When we were first locked down last year, it was all a bit of a novelty. People came up with clever means of keeping themselves and others entertained — sourdough bake offs, live gig streaming, elaborate choir zoom casts, online theatre productions and more. This time around as we hunker down again there’s less enthusiasm for such intiatives and it’s easier for the doldrums to creep in.
There’s plenty of good advice around for how to get through these days of restrictions and uncertainty. See here.
As writers and artists we are used to spending time alone in our creative practice and can use these days to really get stuck into our current project. But how do we deal with all the feelings and questions bubbling up about the uncertain future we are facing. My answer is…
WRITE YOUR WAY THROUGH ( or ways to mix up your writing activities).
Start a journal, revamp an old one or make a journal out of scrap paper. Spend 10 mins each day, writing without stopping, whatever comes up. Other days, write your feelings out in one sentence, first thing when you get up in the morning and last thing before sleep. Or mix it up by simply writing lists of single words.
Dedicate your journal to the lockdown, pasting in cuttings, pictures, cut up text, in the same way you would keep a creative journal on one of our trips.
Don’t limit yourself to writing — use collage, line drawing, water colour, pastels, pens etc.
Don’t limit yourself to writing prose, try your hand at haiku, limericks, nature poetry, haibun and more.
Mix up your genres. Try writing some flash fiction in different styles: psychological thriller, murder mystery, romance, fantasy, magic realism, black comedy etc. Limit yourself to one page or less. Send some off to flash fiction or micro lit comps. (Check out Spinelss Wonders comps and opps here).
Join a writer’s site for daily writing prompts. I did this recently with poet Caroline Reid just for the month of August. It was wonderful to have a new idea in my inbox every morning.
When emotions bubble up and have nowhere to go, write them out. Exaggerate, amplify, go over the top. Write without stopping until you can’t write any more. Create characters who are in your shoes. Settings that enhance the feelings you need to express. Make up ridiculous plots, challenging situations, fantastical endings.
Left Page Hack
If you write in notebooks write only on the right page and leave the left page free for stuff that comes up. Or if you get stuck on the right, go on the left page and write — I’m stuck, I’m stuck over and over, or write out all the reasons the writing is not flowing, or all the feelings that are getting in the way. Keep writing on the left page until you write your way through. Go back to the right page when you are ready to flow on again, or follow any interesting threads that come up on the left, going back and underlining any ideas that may be useful for the right. Are you following me? I hope so…
If you do all your writing on the computer dedicate a separate doc for writing through your thoughts or dedicate a whole offline (or online) notebook to this activity. You can have a series of notebooks dedicated to different kinds of things you need to get off your chest. Don’t forget the Things I Can’t Write About notebook. Keep it under lock and key or burn it when you fill it up. But your best seller may be between those pages!
Remember your underlining tool. Go back over any of the incidental writing you have done and underline any interesting words, phrases, sentences. Use them as the start of a new writing exercise or make a note to incorporate into your main writing where relevant.
And when you feel like shit just WALK!
Happy Writing!
Draft Busters Online meets for Motivation Mondays and Feedback Fridays
It’s a great support for writers of all genres.
