You can’t write. The words are gone. Your muse is AWOL.
I posted about struggling to find the words for a special occasion but this is an ordinary day. In the wicked world of a writer. The weather shifts and… A sudden freeze. Or a prolonged drought. These things can go either way.
However you got here, you’re here.
You’re about to crawl into the corner and cry or have a panic attack. (Again, these things can go either way.)
We all know enough to get up, stretch, breathe, move… But when we sit down again, we must write.
Something silly.
Like haiku.* It’s a fun break. Also, I really think the counting of syllables helps me. Kind of like rubbing a worry stone.
I can’t write a word
Am I sad or pissed? Don’t know!
I’ll write a haiku
Or whatever. You get the idea.
Six words stories are fun, too:
Aliens dissect humans. Discover no heart.
Dieting = refusing pizza, eating chocolate cake
I can’t write a bloody word!
I’m stuck. In the muck. Oh…
But free-writing is the absolute best. You can free-write your way out of just about anything. Like a literary MacGyver. Be Free… Write.
My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.
Free-writing is a powerful force. No thinking, no stopping, no correcting, just writing. May the Force be with you.
Have you ever tried haiku? Six word stories? Free-writing? What works to get you unstuck? Who caught that “Six words stories are fun, too” was 6 words? Smarty pants.
* No haikus were hurt in the writing of this post. Also, I don’t find haiku humorous (in general) and I’m not downplaying the beauty of a well-written haiku or the poets who write them.
Most of my posts are free-writing… it helps enormously to just have the confidence to tap away. You can always edit, but not until there’s something on a page 🙂
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Love this. A lot of my posts are freewrites, too. I love the freedom on blogs. So true…you can’t edit if there’s nothing on the page. 🙂
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A blog is the perfect place to write directly from the moment, isn’t it?
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Yes! I’ve mentioned this before. I love the blogs where people just write. It’s refreshing.
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Absolutely true! Every word! It’s why I am so thankful for some of the writing prompts we follow on twitter. Definitely helps unstop the drain…sorry…plumbing reference. 😉
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I should have prepared myself for a plumbing reference here. 😉 Agreed. Prompts are excellent for this, too.
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Freewriting is the best. I use it any time I feel stuck, even in life.
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Oh, yes. Free-writing helps with all sorts of issues, writing or not. It can get you out of many sticky situations or help you realize what you need to do.
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“Also, I really think the counting of syllables helps me. Kind of like rubbing a worry stone.” A worry stone! It is like that. I used to make my staff write a cinquain before weekly meetings. It was a constraint, something creative and yes, like rubbing a worry stone it was calming to count syllables. Free writing is my favorite (obviously because you never hear me complain about writing, but I whine loudly over revision).
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I’m actually not great at math but counting is so soothing. I love that you used cinquain before meetings! What a fantastic idea to calm and focus. Brilliant. Free-writing is my favorite, too. Which is why my posts read like this. 😉
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I sometimes try to write Haiku, but the conventional haiku with juxtapositioned elements and seasonal reference and throw in in the 5-7-5 syllables, its serious business and I need a muse for that….
chiaroscuro
light and dark origami
Sunlight peeks at folds
jilted by the moon
blades of grass weep dew softly
smiling sun dries them
I really like six word stories *not counting*
I should be sleeping, yet, not ^_^
Confession I never really get stuck if I sit there long enough words will come (only I dont want to just sit there … long enough)
~B
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Yes, well I conveniently forget about the seasonal part, and the first two lines creating one sentence while the second two lines create one sentence. I just stick with the 5-7-5. I never claimed to be a poet. But you! 😍 Look at those haiku. Those are beautiful, B!
Yes. Six words say so much. *not counting*
I suppose if you sit long enough you’ll write SOMETHING but what?! And, like you said, how long is long enough?
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hahahaha aaaawe thanks ^_^
5-7-5 yep count syllables and its practically a haiku lol
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I’m there. I’ll go try haiku.
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Ooh, please do, Irene
I think you will love the form
And write pretty poems
#Irene’sHaiku
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Thank you dear Sarah
Such confidence you show spurs
Haiku aplenty.
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LOVE it! 🙂 Awesome.
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I’ve thankfully haven’t been to a point where I can’t write. Now, I might not be able to write what I’m supposed to, but I usually can write something. The other day, I wrote a scene for book 4 where my character delivers a proposal to his wife about opening up a hospital/orphanage. It didn’t progress me on book 2, but hey, it’s writing, right? 🙂
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Right. It totally counts. And it totally helps. When you can’t write (or can’t write what you’re supposed to be writing), write something else. Exactly.
I thought you were a pantser… You’re writing parts of book 4 already?!
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Well, regardless of writers block or no, I found this post pretty amusing and worth the time to read it!
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I’m sorry… “I amuse you? I make you laugh? I’m here to amuse you?” 😀 Oh, man, your comment made me think of Joe Pesci in that scene. One of the best, IMO.
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Revision is so the opposite of free writing and I don’t like it one bit…maybe I’ll try some haiku like Irene, I need a breather…but writing about Ethel & Fred helps, silly though I know it is…but there it is, what works is good… 🙂 ❤
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Opposites…that’s true
Revision sucks life from you
Hope you try haiku
#Sherri’sHaiku
Yes! Ethel & Fred. Silly, fun writing that lets your creative muscles stretch. They’re great. Well, funny. 😉
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I love ‘Sherri’s Haiku’!!! Sarah, that’s great 😀 Speaking of creative muscles stretching…perfect example! ❤
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PS I need to try Haiku…one of these days 😉
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❤
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It’s been too hot to do anything here today. Found my son standing inside the fridge to cool down. Of course, I grabbed the camera and will soon be posting that moment. xx Rowena
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Well, that would be an interesting picture. 😀 Another way to start writing… A funny moment IRL.
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Free writing is the only thing that gets me out of a funk!
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It’s powerful. I can see that. I do love the other tricks (haiku and six words) but free-writing is the best.
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I write about why I can’t write, when I can’t – it helps a bit but doesn’t change the problem of the material I’m dealing with. Tricky one. I don’t get blocked just ‘sucked dry’!
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No, it doesn’t help with what you’re writing at the time but that works well. I’ve written about not being able to write before and why (in free-writing form). 😉
I know, sometimes it’s not getting stuck on something as much as being drained of energy or ideas. That’s brutal.
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I write a variety of short syllable based poems such as Haiku and Tanka, usually with a prompt, but not as a way to break writer’s block. It isn’t exactly free write, but there is minimal editing (as opposed to longer free verse poem). The other method (which I use also for forms such as Haiku), is to just to think of a recent experience or look out the window or around the room and as if I described it, what would be a good metaphor for.
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Poetry can be extremely structured so, no, I wouldn’t call that a free-write. I just like both styles at different times and depending on how I’m feeling. I love your idea of just looking around you for inspiration.
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Free writing is ace especially when you are feeling a bit wild and creative!
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Yes, it’s good during those times, too. 😀
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Nice. I think of it in terms that it’s okay to write (potential) junk rather than to wrote nothing at all. And sometimes it turns out to be garbage, but other times it doesn’t.
You can fix it or delete it later. First, just get words on the page.
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Yes. Always get those words on the page. Even if it has nothing to do with what you’re working on. For me, it breaks the dam. Also, if it does happen to be what I’m writing on at the time, I can just call it part of my shitty first draft.
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I’d never thought to use a haiku to break a thought wall. I’m going to try that!
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Awesome! 🙂 I hope you do. It’s fun (if you don’t strictly follow the rules like Beaton called me out on…). Just a quick 5-7-5 works well for me.
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