Sparking Ideas and Breathing Life into Your Writing

Have you been feeling burnt out lately or are finding that ideas for what to write have been hard to come by?

Well don't stress out, this unfortunately happens to all writers at some point or another and it doesn't say anything about your ability to write, it just means you need something to stoke the fires of your creativity back into that burning flame. 

Here are a few ideas to help you find that spark again:

Embrace Inspiration from Everyday Life

Creativity and inspiration surround you every day -  all you have to do is open your eyes and your mind to see it. Open your senses to the world around you, task yourself with a walk through nature, or down the sidewalk of a busy street, and immerse yourself in the world around you. 

This also means consuming media of all kinds, music, art, books, and movies. Anything but social media which not only further kill your creativity, but also your drive to get anything done as you get lost in an endless scrolling loop. 

Cultivate a Creative Routine

Writers who wait for inspiration to strike might as well wait until they are on their deathbeds to start their first novel. Sometimes lack of inspiration is hiding out as something else - laziness.

I'm not going to write today because I don't have an idea of what to write about - no. Go sit in front of your computer or with your notebook and preferred writing utensil in front of you and just start.

If you have nothing to write about that day that's fine - but show up the next day and then the next and repeat.

Some days you'll write nothing at all and some days your inspiration fairy will bop you on the head - but at least you got the hardest part over with, you made the effort to be ready to write. 

Explore Writing Prompts and Exercises

If you want to be creative but feel as if you have lost your way, then pick up a road map. 

Creative writing exercises are the perfect way to practice and stretch those imagination muscles for the race while having been given a head start.

Writing prompts are everywhere on the internet, search for a list and pick a random number to get you started. 

Freewriting 

Free writing is when you put pen to paper with no direction and no stoplights. You may begin writing about your day and end up telling the story as if while on your boring commute to and from the office today a group of assassins attacked the train and you stopped them with nothing more than a bagel and your briefcase. 

Freewriting is writing about anything and everything that comes to mind just to get it out of you and onto paper. 

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Fueling your creative fire is an important aspect of being a writer. Embrace inspiration or go out and find it, don't just wait around to catch it. 

Go get to writing. 

With love, 

B. King xo xo

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