6 Musts for Your Writing (That Have Nothing to Do With Writing)

[image error]“Life doesn’t happen behind a computer screen,” said my friend Sherri Rifkin, the novelist. This was the kind of proclamation that was destined to become a quote, and not the vague, new age-y kind you see stitched on needlepoint throw pillows. This one actually resonated.

As a writer, I have a tendency to never leave the house. I took Nora Roberts’s single rule of writing–”Ass in chair”–to heart. I love writing. I love my characters and the worlds I create. And I sometimes forget to be in the world I live in.

Writing is fed by stuff that happens outside of the act of writing. Here are some important things that fills the creative well–a well that sometimes runs dry when a writer thinks she’s running hot.

Eat. Not at your desk; get up–yes, leave the desk!–and go make yourself some real food. Don’t bring it back to where you’re working. Don’t read while you’re eating. Eat at the table and taste the food. Not only will you be surprised at the potency of this experience, but one of your characters may become nicely descriptive about the slightly tart sweetness of a summer peach’s flesh. If you don’t taste that peach, how can your character describe it?

Take a walk. Once again, I–a writer–am telling you, another writer, to get away from your writing. Seems so counterintuitive, possibly even counterproductive… And yet it’s just so necessary. Not only is your blood pooling in your legs after six hours of writing (yes, that’s why your feet are numb), but in order to get some color for your story, you need to go outside and see that color. People and their interesting haircuts, the shape of their noses, the odd noises they make when they chew. There’s rich stuff out there, some of it even stranger than your mind can imagine.

Exercise. Not the same as taking a walk, above, unless you’re power-walking. Which, if you’re observing people, you’re not. So you need to get some exercise. Me, I like yoga and walking. You may like running or cycling or luge or curling, where you sweep the ice and make that heavy thing move slowly… Whatever you do, you must do it. The writer’s life is not the healthiest. We sit for hours and frown at a computer screen. This is not known for doing anything but producing books and swollen legs.

Talk to people. Yes, real live people, not your characters.

Go away. Whether it’s to another neighborhood or another country, go see something new. Every time I go someplace I haven’t been, I get an idea for a story or a novel. I don’t always act on it, but I always, always get an idea. One time The Hubbins and I spent a weekend at the Jersey Shore (not that Jersey Shore), and I came home with an idea for a novel. Eight weeks later, I had the draft for my novel BEACH GLASS, which will be published by Belle Books in February 2014. Just sayin’…

Walk your supercute pooch (above). She’s probably suffering from bladder failure by now. If you take her outside, you can accomplish a whole bunch of the above. Plus you get some unconditional doggie love, about which entire books have been written…

If you have other ideas for things you can do for your writing that seem to have nothing to do with your writing, tell me about them in a comment!

xx,

S