Another Rainy Monday

While it really isn't raining cats and dogs, I couldn't resist the clipart image on the left.  It made me laugh, and because Monday's aren't generally all that funny, it was too tempting to pass up.  I hope it at least brings a smile to anyone who sees it.

To all those who are NaNo-ing this month, here's hoping you've found the writing groove and getting words on paper more easily.  I chose not to participate, after all, but I'm cheering for those who are.  When there's been time to do some reading and editing, I discovered that the 1675 words I wrote on Nov. 1 weren't half as bad as I'd expected they might be.  This WIP is not a romance, but a YA with paranormal elements.  I started this as a panster with no idea of plot and only a couple of characters.  I have no idea what's going to happen and I'm almost enjoying that.  There's also no date that it needs to be done, so I get to write at my own pace...if I ever figure out what the pace is for this one.

Writing constantly toward publication or under contract can, after long periods of time, become a little tedious or chip away a tiny bit at creativity.  Taking a short break when possible promotes a clearer mind.  Some people are lucky enough to get away physically, others fill their break with reading--often out of their usual genre.  For others creating something different, whether in the same medium (as in writing) or something else (as in drawing) can be refreshing.

Long ago when I wrote for Silhouette Romance, I found I had big chunks of empty time that needed filled.  I like to create, but I can't draw to save my soul, and at some point I became interested in website design and later in graphic design.  While it's still creative, it must use a different part of my brain, because I often find that when I've been working on websites for a while, unable to get to putting words on paper, that's when I yearn to write or have some of the best ideas.

So if you're having a rainy day...or even if you aren't...try doing something different for just one day.  If it works, use it again whenever something else begins to feel stale.  Writing something in a completely different genre you've never tried make open new doors in more ways than one.

Books want to be born: I never make them.  They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.  ~Samuel Butler

Refilling the Well

There comes a time--or several times--in a writer's life where she (or he) feels empty and unable to produce anything with substance.  Some aren't able to produce anything at all.  These are the times when it's almost physically painful to try to string coherent words together to make a story.

Some people call this inability to create a writer's block, when in fact it isn't something that only writers experience.  Anyone who is creative can and usually does experience this phenomenon once in a while.

What?  You're not a writer?  Not an artist?  Wrong.  Everyone is creative in some way.

Filling -- or more accurately 'refilling' -- the well is what we do when we find that we're unable to create or have lost the love of creating.  The reasons for not being able to create are many and can include:

• Being on a long run of deadlines with no or very short breaks
• Experiencing a string of rejections or even the first rejection
• Life changes, which can include a new baby, a marriage or divorce, a move, or anything that disrupts a normal pattern
• Being overwhelmed by day to day life
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success

But like the reasons for being unable to create, refilling the well of creativity can take many forms.  Some writers choose to refill their well by reading, often outside of their own genre.  Some turn to other types of "art," such as drawing, photography, music, sewing and handcrafts, woodworking, even redecorating. Whatever we do, each of us much choose our own way of refilling.  Need an idea?  Check out how one author at Jaunty Quills does it.

When there isn't a lot of time to turn to something different, there's an alternative.  In the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, the author suggests scheduling an "Artist's Date" at selected intervals.  Whether it's sipping a cup of yummy coffee at Starbucks, checking out a local flea market, or taking a walk around the block, just getting away from the grind for a new and different experience can give an artist/writer the chance to regain a new perspective aka refilling the well.  There's more on the "Artist's Date" at  Live to Write - Write to Live blog.  Picking up a copy of The Artist's Way is a great idea, too.  It's also available as an ebook, I hear.

Take the time to refill your creative well whenever possible.  It doesn't have to take a lot of time, and the benefits can't be matched.