Writing Tip of the Week: 5 Ways to Energize Your Writing Routine
Routines are a part of life. We all have our routines and rituals at home and work; most of the time, we’ve done them so often that we do them without thinking. While this is fine for many of our mundane daily activities, it’s always good to shake things up a bit and challenge yourself when it comes to your writing routine.
Here are five ideas you can play around with to energize your writing sessions.
#1 – How Fast in Five?
Set a five-minute timer, then write as fast as you can without stopping until the alarm sounds. Don’t worry about your writing's spelling, grammar, or even logic here. The key is to see how many words you can get on the page in five minutes.
Sometimes, we have a nasty habit of overthinking, preventing us from sitting down to write. This exercise shatters those barriers and allows you to write fast and furious in a short period.
Try this exercise a few times a month and see if you can increase your word count within the five-minute timeframe.
#2 – Changing Genres
It’s great if you have a genre specialty, but sometimes it’s fun to escape the familiar and dabble in the genre you’re not an expert in.
Take two characters from one of your stories and put them in a new genre. Keep their personalities and characteristics the same; the only change is the type of story they’re now a part of. Drop your romantic leads into a haunted house or zombie apocalypse if you write romance. Have a creepy kid in your story? Toss him into your world filled with knitting circles, bake-offs, and town fairs.
Write a chapter or two with them in this new genre and see where your creativity takes you. Who knows. You might discover a new genre you want to explore next!
#3 – The Missing Letter
Pick a commonly used letter from the alphabet and challenge yourself to write a paragraph or two without using that letter. You may have to dig out your thesaurus for this one.
Start with a consonant; then, if you want a more complex challenge, choose a vowel to exclude. For an even bigger challenge, exclude two letters!
We often get stuck using familiar words when we write, so this exercise will push you to seek out different terms and phrases.
#4 – Schedule Shakeup
Change when you write and for how long you write. If you write in the mornings for an hour, try writing in the evenings or at night for 90 minutes. If you write only on weekends, try to squeeze a weekday or two into your routine.
If you can change when you write, play around with how long you write. Write for less time, but try to write the same number of words or pages. Write for longer and increase your word count or page count.
This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, but you may find an extra time of day or block of writing time that increases your productivity. It’s never too late to try a new routine, and you never know how effective these small changes could be.
#5 – Take a Hike
Get out of your everyday writing space and spend that time writing somewhere else. Maybe there’s a café or park near you where you can sit down and write. Perhaps there’s a trail or museum you’ve wanted to explore. Take the day and enjoy the new surroundings, then sit down and write for a while.
Often, a venue change can stimulate new areas of creativity since you’re in a new place with new people and things surrounding you.
Consider doing this a couple of times a month in different locations and see how they impact your creativity.
Final Thoughts
It’s great when you’re in the creative zone and on the path to completing a new project. Sometimes, however, you can get stuck and need some energy to get back on track.
These five exercises are fun ways to stimulate your brain and imagination. Try one or try all five and see if they impact your creativity.
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
Here are five ideas you can play around with to energize your writing sessions.
#1 – How Fast in Five?
Set a five-minute timer, then write as fast as you can without stopping until the alarm sounds. Don’t worry about your writing's spelling, grammar, or even logic here. The key is to see how many words you can get on the page in five minutes.
Sometimes, we have a nasty habit of overthinking, preventing us from sitting down to write. This exercise shatters those barriers and allows you to write fast and furious in a short period.
Try this exercise a few times a month and see if you can increase your word count within the five-minute timeframe.
#2 – Changing Genres
It’s great if you have a genre specialty, but sometimes it’s fun to escape the familiar and dabble in the genre you’re not an expert in.
Take two characters from one of your stories and put them in a new genre. Keep their personalities and characteristics the same; the only change is the type of story they’re now a part of. Drop your romantic leads into a haunted house or zombie apocalypse if you write romance. Have a creepy kid in your story? Toss him into your world filled with knitting circles, bake-offs, and town fairs.
Write a chapter or two with them in this new genre and see where your creativity takes you. Who knows. You might discover a new genre you want to explore next!
#3 – The Missing Letter
Pick a commonly used letter from the alphabet and challenge yourself to write a paragraph or two without using that letter. You may have to dig out your thesaurus for this one.
Start with a consonant; then, if you want a more complex challenge, choose a vowel to exclude. For an even bigger challenge, exclude two letters!
We often get stuck using familiar words when we write, so this exercise will push you to seek out different terms and phrases.
#4 – Schedule Shakeup
Change when you write and for how long you write. If you write in the mornings for an hour, try writing in the evenings or at night for 90 minutes. If you write only on weekends, try to squeeze a weekday or two into your routine.
If you can change when you write, play around with how long you write. Write for less time, but try to write the same number of words or pages. Write for longer and increase your word count or page count.
This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, but you may find an extra time of day or block of writing time that increases your productivity. It’s never too late to try a new routine, and you never know how effective these small changes could be.
#5 – Take a Hike
Get out of your everyday writing space and spend that time writing somewhere else. Maybe there’s a café or park near you where you can sit down and write. Perhaps there’s a trail or museum you’ve wanted to explore. Take the day and enjoy the new surroundings, then sit down and write for a while.
Often, a venue change can stimulate new areas of creativity since you’re in a new place with new people and things surrounding you.
Consider doing this a couple of times a month in different locations and see how they impact your creativity.
Final Thoughts
It’s great when you’re in the creative zone and on the path to completing a new project. Sometimes, however, you can get stuck and need some energy to get back on track.
These five exercises are fun ways to stimulate your brain and imagination. Try one or try all five and see if they impact your creativity.
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
No comments have been added yet.
