by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Sometimes I think that we need something to spur us on and get us going.
We need something different to help us either grow or keep ourselves engaged. Maybe we’ve been working on one book for a long period of time. Maybe we’ve been working on a particular series so long that we feel we’re getting stale. Maybe it’s that we’ve been writing a single genre.
Sometimes we’re just weighed down by our story.
For me, the best thing I can do is to shake things up a little bit.
Write at a different time of day.
Write in a different place (my favorite is the library).
Read something really good. For me, this is usually something in a genre I’m not writing. Or, maybe, I’m reading a mystery, but it’s not the same subgenre. Or I’ll read an inspiring autobiography or biography on an artist.
I subscribe to one email newsletter that sparks my creativity: Austin Kleon. He has a wide variety of artistic interests.
Challenges are another popular way for writers to get their writing done. Some of the best-known challenges are:
NaNoWriMo: I never officially enter, but I set a personal writing goal and usually meet whatever that goal is.
Camp NaNoWriMo. I think these times of year (April and July) work much better for many people (aside from perhaps parents whose kids are home from school for spring break or summer).
Prompts and Sprints
Prompts can provide a fun way to get the creative juices flowing.
The NY Times has 500 prompts for narrative and personal writing.
Creative Writing Prompts for Writers has a nice backlog of prompts.
The Write Prompts has 1900 prompts of different kinds (images, journaling prompts, poetry prompts).
Reddit also has a writing prompts section.
Writing sprints can be a helpful way of making progress on our books, especially if we are hung up by perfectionism. If we’re writing as fast as we can, our writing can’t be perfect. Sprints can help remind us that the first draft is just for getting the story down on paper. If you want to join others doing writing sprints, Twitter is a good place to do so. A post by Ramona Defelice Long recommends going as far as to keep a sprint journal.
Other ideas are to explore new genres or other subgenres.
What have I missed? Do you have ways to keep creatively challenged when writing long-term?
Creative Challenges for Better Productivity: Share on XPhoto via WerbeFabrik via Visual Hunt
I need to try a prompt or something. I’ve been creatively stuck for so long now.
Hope it helps, Alex!
Hi Elizabeth – I need to change the tempo and change my habits … then life will change dramatically … creative thoughts about – just getting them all together and going somewhere sensible … time to start at the beginning …
It’s always good to read what others are doing … thanks for the idea to give us better productivity … cheers Hilary
Hilary–That’s honestly what helps me the most–changing it up a little. Hope it helps for you!
You are absolutely right, Elizabeth! Sometimes, we have to step out of the comfort zone, and try things a new way to get the juices flowing. Sometimes even an errand to a place I’ve not been before can shake me up. All sorts of ways to get the blood moving…
Margot–Errands are great because we have to do them anyway…may as well take advantage of the time!
Writing in a different way helps me. I got a Wave notebook for Christmas (the one that can be uploaded and microwaved blank five times) and it’s sparked my writing.
Diane–I’ll have to check those out! Sounds like a cool way to get inspired.
Thank you for the mention, Elizabeth. Sprinting has been a boon to my productivity. So effective and easy!
Ramona–Thanks for being a good resource for writers!
Ramona is a great speaker and converted me to the sprint writing method of getting stuff done.
Susan–It’s a great way to handle writing goals. :) Thanks for coming by!