When I'm stuck or seem to lack motivation, I often force myself to start putting words on paper.
I just grab a notebook — not a digital device, gotta eliminate escapes and distractions — and start writing. Even if it it begins with "I don't know what the hell to write," at least I'm writing.
Eventually it goes somewhere.
Oct 16, 2024
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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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I write lyrics/poems/prose/essays/the occasional substack/text based art/performance art and the most successful process I've found works for me is just 'hold a pen and hope that it happens'. I can't get any real ideas done on a laptop (my substacks are all drafted in bullet points by hand first). I don't write every day because I don't have the energy or time or enough that is important to say. I only write when I really get the urge in my fingertips and then I get my notebook and just open the page and get whatever out I can. Sometimes it's an idea I've been mulling over that finally comes out and others it's just nonsense sentences that eventually form something.
Basically my advice if you're struggling to get started is just whenever you think you want to do it, just hold a pen and a blank piece of paper and just do it. Maybe it'll be brilliant from the off. First lines are hard so don't worry about it if it's not, fourth lines are where it gets good. I definitely produce 70/30 shit/good writing and that's okay because who's reading it??
Also sometimes you go back a few months later and realise that what you thought was terrible was actually great all along it just needed a different context!
May 3, 2024
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Nothing is as powerful than just sitting down and doing it. I have been plagued by my perfectionism. even my mood has to be in the correct zone before starting something but that makes me not do anything. if you want to write, pick up a pen and a notebook. dont overthink. jut write anything that pops into your mind. sames goes with starting anything.
Apr 17, 2024
Top Recs from @mattshawsome
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this is worthy of celebration: the lack of video—autoplay video, noisy inane video, panicky video, algorithmic, dumb video, rabbit hole video, any video—on pi.fyi is a good thing
Oct 5, 2024
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this is going to hurt — A LOT — but it's getting to the point where there's no other option
2d ago
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one of my 2025 habit goals
alone or with others, it is the best
Jan 21, 2025