This might be obvious, but there are tons of writing prompts out there, and if you commit to doing them regularly, even if they're short, you'll start getting your flow back. (If anyone knows a good source, add it below!) It's nice to have the choice of topic made for you, so you don't end up feeling attached to much about it, although you might surprise yourself with what you come up with. I started a weekly virtual group a while back to do exercises as a communal accountability thing, and that really got me excited about writing again. Morning pages were also something mentioned here a while ago.
Basically anything that gets you into the technical habit of writing, so when you want to write about something specific, you'll be practiced and ready! I have found that inspiration has an easier time breaking through to the page when I'm not as rusty. Also, unless you want to submit a piece to a publication that fits a certain guideline, there are no rules. The fewer boxes you try to fit yourself into, the easier it flows!
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If I want to just write SOMETHING I'll do some automatic writing. I often get random phrases stuck in my head so I usually start off with one of these and then just... keep going. It doesn't have to make sense it just needs to exist and get you moving. If you get stuck start describing the room, the weather, what you're wearing, what you ate today, etc. being really descriptive with language is always a good exercise.
Tips:
- Don't go into it expecting to write anything good. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, the point is just to write something.
- Don't read it back straight away. Just write and leave it. Come back to it next time you open your journal and see if you can find anything good in there. You might find a good turn of phrase or word you've not used in a while
- Automatic writing is a great way to make use of those words or phrases that you overhear or that get stuck in your head. You might find yourself making sense of them or putting them next to another idea that makes both stronger.
Apr 22, 2024
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currently working through the artist’s way, and morning pages have quickly become a fav. It’s a steam-of-thought/get everything on the page daily habit. I find it’s great to just get the momentum going if I want to work but I’m stuck on what to do (you can even think through this conflict on the page and brainstorm solutions or figure out why you don’t feel like it). I like to also look through stuff I wrote previously if I had any good ideas I didn’t know what to do with at the time.
2d ago
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For example: Give yourselves one hour to write a short story.
That's what my pal and I have been doing since 2020. For awhile, we did it every Wednesday. There were periods of burnout where we did it just once every few weeks/month. At other times, we've done challenges were we did it everyday for a month (that's our practice this month of Feb). We usually audio record what we've written and share it with each other via Whatsapp (he lives in the UK).
It's a beautiful, sometimes daunting, practice. I've amassed a google doc with 100,000+ words just by showing up to do this. It's never about quality, more just a method of working things out. :-)
Feb 8, 2024
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The perfect lil snack for when you don’t want a big snack
Apr 3, 2024
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We're long overdue in thrusting "What do you do?" into the sea forever. It's time we collectively get down to what people are interested in instead of minimizing their vibrant existence by asking how they make money.
Mar 22, 2024