When All Else Fails

…read the instructions. No really, some days no matter how much you want to or how hard you try, your efforts are in vain. We just can’t get inspired. Pictures don’t work, examples provided by others don’t spark the imagination, and we just can’t get going. It happens. Unfortunately, there is no one instruction book for inspiration or writing.

Even if our words sometimes come out kicking and screaming, this is not how we want to behave when they simply won’t come. We want to be more productive. There’s no sense in beating yourself up over finding yourself in the dumps. Maybe it is time to do something for yourself. Take a walk. Put on your favorite album (do people still have record players?).

If nothing begs to be written, maybe it would be a good time to review what we want to accomplish. Dig out your “to do” list. Have you done anything on the list? Have you found any new goals to add to the list? We all know how slow editors can be when we submit work, maybe we can update our list to show that we’ve gone three weeks without a rejection. That could be a milestone!

Pull out some of your non-successes and read them over. Can you see anything today that you would do differently? Jot down the ideas. Since we’re not actually writing today, making notes of what we see or of research we want to do could help when we are again ready to work. Pull out some crossword puzzles. Are there some clues or words that just get us going? Make a note of them.

Maybe there’s a movie you’ve been dying to see. Now would be a good time to watch it. Make up some popcorn or other snacks and just vegetate in front of the television. Why not? We’re writers not barbarians! Sometimes we just need to do things for ourselves. Be selfish; I give you my permission. Obviously, today is one of my non-inspiring days. I think its time to go for a stationary bike ride.

Have a good day, all!