One Sure Fire Way to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing Again
Posted on May 15, 2017
I don’t believe in writer’s block.
After all, why should writers get special privileges to claim a category all to themselves? Have you ever heard of “cooking-supper block”, or “doing-the-laundry block”, or “anything-else-you’d-like-to-put-off block”?
I often must create Excel spreadsheets. There’s no such thing as “creating-a-spreadsheet block”? I either dig in and create my Excel spreadsheet or I don’t. Sorry. Not a thing.
I think it’s a handy way for writers to claim that something beyond themselves is keeping them from writing that novel or finishing their book. Nice try. But this fish is just not biting.
The issue is this — it takes real guts to start with a blank page and slowly coax it to take its first breath. Writing, that amazing creative process of writing, is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage and guts. But so does doing the laundry and paying bills. Maybe not as glamorous as thinking up imaginary worlds, but here is the fix, pure and simple . . . just dig in and start!
That is, after all, what separates real writers from “wannabe” writers.
Real writers don’t wait for inspiration, they make their own. They figure out a way to reach down inside and find something to make them keep going . . . minute after minute, hour after hour, week after week, month after month.
A Trick That Works For Me
So if you’re absolutely tied up in knots and can’t figure a way to get moving again, I’ve found a handy trick to stir up my creative juices — maybe it will work for you.
Pull a good book off the shelf. A good book, mind you. One of those you’ve read before and thoroughly loved . . . and wouldn’t mind reading again.
Open it up to any page, any page at all. And then . . . here comes the magic . . . just start typing it out, word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page.
I know they’re not your words and your thoughts. But just the act of taking excellent words off a page, moving them through the cobwebby spaces of your mind, out through your fingers and on to the computer screen (or a blank sheet of paper), will do wonders to get you moving forward again. See if it works for you.
Question of the Day: What tips and tricks do you use to get the inspirational juices flowing? I’d love to know what works for you.