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Craft of Writing

April Aragam

Stop Procrastinating: 4 Ways To Jumpstart Your Writing

Ever have moments where you can’t write a word? All of a sudden you have absolutely no ideas and wonder why you ever became a writer?’ It might be writer’s block or something else, but whatever it we’ve all had it and it’s always annoying. We want to write, we love to write, so why can’t we? The reason doesn’t actually matter. What does matter is how you get going again. Use the following tips to help yourself start writing again:

1. Brainstorm
   This is always a helpful to begin writing again. Jot down any ideas that come to mind or ideas that you’ve thought of doing before. You don’t have to commit to any of them, just write them down. The more ideas you write down, the more you have to choose from. If you really like an idea, make more notes about it. What will you include? Who will your audience be? Could you turn this one idea into two or three for more audiences? Think outside the box. Don’t throw ideas away simply because you think you can’t use them. Create an idea notebook that you can refer back to anytime you’re lacking ideas.
   
   
2. Find inspiration
   If you have something or someone that inspires you to write, you are more likely to want to do it. You can find inspiration in someone else’s work, it doesn’t even have to be a writer. Maybe it’s someone whose success and work ethic you admire. Read about whoever it is. Study their work and their life. You can even find inspiration in yourself. Remember the feeling you get when your pieces get accepted and published? Go back and take a look at your own work. Notice the kinds of things you wrote. Often, reading your own previously published work gives you such a feeling of accomplishment that you want more. You might even want to start an inspiration book that you can refer to whenever you want. Include copies of your work, quotes, photos, anything that inspires you that you can grab at any moment.
   
   
3. Try something new
   If you’ve always written the same thing, the well could simply be running dry. Maybe you’ve exhausted yourself writing in just one area. Try something new. If you normally write poetry and greeting card verse, maybe it’s time to try your hand at article writing. If you’ve always written health and fitness articles, maybe you can try your hand at a new topic. You don’t have to give up your passion for good, just try something new for a while. Challenge yourself. Even getting away from writing for a bit to try something new altogether could spark something. Writing about that experience for instance is sure to get you going again.
   
   
4. Write badly
   That’s correct. Write badly. Many of us feel that if we’re not going to write our best, we shouldn’t write at all. Not so. It’s only true that we should submit only our best work. But you can write badly anytime. Don’t worry about spending time writing things you won’t use later. Those things you write might not be so useless. Free write about anything that comes to mind and you might actually be struck by ideas you can use for your articles, poetry, even books. The point is to get yourself writing. Once you start, the good ideas will come.

About the Author
April Aragam’s work has appeared in such publications as Living, Fellowscript, Listen and Mahogany Baby. You can check out her blog at http://aprilaragam.blogspot.com.