How can I return to writing after a long hiatus?
This post is based on a conversation we had in the Duck Prints Press LLC Discord, and all contributors comments have been used/paraphrased/integrated into this post with permission. The people who contributed ideas to this post are: @nottesilhouette, @ramblingandpie, @arialerendeair, @tryslora, @deansmultitudes, @theleakypen, Owlish Intergalactic, myself (Iām @unforth), and one who preferred to remain anonymous.
Few things are harder than coming back to writing after a long period of not writing. Being creative takes a lot of energy, and starting after not doing so for a period of time takes even more energy. The writers on our Discord had a really productive discussion, where we talked about strategies weāve each personally used to help us get our writing mojo back. None of these methods work for everyone, but if you havenāt written in a while, maybe one of these will work for you!
How to Revive that Creative Writing Spark:
doing sprints with a friend - knowing youāre all in it together can really help!
talking with writing buddies about what youāre each working on - the shared enthusiasm can be really helpful,
journaling, about daily life, or about dreams youāve had - turning the dream into something coherent can be a great strategy (or, donāt bother, and just write it however crazily it took place!)
pick a random story you wrote in the past and read a chapter, paragraph, or 500 word segment - and look at it as a reader, say things you liked about it, praise it, emphasize the good things about your own writing.
transcribe a song with lyrics you find inspiring, or crack open a favorite book and transcribe a few paragraphs. You can even do it with something youāve written yourself!
set a low-pressure, low-word count deadline - make it public, if youāre the kind of person that helps, or keep it to yourself.
sign up for a zero-consequence challenge, such as a bingo, or the Duck Prints Press #drabbledaysaturday prompts on Twitter - something where no one will mind if you donāt succeed, but you might find some inspiration.
create a small goal, either daily, weekly, or monthly - it can be a time frame (Iāll write for 5 minutes a day!) or a word count (Iāll write 1,000 words a month!) or even something tiny (Iāll write one sentence a day!) or a public sharing goal (post a ficlet a day!) and then do your best to stick to it, and reward yourself when you succeed.
open your ask box or otherwise solicit short prompts - for example, do a āthree sentenceā meme (āsend me a pairing and a trope and Iāll write a three sentence fillā) or a story title meme (āsend me a story title and Iāll write a little about the story Iād create with that titleā) or an emoji prompt (āsend me three emojis and Iāll write a ficletā) or make your own fun one that will bring you joy (one of our writers created a āname two characters and Iāll make them kiss in six sentences or lessā meme that helped them a lot)
participate in a prompt month, something with no consequences for failure but with prompts that can inspire daily ficlet.
write without editing, and just throw what you create out into the world - anything to get the words flowing.
challenge yourself to write a drabble day, no more and no less.
try changing how or when you write - get a nice journal and write by hand, or if thatās your normal, try writing in a word document instead.
write at different times of day, and see if itās easier for you over breakfast, or after lights out, or during your lunch break, or by stealing a few minutes while youāre āon the clockā at work.
make an attempt at different formats of writing - if you usually write prose, try a poem; if you usually write really long things, try a drabble.
look out your window, or find a place you like, and just describe what you see.
do some free association exercises - for example, use a random word generator (I use this one sometimes) and then write literally whatever word comes into your head next - keep going until you fill the page, or until it starts to turn into a story, or just until you donāt feel like it any longer.
pick a random sentence (the person who suggested this often uses āJust write anythingā) to be the start of a story, and āpantsā your way through whatever comes next, without worrying about grammar, continuity, logic, or much of anything.
plan ahead - schedule your writing time and donāt let yourself put it off (rewards for success are always good!) and/or visualize exactly what you want to write ahead so youāre ready when you sit down.
if you get hit by inspiration, donāt put it off - even if all you do is scrawl a sentence in your phone or on scratch paper between other tasks, get it out of your head. Even a single sentence is a creation!
get out of the spaces where your usual things are - go to a park, or on a hike, or in your backyard, or even a different room in your own home, and bring a journal or phone or laptop, and see what strikes you.
pick That Thing You Havenāt Been Letting Yourself Write and ignore all the things you Think You Should Be Writing and justā¦write what brings you joy
fanfiction can be very helpful, especially in canon using canon-compliant ships/characterizations - thereās no need to do the heavy lifting. Even if you just write the characters going to a grocery store, or talking about what movie they want to watch, or arguing over take out - something short and sweet thatās just for fun, with no expectations for yourself or anyone else.
alternatively, if youāre the type who writes better for others and youāre feeling down - knock out anything, even something short, and post it, and take joy even in a single like or kudos. Knowing even one person out there loved what you wrote can really help.
Any or all of these may help you, but thereās one final one that I, at least, think is the most important of all - and thatās helped me most.
FORGIVE YOURSELF. You have work in progress up. Itās okay to leave them. You told someone youād write something for them. Itās okay not to. You have a deadline looming. Itās okay to ask for more time, or to withdraw, or - in the end - itās even okay to ghost. You think what youāve made is bad. Itās okay if itās bad. Youāll never be able to create when youāre raking yourself over the coals. Everyone in fandom hasĀ ābeen thereā - has missed deadlines, has left challenges, has abandoned works in progress, have reneged on a promise to a friend to write something. Until you forgive yourself, youāll never be able to create anything, and isnāt even a single sentence that isnāt on that Big Important Thing better than no sentences on anything?
Forgive yourself, and find that spark, inspiration, muse, whatever you want to call it - and write things that bring you joy.
