So you have been writing for an hour or so, when you find yourself just sitting staring into space, or out of the window. The ideas have stopped, the flow of words has been halted. It is time for a break. What do you do to try to clear your mind? How do you try to return to that position of constructively writing again?
I like to go and do something different, although I favour something with a creative bent to it. I will usually go and play the guitar for a bit. Others may like to go into the garden and pull up a few weeds or do the washing up. Usually after a few minutes my mind is clearer and whatever was stopping me from writing has resolved itself.
I guess what I am really asking though is, what do you do when you are lacking creativity and need a boost?
As a follow up to yesterdays post, I have reblogged something and written this today. Best of both worlds!
Julian Froment's Blog 
Sleep or read a book. If I can get away with it, I cook dinner.
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All good activities. Cooking for me though usually consists of throwing something in the microwave, so maybe not so good. From your posts I get the impression that you are an accomplished cook and probably do ‘proper’ cooking 🙂
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I can, but it rarely happens. Too many diets and complaints around here for me to keep being the cook. It’s a very simple household in terms of dinner. A lot of ‘this needs to be eaten before it goes bad’ moments.
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I can identify with the ‘needs to be eaten before it goes bad’ school of cooking 🙂
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It’s led to a lot of indigestion around here.
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Laundry. When I’m at a stalemate I find it helpful to do something mindless that allows my mind to wander.
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That’s exactly it. Some mindless, monotonous task can be very helpful, either that or something differently creative to writing.
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I talk to you Julian. And I talk to Charles. How could I not be creative after that?
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That’s lovely of you, and part of the reason I find you so inspiring 🙂
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I think getting up and moving around helps, though I usually have to force myself to do it. Either exercising or even just going and doing something around the house (laundry, etc) clears my head enough to break the lapse in creativity. Often just walking away for 30 minutes helps me a lot.
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Yes, I agree. I think that some sort of change of scene is important.
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Oh, and of course my reader here at WP 😉
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I can’t agree there 🙂 That is just too big a distraction! You may never come back from that.
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Have you seen my fiction blog lately? Neither have I. Haha!
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Got distracted did you? 🙂
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Long walk, baby. Nothing like it. Extra points for bringing along your ipod, pretending your characters are singing/playing the song, and then rationalizing why they would be doing that.
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A long walk sounds good. Clears the head and allows the mind to wander. I like it.
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Unfortunately, my favorite place to go when the writing bug stalls is the fridge. Fortunately, it’s worst offending resident is a block of cheese! Otherwise, I go online, play with the cats or go for a walk. As others have said, that really clears the mind, and I find music very inspiring!
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The fridge is a bad one, and cheese, well what can I say. Fantastic stuff, but you have to be careful. Music is always good.
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As you may have guessed, my alter-art is photography, which I find incredibly helpful when I am feeling creatively blocked with my writing.
On one level, I am sure that it is simply a matter of getting outside and getting both exercise and fresh air, but from another perspective, it is seeing stories that are already present, but not yet recorded.
Alternatively, I work on mundane “regular life” chores–grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry–which seems to give my creative batteries a chance to recharge. A rest between creative reps, if you will.
Am actually hoping to engage in both today, so wish me luck.
Randy
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Good luck Randy. I hope that you recharge those batteries and I look forward to more of those great photos.
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I don’t have blank moments – but that may be because I write like a dervish when the mood strikes and do other things when it isn’t present – – so I guess, I catch up on housework, laundry and outside projects on those days when I can’t think of a single thing to say…which are few and far between and is why my house is a mess, the landscaping project is just starting instead of being completed and clean laundry has yet to be put away….
😀
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You are lucky, but I suppose that has its own set of problems like you say. At least you have an excuse for the house being a mess, I don’t, just sheer indolence!
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What?!? Sheer indolence is an acceptable excuse! 😀
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It is? Fantastic – I feel so much better now!
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Of course it is! Life’s too short to be tied to sparkling floors – I’ve found that even though people could eat off them, no one actually ever does, so what’s the point?
LOL
Happy writing, reading with occasional housework breaks.. very occasional…LOL
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I go for a run…works every time 🙂
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I can see that working. A lot of people have mentioned exercise – if only I wasn’t so damned lazy 🙂
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