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Write anyway. Seriously. I can speak from experience because I’m doing exactly that, right now.
The practice is called “stream of consciousness” and it allows us to basically brain-dump. If you want to be writing, what to write about is irrelevant. You don’t need to know— you just need to do.
I got in the habit of brain-dumping every morning thanks to The Artist’s Way, but you don’t need to participate in that course to do any of this!
What if I’m staring at a blank page for half an hour?
Then you’re doing this wrong. You just need to start typing or put your pen to paper. You can start with “Hi, my name is Meghan and I have a cat named Scholar,” and see where that takes you.
If you’re feeling too antsy to sit still and do the writing, however, there are things you can do to remedy that, such as:
- Supplementing L-theanine (“mental calmness”)
- Putting on some relaxing music
- Changing into comfortable clothes
- Lighting a candle
- Engaging in some writing rituals you have, or want to try
What if what I write is crap?
So what if it is? You don’t have to do anything with what you wrote on the fly. Building up the habit of writing daily is integral to your success as a writer. NaNoWriMo helped me to build that habit up, and while I don’t think it’s a non-negotiable part of my routine just yet, I try.
You are your own worst critic. If you’re CERTAIN that what you wrote isn’t of any use to you, save it but don’t delete it. You never know what you might come up with in the future that this might fit into.
If you’re feeling wishy-washy about the content, show it to a creative friend that you trust. *Important note: always be careful with whom you share your creative endeavours. Sharing with the wrong person can result in your creative spirit being bruised.
What if I get in the groove but then I have to stop for work or school?
Life gets in the way all the freakin’ time. I wish I were a full-time writer, and I wish the same for you! Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t “finish” what you were working on before you had to take a break. If you’re able to let your mind wander wherever you’re off to, try to brainstorm what might happen next in your writing project.
If you come back to it later, you may be able to slide right back in and keep going.
Pro tip: it won’t ever serve you to just not try something because you’re worried you mightn’t be able to finish it. Getting halfway through a project and not finishing it still means you did half a project (50% more than you would have otherwise) and built up some writing experience for yourself.
Motivation versus inspiration
If you’re feeling motivated to sit down and write, but the inspiration isn’t there, pushing through and writing whatever comes to mind will keep that motivation alive.
The idea here is that if you use that motivation to your advantage and build up a consistent writing habit, days when you’re feeling neither motivated nor inspired won’t feel quite as daunting because you will be more disciplined. Becoming disciplined is the real end goal here.
Excuses are crazy tempting, trust me I know. But if you’re disciplined and committed to the goals YOU set for yourself, any bit of writing whether it’s a brain dump or a random scene for a story you won’t eventually get around to writing is still 100000% better than just giving up on the creative endeavours you dream of.
Final Thoughts
There will absolutely be days when you feel like doing anything but writing, but if you want to be a writer then you have to make the best of those days.
It’s true of anything you do— teachers still have to go into school when they don’t feel like it. Doctors might not be in the “right mood” to do their thing, but they’re doing it anyway. A creative endeavour is no different in that regard.
At the end of the day, the answer to how to write when you’re not feeling inspired really boils down to a simple “just do it.” Doing it will often inspire you, in fact.
What are you doing? Shut up and write now!