We've all been there, so now we have to walk away, and take a long walk.
Re-read something you’ve rewritten when you come back. Your creative juices have to be revived.
Re-reading a work-in-progress or an unpublished story can inspire you either to get back to work on writing or to send out your work. Additionally, re-reading a story of yours that’s been published might rekindle your love for writing and remind you how good you are at it. This is my favorite approach to writing when I don’t feel like writing, and I would estimate it works at least 75% of the time. (The remaining 25% of the time it just makes me curse myself, but that’s another topic completely.)
Make a list
Making a list is probably the easiest type of writing you can do. It doesn’t have to be anything profound. It could be “10 reasons I don’t want to write right now” or “5 reasons I’d rather scoop out my own eyeballs than write another word.” Whatever list you want to work on, just get it down on paper. Making a list will almost always inspire you to write something. Hell, it’s how this blog post came to be!
Read a book
What’s the best way to become a better writer? It’s by reading, of course. If you don’t feel like writing, just pick up the nearest book and read that instead. It will make you a better writer in the long run, and it might spark something in you right now that will make you suddenly start writing. Even if you don’t write a word, at least you’ll get some good reading in. After all, you probably aren’t reading enough.
Outline your next story
You know you have tons of ideas in your head. So take one of them and make an outline. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. For the record, I hate outlining. I almost never outline before writing a story. But when I don’t feel like writing, outlining is an easy way to get me to see what I need to be writing. Most of the time, I usually abandon my outline within a few minutes and start writing for real instead.
Brainstorm
Remember brainstorming? It’s not just something to do in middle school English class. As I just mentioned, you have tons of ideas in your head. Put them down on paper so you can see them. Brainstorming is easy and requires no real commitment to anything. Just jot down as many ideas as you can no matter how terrible they are. You’ll find something worthwhile in there. As soon as you see it on paper, you’ll want to write about it.
Ask a friend
Send a friend a message asking what you should write about. No matter what they send you back, you have to write about it. Even if they don’t have any good ideas, then write about how your friend is worthless and doesn’t have good ideas. Whatever it takes to get some words down on the paper.
Go for a walk or a run
A walk or a run is a great way to get the mind moving. What typically will happen here is you’ll get a couple miles from your house and then all of a sudden your mind will explode with ideas of things to write about. You’ll have to hustle home to get those things down on paper before you forget them all.
Lock yourself in a room with no distractions other than a piece of paper and pen
Maybe you don’t feel like writing because there is so much other shit going on around you. Disconnect from all the social media noise and get yourself in an environment where writing is the only thing you can do.
Shut up and write anyway
Who cares if you don’t feel like writing? This isn’t a good excuse for not writing. Think of all the other things in life you don’t feel like doing. If you didn’t do any of them, you’d probably be dead right now. Just sit down and write. Most of the time, that’s really all there is to it.
Still struggling to figure out what to do when you don’t feel like writing? Then leave a comment below and we’ll talk about it. That will get your writing juices flowing!
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