Tips to Help you Write When You Don't Want To

Sometimes, you’ve got an hour or two free – but you don’t desire writing. All the recommendation within the world on becoming inspired or getting self-disciplined just isn’t helping you. For whatever reason, you recognize your ability to string together a replacement article or story is temporarily absent.

This needn’t be a problem: there are many writing-related activities that you simply can usefully get on with whilst expecting the muse to reappear. Here’s just seven of them:

1. Grab your notebook and begin brainstorming

Sometimes, a scarcity of ideas can cause you to urge stuck. Maybe you would like to write down , but you’re unsure what to start out on. Find your notebook and a pen, and begin scribbling. Mind-map, write an inventory , use pretty colors – it doesn’t matter. Just get as many ideas down as you'll . Once you’re past ten or twenty, you’ll start reaching the creative, original ones.

2. Read some great writing advice

There are many other blogs out there dedicated to all aspects of writing – and many different books that would assist you . search for something aimed toward writers in your genre (poetry, science-fiction, article writing, academic journals, etc). Don’t just skim through a load of recommendation , though: take a note of any points which cause you to think “aha!” and scribble down ideas of how you'll apply them to your own add progress.

3. Organise your writing files

This is one writing chore I always put off: organising my files. If you've got bits of your novel during a dozen different places on your computer (emails to yourself, Word documents, notes in your journal software, bits you retain online in Google docs…) then catch on all sorted out. If you’re a freelancer and write for dozens of various markets, start a folder for every . That way, you’ll know exactly what you would like to invoice for at the top of the month.

4. Create a portfolio of your writing

If you don’t have already got one, start a portfolio of your writing. Get together a number of your best pieces from the past few years (published or unpublished) and, ideally, put them into one folder on your computer. If you've got the web rights to them, you would possibly want to place them onto your website or blog. Now, when you’re writing to editors and agents, you’ll be ready to respond immediately if they ask to ascertain samples. And if you’re applying for college-level courses, you’ll have some great samples of your work to incorporate together with your application.

5. Research some markets

If you’re getting to be published, you would like to try to to some homework to seek out out which magazines, websites or publishing companies could be curious about your work. There are many ways to try to to this. you'll search on Amazon for books in your genre and see who published them (Amazon lists the publisher on the book details page). otherwise you could use one among the various websites dedicated to writers’ markets – try Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau for brief stories and Ralan’s Webstravaganza for an enormous listing of markets. Also ask Writers’ Market or, if you’re within the UK, the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook to form sure that company is accepting submissions.

6. send some short stories or articles

For those of you who know the markets you've got in mind – send them a number of your work. Proof-read that story languishing on your hard-drive, print it out (double spaced, nice white paper), write a canopy letter to the editor, include a self-addressed envelope with return postage, and pop the entire lot within the post. Many markets accept emailed manuscripts, but check the submission guidelines first.

7. Read some great fiction

Finally, if all else fails, just put your feet up with an honest book. Choose an author who you're keen on , and luxuriate in their prose – but keep half your mind on deciding why exactly you're keen on their writing, and spotting what techniques they use. Alternatively, devour something you wouldn’t normally read, and cast a critical eye over the ways during which the design differs from your usual favourites. You’ll almost certainly learn something.