A Little Calisthenics for the Writer

Coming off any kind of enforced writing hiatus can be a challenge. In my case it was a move across country with all the accompanying handicaps and hazards. The end result is always the same. It's difficult to get started again. Just like when you have 'writer's block' (I put that in comas because I hesitate to believe it's anything more than mental laziness or a bout of low self-esteem) the only way back into the creativity is to plow straight back in - get on that horse and ride.

I have the added challenge that I do most of my writing in collaboration with others. When you write collaborative fiction one of two things can happen, in my experience. Either everyone wrote up a storm while you were gone and you have some serious catch up to play, or no one wrote and you have to get a whole bunch of people past their own little version of writer's block. I have the latter issue this time.

First step I'm writing this blog post. I consider my blogging calisthenics for the writer. I can do it fairly quickly and easily (there are no other writers to consider on my blog), and I can get out a few thoughts, organize them, and then get the sense of creative accomplishment when I hit the post button that will help motivate me towards my other projects. My next step will probably be to repost some of my old fiction on my other blog. While that might seem like a time waster in terms of writing it's actually not. By choosing, rereading, reviewing and editing, I find myself shifting back into the fiction writing mindset that I need. Often I am either happy with what I posted and thus inspired, or I think that my old stuff is crap and so I am motivated to do better. Sometimes I rediscover ideas that never got followed through and that will also goad me into action.

The one thing I will have to try and avoid is getting distracted. It's very easy when you've not been writing for a while to decide you just really have to do the laundry first, or fix the garage door, or whatever little thing is niggling at you that will keep you from your first and primary task (if you are a writer). Obviously daily life must be lived - chores must be done, but you know what I'm talking about. It's the chores that suddenly leap over into the time designated for writing until finally you are just too busy to write. Don't let that happen. The laundry can wait for an hour. Fix that writing time in stone, and make it sacred.

Notice how I didn't complete my set of steps I'm going to take to get into writing again? I got distracted not with the laundry but writing about the laundry. Case in point: anyway the next step in my process, because I am a collaborative writer, is to get out my bullwhip and motivate my fellow writers. That, in of itself, can be a distraction but I need my co-writers to get back on the horse and write as well. I'll probably jump all over my planning boards with ideas for new storylines or suggestions on how we can move forward. And then, finally, I will write something. Anything. But it needs to be done and it needs to happen as fast as possible because every day you prolong the hiatus, or the block, is a day wasted, and it only gets harder with more time.