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THE DREADED SLUMP
Tired . . .
hate my story . . . life sucks . . . I need chocolate . . . did I mention my story sucks?
How many times have we been there? Life interferes -- work, family issues, illness, finances. The list goes on and on. What to do? Break away before it swallows you
whole and spits you out!
Why not take a long drive to nowhere. Yes, I said nowhere. I’m not kidding. If you can, get in the car and wander with no particular destination in mind. No car? Live in the city? Then take a walk with no destination, open up your senses and clear your head. The mere momentum of movement can free up your thoughts and maybe, just maybe, you'll see alternative ways to work around the slump.
Japanese citizen have a thing -- "forest bathing" -- where they will spend time in forests sitting, lying down or walking. British researchers at the University of East Anglia have found after studying 20 countries and more than 290 million people that regular exposure to green spaces had definite physical and mental benefits.
MAKE IT FUN
There are many kinds of movement that can help break your slump. It can be as simple as cleaning your apartment -- yes, the dreaded ‘C’ word. Why not turn it into fun? Crank up the music, dance with your broom, shake hands with your scrub sponge. After your cleaning fest, pour yourself a glass of wine, light a candle and kick back. Job well done! And when you next sit in front of that computer screen or notebook, I bet you'll tackle that slump like a pro. If not -- go hug a tree.
ANOTHER ANGLE: INSPIRATION FROM OTHER WRITERS
There are times I am bored. B.O.R.E.D with my writing, with myself as a writer. Between same old, same old and fear of missing out, I’m mentally fried, almost paralyzed. And yet I know there are alternative ways to approach my craft.
So what are the alternatives available to us as writers? What about other creatives? Poets and artists are the first that come to my mind. What do they do when they hit that brick wall? I cruise through their blogs, their social media; sometimes I sign up for their newsletters. There’s one artist I’ve followed for several years -- he’s funny, pokes fun at himself, is messy and energetic. But he’s also the first to admit that if he’s bored, then his potential buyers will be as well. What to do? Detour and turn left!
Mary Oliver in her book A Poetry Handbook (1994) wondered why it is that student artists and musicians are encouraged to copy the greats, play their works over and over until they could play the music in their sleep. Yet writers are told that’s plagiarism, a very BIG no-no. But then how do we as writers learn or find a new technique?
So let’s try this: you’re bored with your writing. It feels stilted and stale. Give yourself permission to spend an hour or so copying -- yes, I said copying -- one of your favorite authors. Choose a few pages, put pen to paper (a pencil is even better because it slows you down) and copy out those pages. How does it feel? Can you feel the difference in the cadence of words as they move across the page? What about the author's expressions and omissions? Understand, these pages are going nowhere. They are for your benefit alone, a bit of playtime for your right brain. Try it. Give yourself permission to detour . . .
Happy Writing!
Claire H.
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