Writing Limbo

I seem to be in a funk lately when it comes to writing. It's not that I have a block or lack ideas, it's just that I don't feel the urge to write. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

Sometimes. The only way to get over it I have found is to take out a notebook and write something anyway. It might not be very good, but it gets you passed the point of not writing.

 

I'm that sporadic writer who gets an idea and will write a lot in one day and then not at all for a long time. My problem is discipline. There's so much I want to do, but I feel like I don't know where/how to start, so everything is in my someday purgatory.

I agree with Tregaron. Sometimes you just have to do it anyway.

If you've been focused on a project, stepping away and writing about something else might help.

 

I keep a journal and write in it everyday. Sometimes when I don't feel like writing I pick up my journal to jot down the happenings of the day and find that I can't stop writing. I think it will be a quick entry and the next thing I know, I've been writing an hour!

 

What types of writing do you engage in, Tregaron?

Demi, I use the "don't break the chain" productivity tool when I'm struggling. I set out to write so many words each morning as soon as I get up. The amount of words and time it takes depends on the project, but it helps me to cross off the day as soon as I'm finished. It creates the mindset where I'd better get my writing done because I don't want to break the chain.

 

I'm not a talented writer, but my mum is so good at it that I want to get better. I've decided to schedule the first fifteen minutes each morning to write in my journal. Right now my goal is just to get something down on paper.

 

I've had this problem before. I try to make it something that happens on a schedule, like Ellie Jane said, and make myself write for at least thirty minutes when I wake up. It doesn't have to be what I'm currently working on, just making sure I'm writing something. Making writing a part of your schedule, and writing random things that have nothing to do with what you're currently writing, can make it less of a chore.