The lovely Natasha Cox (writer and editor) at our recent Blissful Bali Retreat
Hit a wall with your writing? Is your novel or memoir going pear-shaped? Has your idea tank been on empty a while now? Can’t squeeze out another word? If so, you’re suffering from writer’s block, or burnout. A lot of us keep pushing and striving but there comes a point when we all need a breather, even from something we love to do – like writing.
EMERGENCY REBOOT AVAILABLE AT THE NEXT RELAX AND WRITE RETREAT! Springbrook 11-13 August.
Don’t worry, you don’t necessarily need a retreat (though these work like magic). You can get your writing mojo back, and it doesn’t take ages either.
Here’s my 7 DAY PLAN to regaining your creative spark.
You may need a hug to get you started.
DAY 1
STOP WRITING DAY!
Yes, I mean it. Put that pen down. Close your laptop, put away your keyboard and stop even trying to put a word on the page. LET IT GO! (Everything except your daily journal, that is)
While you’re at it STOP READING, STOP SCROLLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA, STOP LISTENING TO PODCASTS and STOP WATCHING CRAP TV (my own secret weakness). Do this for the entire week! If you really can’t go to sleep without reading then reread a classic you love.
The idea is to create a void. Nature abhors a vacuum so when you stop reading and writing and filling your mind with a mile a minute images and words, your own creative ideas will rush in to fill that gap.
What to do instead? Garden, cook, rearrange the furniture, do a drawing, sing a song, give yourself a pampering session, talk to a friend, go for a walk, stare at the moon (or howl at it if you feel really bad!)
DAY 2
AFFIRMATIONS DAY.
I love affirmations, they are the best tool I know to help overcome negative thought patterns that no longer serve us. Chances are if you’ve been writing a while, you’ve faced more than the average person’s share of rejection and criticism. Writers in general are sensitive souls, so these rejections and criticisms hit hard. The best affirmations are those you create yourself based on the opposite of the negative thoughts that are holding you back.
Eg: I’m a crap writer. Antidote: I AM A GOOD WRITER
I’ll never get published. Antidote: MY WORK IS PUBLISHED SUCCESSFULLY
My ideas are stupid. Antidote: I HAVE LOTS OF GREAT IDEAS FOR STORIES
I’m not clever enough to be a writer. Antidote: I AM AN INTELLIGENT AND CAPABLE WRITER
Examine your thoughts around the project you’re working on and devise some specific antidotes for those. Then write them out 10 times each, each day. And repeat them whenever a negative thought comes into your head. You can use these like mantras.
One of my all time favourite affirmations for writers is I AM CONFIDENT AND CAPABLE IN MY CREATIVE WORK. I CREATE EASILY AND FREELY. MY VOICE IS IMPORTANT. I DESERVE TO BE HEARD. I EXPRESS MYSELF WITH EASE. WRITING IS EASY AND FUN.
Repeat every day.
DAY 3
EXCURSION DAY
Take yourself on an excursion. Julia Cameron in her timeless, wonderful book The Artist’s Way calls these outings ARTIST DATES. When you get busy, these are the first activities that drop off the TO DO list. But they shouldn’t be! More and more I am realising just how vital these dates with ourselves are to refill our creative wells. You don’t have to go alone, but you’ll get more out of them if you do.
Some ideas for excursions: a walk somewhere you’ve never been before, a swim in the sea or a waterhole, or even the local pool, a second hand store trip to search for bargains, a visit to an old friend you haven’t see in ages, a museum visit, or an art gallery, or a trip down the river on a ferry, or a shopping trip to town, or a movie, or just lie on the grass and stare at the clouds.
DAY 4
EMPTY YOUR MIND DAY
Empty your mind! It may feel empty of ideas and writing right now but I guarantee you it’s full of a whole lot of other crappy thoughts, usually self-critical. If you’re not used to meditating just sit and breathe for 5 minutes, only 5 minutes!
Breathe in for a count, feeling the breath come in cool through your nostrils, then breathe out for the same count, feeling the breath leave the body warm.
If you find this tricky try one of my quick guided breathing practices. HUMMING BREATH with running water sounds or my CLEARING YOUR MIND meditation or you can find plenty of other guided meditations on Youtube or Insight Timer or similar you may find useful.
Make this a part of every day. First thing in the morning or last thing at night works best, or anytime your mind is freaking out!
DAY 5
EAVESDROPPING DAY
Eavesdrop! Eavesdropping is an important skill for writers. Take a trip somewhere on public transport, put your earbuds in, but don’t listen to anything, except the conversations of people around you. Go to a café and sit sipping on a drink for a long time, flapping your ears in the direction of any interesting discussions. Snippets of conversation are great for spinning off into stories later (you are allowed to jot down notes in your journal – but don’t do anything with them – yet!)
DAY 6
WHAT’S THEIR STORY? DAY
In the same vein as eavesdropping but even more fun. Again go somewhere you can people watch and make up stories about the people you see. What’s their story? Where are they going? What secrets do they have? I always like to play “If these were the only people left on earth, who would be leader, who would be the bad guy, who would be the first one eaten? Etc” A bit gruesome perhaps but fun. Remember to PLAY!
DAY 7
FINGER PAINTING DAY.
Grab a scrap book or some big sheets of paper and some cheap paint and go all kindergarten. Put an apron or old shirt over your clothes, use an ice-cream lid as your pallet, and get your fingers into the paint. Smear that stuff all over the paper, all over yourself if you like. Have fun with it! The idea is to let our inner child creator out to play. Make a mess. Art doesn’t have to be high art all the time. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece or even turn out well, it can just be for FUN! Remember why we started writing in the first place? Because it was fun! When we put too much pressure on our writing and ourselves it’s easy to forget that.
OK, the week is up! Not so hard was it. Maybe it was even a little bit fun. Maybe you’re feeling better? I hope so.
TIME TO WRITE AGAIN!
Take the attitude from finger painting, pick up your pen or your keyboard and WRITE! Play around with some of the conversations you overheard, or some of the people you imagined lives for. MUCK AROUND AND PLAY with your writing. Have fun.
The next step is to take that playful attitude and APPLY it to your WORK IN PROGRESS. It’s just playing after all, no pressure. Happy accidents, story insights, epiphanies and beautiful writing happen when we remove the heavy weight of our expectations of perfection.
I hope my 7 day writing mojo reboot works for you! It does the trick for me.
NEED SOME EXTRA HELP? EMERGENCY REBOOT AVAILABLE AT THE NEXT RELAX AND WRITE RETREAT! Springbrook 11-13 August.
Let me know how you go!
Lots of love
Edwina xxx
Edwina Shaw 