What is this powerful, mysterious force that compels us to start writing let alone continue day after day? At heart, it is passion.
If you are bored with your writing or don't know how to get started, you may have lost touch with your passion.
How do you find the fire that electrifies your desire? How do you spark your passion? Read on! Step One: Identify Your Passions What gets you up in the morning? What keeps you going during the day? List everything, including writing.
Finish these phrases: "I love ...
" or "I absolutely can't live without...
" or "What excites me the most is...
" Now specify what kind of writing you love.
How does it drive you wild?! If not, why not? List all your reasons: practical, silly, emotional, bizarre.
Be specific in your reply, be revealing, and tell yourself something you've never acknowledged before.
Step Two: Spark Your Passion Narrow your choices down to one.
How do you spark your passion? By writing, I imagine.
But instead of doing what you've always been doing, spice up your writing by changing your routine.
Change your environment.
If you always write at home, go to a friend's house or to a café to write.
If you live in the city, go to the country overnight, or vice versa.
Nothing helps reset a body clock like being in nature.
But the city can be just as vivifying too.
Or, rearrange or clean your writing space: Bring in a new item that isn't about writing.
Write with all your senses and let your mind wander far and deep, and into the past or far into the future for inspiration.
The universe is the limit! Gather items to enliven and spark excitement, for example, an orange, cinnamon, felt, wool, silk, a stone, lavender, nutmeg, a chanting bell.
Take risks.
What is the next riskiest thing you can do with your writing? Do it.
For example, write stronger, or make your characters bolder.
Now what is the next riskiest thing? Do that too.
Until, voilà, you've moved beyond your comfort zone into a totally fired-up place where you feel amazing because you did it! You wrote the very thing you thought you couldn't.
Step Three: Invite the Writing Block to Lunch Writing blocks, these monsters that attack from behind--how do we deal with them?! Turn and face them! And know that you are not alone.
Every writer on the planet has experienced moments of complete block.
But instead of talking about how stuck you are and analyzing the causes, let's trick the monster.
Invite him, her or it to a meal.
Be it lunch or high tea at home, on a picnic, or at the seaside, assemble all your favorite, delectable delights.
Be sure to ask your monster its favorites too.
Your invitation must be genuine and kind.
Your writer's block monster wants to feel welcomed after all.
Set a definite place and time.
When your monster arrives, greet it kindly.
Engage it in polite conversation.
During the after-meal digestif, settle into the more serious matters.
Share with the monster what you write and the reasons why, and ask it why it comes around at certain times.
What does it want from you? Be sure not to scream this last question.
It might cry.
Once you understand each other's motivations and goals, then perhaps, over the last bites of cake, you can come to an agreement.
By understanding why and how our internal "monsters" inhibit our passion, we can galvanize our writing in new ways.
Let us remain respectful of the creative drive and feed it plenty of fuel.
If we do, our passion will remain faithful for as long as we choose to be the creative beings we all are.
Happy Writing!
If you are bored with your writing or don't know how to get started, you may have lost touch with your passion.
How do you find the fire that electrifies your desire? How do you spark your passion? Read on! Step One: Identify Your Passions What gets you up in the morning? What keeps you going during the day? List everything, including writing.
Finish these phrases: "I love ...
" or "I absolutely can't live without...
" or "What excites me the most is...
" Now specify what kind of writing you love.
How does it drive you wild?! If not, why not? List all your reasons: practical, silly, emotional, bizarre.
Be specific in your reply, be revealing, and tell yourself something you've never acknowledged before.
Step Two: Spark Your Passion Narrow your choices down to one.
How do you spark your passion? By writing, I imagine.
But instead of doing what you've always been doing, spice up your writing by changing your routine.
Change your environment.
If you always write at home, go to a friend's house or to a café to write.
If you live in the city, go to the country overnight, or vice versa.
Nothing helps reset a body clock like being in nature.
But the city can be just as vivifying too.
Or, rearrange or clean your writing space: Bring in a new item that isn't about writing.
Write with all your senses and let your mind wander far and deep, and into the past or far into the future for inspiration.
The universe is the limit! Gather items to enliven and spark excitement, for example, an orange, cinnamon, felt, wool, silk, a stone, lavender, nutmeg, a chanting bell.
Take risks.
What is the next riskiest thing you can do with your writing? Do it.
For example, write stronger, or make your characters bolder.
Now what is the next riskiest thing? Do that too.
Until, voilà, you've moved beyond your comfort zone into a totally fired-up place where you feel amazing because you did it! You wrote the very thing you thought you couldn't.
Step Three: Invite the Writing Block to Lunch Writing blocks, these monsters that attack from behind--how do we deal with them?! Turn and face them! And know that you are not alone.
Every writer on the planet has experienced moments of complete block.
But instead of talking about how stuck you are and analyzing the causes, let's trick the monster.
Invite him, her or it to a meal.
Be it lunch or high tea at home, on a picnic, or at the seaside, assemble all your favorite, delectable delights.
Be sure to ask your monster its favorites too.
Your invitation must be genuine and kind.
Your writer's block monster wants to feel welcomed after all.
Set a definite place and time.
When your monster arrives, greet it kindly.
Engage it in polite conversation.
During the after-meal digestif, settle into the more serious matters.
Share with the monster what you write and the reasons why, and ask it why it comes around at certain times.
What does it want from you? Be sure not to scream this last question.
It might cry.
Once you understand each other's motivations and goals, then perhaps, over the last bites of cake, you can come to an agreement.
By understanding why and how our internal "monsters" inhibit our passion, we can galvanize our writing in new ways.
Let us remain respectful of the creative drive and feed it plenty of fuel.
If we do, our passion will remain faithful for as long as we choose to be the creative beings we all are.
Happy Writing!