Rough Patches

They're called patches for a reason. It's never a full field.

Hello, my lovely Dreamers!

Over the past few months, I’ve struggled to sit down and just write. It’s something all authors battle with, but it’s always aggravating when you come to the wall of writer’s block.

Is there a cure to this? There are many. I’ve written about one or two of them.

However, today I’m not going to tell you how to fix it. I’m going to let you know that it’s alright, and how to keep yourself moving forward.

It Happens

Everyone author gets stuck. Runs dry. Loses interest. Everything! It’s a common phenomenon! Who cares that you only wrote three words today? That was three words you didn’t have before!

Even if you just sat down and stared at your blank page for thirty minutes. You thought about your story! Your brain was working! Even if you didn’t move out of that specific spot.

It’s okay. It HAPPENS.

Don’t give up

Just because you haven’t had any fresh ideas in a few days, or you’ve been unmotivated, don’t throw away your project. It’s normal to run out of gas along the road. All you need is to take a step back, let yourself refresh, and then try again tomorrow.

There are many tactics for restoring your motivation to write (a few of which I’ve written about in my post The Writing “Energy-Drink”). Sometimes, the best cure is to simply sit back and look for inspiration in the world around you.

Your environment is your inspiration

You can always take a break from writing, but you should be brainstorming constantly. Walking down the street and you see a cool light pole in the rain? Maybe that could fit in somewhere. Watching a film and you see a side-character with qualities you like? Sprinkle some of that into your notes.

Always be watching and observing.

At the end of the day…

It’s up to you whether or not you want to finish that story. Are you ready to sit down and write? Or are you running out of gas? If you are, all you need is a break. You don’t need to drop everything in the trash and move on. Just surface, take a breath, and then dive back in.

You might thank me later ;)