Relaxing Fun discussion

I am on a number of groups that offer excellent advice for writing. I look at them but still I sit with no recent writing. I write fiction, nonfiction. I don't do poetry (actually I do, but it is really bad, no matter what I do it rhymes. The one I remember (and I was in my teens when I wrote this) is:

I look for the future,
I look for the past,
I look for love,
But it never lasts.

A little embarassed right now, but still going to push the post button.

When I get writers block, I think of a scene from life (movie/book/real), take out a seperate sheet of paper, and write my own version of that scene.

or I put myself in a different surrounding/move to the other side of the room. Sometimes I don't even have to move my chair, but move my sitting posture, stand and walk in a circle, or yoga (mind clearing)

I haven't tried the first, it sounds good, Bells. I have tried moving. That helps a bit but not much. Sometimes I switch to pen and paper...but mostly I just don't write.

I have thought about keeping a journal again. Many of my ideas have come from journals in the past. Jess

Switching to pen and paper helps me sometimes as well. I especially like writing with a fountain pen and good paper--I like Cranes, but recycled paper such as grocery sacks are surprisingly good as well! I like to hear the scratching of the nib against the paper.

As for ideas, when I'm stumped I find that listening to music helps. In the end, though, it's all about getting through it.

I get blocked when I'm reading books by authors I really like. I tend to compare myself and lose confidence. Recently, I was finising up some short story sketches of a novel I plan on writing and was reading Toni Morrison's "A Mercy". I had to put it down to concentrate on my work. Does this happen to anyone else?

When I'm blocked, I tend to write about other people's work, like I have been doing for the last several days here. It keeps my mind fresh and hopefully some of the things I say will create a synthesis or idea which I will want to follow on my own.

Dallas, I can't write when I'm reading a particularly good book. I think that I feel intimidated--as well as immersed in the book.

Rhondak, I like your idea. I will give it a try.

Another less stressful way to look at writer's block is to consider it an "incubation" period. Sometimes the block can lead to an important discovery.

Sometimes I leave what I am working on and write something silly, which can also help with blocks. Write anything, make it funny, make it twisted, make it anything you want as long as it's presssure-free!

Jessica Frank wrote: "I am on a number of groups that offer excellent advice for writing. I look at them but still I sit with no recent writing. I write fiction, nonfiction. I don't do poetry (actually I do, but it is r..."

i love this poem!

also, writing your title last helps, too

Yui wrote: "Jessica Frank wrote: "I am on a number of groups that offer excellent advice for writing. I look at them but still I sit with no recent writing. I write fiction, nonfiction. I don't do poetry (actu..."

Thanks, Yui, I have it memorized. I wrote it when I was very young. There is a second verse, but I don't remember it...don't even think I still have the journal it was in.

I need to start my journal...freewriting helps me with ideas.

Sometimes I will write editorials (which I don't usually finish) to just work my brain.

I read a book that suggested writing a 2 page piece using people you know. I ended up with a short short story about my stepdad and son rowing across the pond. It was actually published in Cricket magazine years ago. That was exciting. Usually, I don't submit anything.

i have a journal that i write in every week; every day is kinda hard...

Worse than writer's block: when your laptop crashes while you're in the middle of writing a manuscript. I had already typed out 40 pages in around two hours. Naturally, I forgot to save...