Some writers still cling to the idea that they need their muse to visit before they can write. Our opinion is that the muse doesn’t visit unless she sees you working, but that’s for a topic for another day. If you find yourself uninspired or distracted by all the bad news in the world, a post on Writers Write by Susanne Bennett suggests a few methods for writing without your muse.
“Go back to your beginnings – when you wrote whatever whenever, just to build up those writing muscles,” Bennett says. “The trick is to scale down our expectations. It doesn’t have to be a three-volume novel, it doesn’t have to win the Pulitzer.” And who knows? flexing your writing muscles – even when you don’t feel like! – might leave you more inspired than when you started.
Bennett suggestions include:
- The Word of the Day. “Right now, you might not be bothered with writing endless accounts,” Bennett writes. “Then why not limit journaling to one single word? Pick the ‘Word Of The Day.’”
- Clip-a-Poem. Cut words from headlines or ads in newspapers and magazines, then jumble them in a bag. Pick 15 and arrange them as a poem. It’s ok to mix and match if your first draw gives you garbage.
- Explore Your Senses. Find a peaceful place outside and write about it with your eyes closed. What do you hear, feel, and smell?
- Picture Perfect. Find a postcard or photograph you like and write 10 captions. “It’s not easy to produce so many but the last one will be the most interesting,” Bennett says.
- Dictionary Story. Open to a random page in the dictionary and point at a word. Repeat until you have at least 20 words. Use these words to craft a paragraph or two, or more.
- Silent Movie. Choose a photo of two or more people from a newspaper or magazine. Imagine who they are and what they’re saying. Write a short scene.
