see the sky.

Photo by set.sj

 

What's Up? When You're Stuck in Your Writing

I know, I know, today's just one of those days when you're stuck in the muck. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed this morning too. That is, until I looked outside.

Another sunny day. (Sorry you folks who are on the east coast).



It's a funny thing, this weather. And though I'm enjoying it immensely, I am also hoping there's not a water shortage later on.

Kind of like getting stuck.

You're sort of going with the flow; pun intended, when suddenly everything changes. You're up to your eyeballs in snow or writing projects, except (and this is a big one) nothing will come. You sit there staring at a blank screen or a blank piece of paper hoping that something, anything will come to you.

I have spoken a few times about writer's block and what I do to get through it; i.e., go to another project, take a walk, look through magazine pictures and write about something you see using the five senses, but I haven't spoken about being truly stuck, and I think it's an important subject to discuss.

Getting stuck may mean writer's block, but it may also mean that something large enough to stop you, maybe even for good, is blocking your path. To be honest? Sometimes I am stopped, not because I can't think of anything to say for whatever reason, but because something needs to be changed in my writing.

I have had to change a scene. I have had to change what a character says. I have to get the character's name right :), I have to fix a hole in the plot or re-in-vision a secondary character who has suddenly, and without warning, become the main character. And that may mean revamping my story to make the secondary character the main character. I have had to scrap chapters that don't work or a slow beginning.

Have you?



Getting stuck is no fun but it does present a great opportunity if we take a look head on and ask ourselves why we're really stuck. If it's because we are simply 'lazy' fine, take care of it, but if it's more than that, it's important that we take a second look so we can get out of the grandest muck of them all and continue with our story to its final end.

Kathryn

Wrestling With the Written Word

When the words you are using in your next writing project aren't coming easily, it might be equally easy to think that somehow you've lost your writer's touch.

Some folks call this "writers block," but I don't like the sound of that and try not to use it when it comes to my own writing.

When we wrestle with getting our words on paper or on computer screen, when we can't seem to find the right word for the sentence or the best way to describe a scene or character we might call this writer's block.

But the truth is, what is blocking us has nothing to do with writing but how we are currently dealing with life. For example, we may be struggling because we feel as if we have little time to write and so are trying to hurry. We might feel that the words we use are juvenile or inadequate, and to make our writing perfect all that we need is a good thesaurus. We may even try to push our words onto the paper. No matter what, I'm going to write this book. Even if it kills me.

Time. I'm currently working on a new book, but nothing is really coming yet, and so I'm using my time to write other things that are coming easily to me and taking notes when ideas come for the other project. I will continue to collect ideas until the light bulb turns on and I know it is time to write. Yes, some of my books have appeared from the get-go (I knew what to write from the first sentence forward) other books and stories have needed some time to gel. And so I'm giving this particular project some time.

Another great idea. Cut out some words from magazines. Choose 10 randomly. Use the 10 words to begin something new.
Photo by: Nina J.G.

Lack of Confidence. When we feel down about ourselves, we often have a hard time believing that we can write. We're no good, after all, and our confidence in our abilities is shot. When I'm feeling this way I go through my magazine pictures and write what I see. I put my current projects aside and have some fun writing something that may never be used. Another thing I do is to go back and re-read portions of manuscripts that others have told me that they like, or even love.

Pressure. If we're forcing our words on paper, we're not allowing inspiration to fill us and carry us forward. When this happens, the words we write are stilted and weak. We may even find that we can only write a few sentences before we feel we have "writers block." What we are really doing is writing without inspiration. When this happens I take a break and do something else. I may pray. I may read my scriptures. I may a take a moment and write a letter. Consider what inspires you other than your writing project and take a few minutes.

If you're currently wrestling with the written word consider what may be causing it. Whether you're dealing with a time issue, a lack of confidence issue or pressure to write when you don't feel like it, take a moment or two and consider the source.

You'll be back to writing. I promise.