Revamping the Down Days

If you’re anything like me, your writing isn’t just your baby, it’s a second part of your split personality, or the center that your life revolves around it, and when your writing isn’t going so well, neither is your life.  Unfortunately it works the other way around as well, when life isn’t going well, neither is your writing.  I’m not going to lie, my writing is my world.

Today was one of those days where I woke up and wished I hadn’t.  I didn’t want to get out of bed, I didn’t feel like writing any more than I felt like living.  The hard truth is that if you want to be a real writer on those hard days, you have to get up, live life, and writing anyways.

Getting start on is honestly hardest part–trust me, I know–but there are a few things that may help you kick start your creativity.

The first thing I try is listening to music that resonates with my mood.  Often if I can listen to music that reflects how I’m feeling, those feelings will dissipate after a while and I’ll feel free enough, mentally and emotionally, to be creative and work on my writing.

The second thing I’ll try is reading an old favorite.  I pick up that book that first inspired me to write, and that, to this day will make me cry, laugh, and fall in love, though I’ve read the book about a million times.  If I reread those book I’ll often times remember why I wanted to write and that will re-inspire me to write once again.

The Third thing I try is free writing.  I like to work out the kinks in my plot with free writing but The Magic Violinist, on her blog The Write Practice, suggests free writing as a warm up every day.  It doesn’t have to be about anything, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s just writing and meant to get the creativity flowing. (You can read her full post about free writing here.)

Those are only three things I use but there are countless other ways to get through the down days as well.  How do you get through those gloomy days?