Writing Prompt Calendar: Toasted Cheese

You may want to check out Toasted Cheese, a website for writers that may just have the best name ever. More importantly, they have a calendar which includes a daily writing prompt - that's right, 365 days of writing prompts!

http://www.toasted-cheese.com/webcal/webcal.cgi

Writers on: Writer's Block

I recently had the chance to sit down with some big names in the writing world, and get their thoughts about writer's block, which I'd just recently posted about. (Okay, so I've never met them, and these quotes were found online. They're still great.)

Try a Different Approach

"Try drawing or painting a scene you're working on. Often this will help free up you imagination." – Kevin Henkes

Break It Down Into Smaller Pieces

“If writing a book is impossible, write a chapter. If writing a chapter is impossible, write a page. If writing a page is impossible, write a paragraph. If writing a paragraph is impossible, write a sentence. If writing a sentence is impossible, write a word and teach yourself everything there is to know about that word and then write another, connected word and see where the connection leads.” – Richard Rhodes

Write Through It

“Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel $#!* from a sitting position.” – Stephen King

Abandon Perfectionism

“Too many of us wait to do the perfect thing; with the result we do nothing.” – William Feather, publisher

“Don't get it right, get it written.” – James Thurber

5 Ways to Beat Writer's Block

Writer's Block - that frozen up, blank minded state, very similar to a sneeze that won't quite sneeze, in which a writer cannot write. It's real, and we all deal with it sometimes. So, to help my fellow writers get the words flowing again, here are five ways to prime the pump and get back to work.

.

.

1. Say 'Bollocks' to the Block!

Honestly, don't even call it writer's block. Don't obsess over it, just get back to work. Most 'Block' is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You hit a rough patch and you call it writer's block. In the process, you give a shape and a name to something that otherwise might not even be a problem.

.

.

2. Take a short break

And I do mean short - try ten minutes, or fifteen. Do something different, whether it's munching on a healthy snack, jogging to the mailbox, dancing like a crazy person to the first song you get on the radio, whatever. Make this a complete break from your routine, not a part of it. The routine is just that - routine. While order and routine are great for dry productivity, they're anathema to creativity. Creativity doesn't require constant chaos, but it does require a sense of freedom and flexibility.

.

.

3. Stop trying to write

This doesn't mean that you decide "Hmmm, the words aren't flowing - let's go to Disneyland!" Instead, shift your focus to another writing-related task. Try brainstorming for a few minutes. Look up a new market online. Straighten up your desk. Set aside the blank page for a moment, but keep working. If you can't be productive, be constructive.

.

.

4. Review and Jot

Review your notes, and while doing so, jot down anything that comes to mind, even if it's just single words. Doodle in the margins. Sketch diagrams that relate to the topic. Write down any questions that pop up. The idea is to get your synapses firing again in relation to your work.

.

.

5. Write Through

Lurking in the shadows of Writer's Block, there is often an unrealistic expectation. Maybe it's the desire to write something brilliant, when mediocre is all you can manage at the moment. Maybe it's an unrealistic deadline (self imposed or otherwise). Maybe you've got some unrelated idea that's been gnawing at the back of your mind for three days, but you won't listen to it, because you're trying to focus. Whatever it is, write it. Don't even consider this a draft, that'll come later. Just write whatever's on your mind.