So... What can help you when you feel lethargic and unable to write?
- Read - Whenever I'm stuck for ideas of what to write about, I always grab a good book to see if any thoughts can be charged off the pages and into my mind. If the content matter is something I strongly agree or disagree with, I always find that I have plenty of other things to say about it.
- Take note of conversations - Listen to people have their point of view on certain things. See if you can spark a discussion about the topic.
- Observe - Take interest in life as it happens and focus on outside global news. If I'm stuck for ideas I will watch the news on television as well as reading a good book. Maybe you could invent an entire fictitious story from a newspaper headline.
- Experience life - If you feel like you're stuck in some kind of rut then go out and do something entirely different. Take up a new hobby or go to a new place. Make an effort to meet more people and then write about your new accomplishments.
- Take a break - Do something that will make you feel better and hopefully your writing will improve.
I got my first returned book off Amazon.co.uk today and this has made me feel slightly deflated. I am not complaining about it - I understand there are several factors surrounding returned books and one of them is that the customer simply clicked on the purchase button by mistake. Considering I've had my book online for nearly six months I don't think that this is bad at all, and I was expecting my first return to be a lot sooner. If the customer found my book not to be what they were expecting, I think I would rather have a return rather than a one star review simply because they were annoyed the book was about something different. Of course I have no idea what the reason was behind the return so I can only speculate, but that's just a few of the thoughts in my mind right now. And I'm not suggesting that to be the only reason behind any one star review, I've just heard of other people experiencing that situation. Of course I'm not saying that someone would write a one star review if the book wasn't what they expecting, that's just a worry I have from time to time.
Do you have any ideas or any more helpful advice I may have missed? Please share.
What experiences have you had with returned books?
Thank you for this post. Just yesterday I asked the question, what do you do when you're stuck? I often read, looking for just the things you mentioned. A few times I've had luck just writing something as ordinary as my grocery list as a three paragraph story to get going.
ReplyDeleteGood post. Stephen King talked about dealing with writer's block in his book On Writing; it's worth a read if you haven't already.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the returned book, though as you point out, it does happen. You seem to have the right attitude about it! Keep the chin (and the sales) up!
I usually take a walk or go play a video game or something... walking helps me think things through and playing a good video game is like reading a book, gives me a different perspective to think about.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this post helped you Lillie. I was having a day where my thoughts were stuck so I struggled to write this, lol. I'm glad it helped you though.
ReplyDeleteStephen, maybe I'll check out the book - sounds like a good read. I didn't let the return get me down as I don't have a way of finding out the reason behind it. So worrying about it seems pointless.
Vyrastas, walking is great! I do that too, in fact I don't know why I missed it out of my post. Exercise has been proven to stimulate the brain and improve the thought process. I also have dogs so it's a good excuse to walk every day.