Do you ever have those writing times when you get so stuck for words you go into a trance while staring at the computer? I went through this recently. Today, Jennifer Hallmark offers some tips to snap us out that trance-like state. -- Sandy
Jennifer: I love to create. Penning my
characters, the setting, and their joys and sorrows is pure enjoyment and
therapeutic to my soul. Occasionally, however, I get stuck. I pull up the file
of my latest novel, stare blankly at the page in front of me, then pull up
Pinterest and start pinning cute basset hounds. Has this ever happened to you?
One way I’ve found helpful in
breaking the grip of writer’s block is to create. Not characters or settings,
but exploring the other aspects of my creativity. All writers have this. A
writer is imaginative and imagination doesn’t begin and end with the written
word.
What do you like to do as a hobby?
To relieve stress? You can turn your hobby or stress reliever into a writer’s
block breaker. And it can be as simple as stopping to bake a cake. Yes, you
heard me write, pun intended.
When the words won’t flow, step away
from the computer. Do something creative. Here are twenty suggestions to get
you started.
- Cook.
- Bake.
- Sew.
- Knit.
- Crochet.
- Decorate a space.
- Rearrange furniture.
- Paint.
- Doodle.
- Shop.
- Pot a flower.
- Make a collage.
- Arrange a vase of flowers.
- Fix your hair and apply makeup.
- Start a new photo album.
- Work on a jigsaw puzzle.
- Photograph a pet, scenery, or a child.
- Scrapbook.
- Play an instrument.
- Sing.
But what if you’re on a deadline? It
still works. Take thirty minutes and one of the above activities. You’ll
enlarge the artistic side of your brain and when you sit back down, ideas
should flow. At times, it might take a few hours or a day to kick start your
imagination, but it will be worth it.
Who knows? While you’re scrapbooking
or painting, you might create a scene right there with your main character who
is struggling. Just like you. And you’ll both emerge winners at the end…
What do you do to get the words to flow?
~~~~~~
Jennifer Hallmark: writer by nature, artist at heart, and
daughter of God by His grace. She loves to read detective fiction from the
Golden Age, watch movies like LOTR, and play with her two precious
granddaughters. At times, she writes. Jennifer and her husband, Danny, have
spent their married life in Alabama and have a basset hound, Max.
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