How to write again?

Whippersnapper

I used to write a lot as a child and into my teens. I would fill school copy books with my creative stories and poems and use my dad's typewriter to type up my favourites. I loved it and was told by many teachers that there could be something in it for me career-wise.

Anyway, as I got older I began to write less and less. I became very critical of everything I put on the paper to the point that writing was no longer enjoyable. My imagination seems to have disappeared altogether even though I still do a lot of reading.

I loved writing and I would love to get back in to it but the thought of sitting down with a blank sheet of paper is giving me the heebie jeebies.

How can I immerse myself back into writing gradually without feeling overwhlemed by the thoughts of not being able to write what I want?

I keep buying notebooks to spur myself on but they are all lying around, white and barren.

Any words of encouragement or tips on what or how I could begin are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Whipp.

pickarooney

Get thee to The Arena. Write a couple of hundred words on a chosen subject and see how you far against another boardsie. Then do it again.

silvine

Start a journal.

Trying writing twenty minutes a day and build from there.

Godsentme

Write an inch at a time.

PurpleBee

nothing like accumulating empty pages to further block an already blocked writer! If I were you I would stop writing or trying to write altogether, maybe the break will do you good...

Danpad

Write one sentence and expand by another sentence each day/hour etc
For example:
1 - He walked along a trail as his dog ran ahead.

2 - Stopping to adjust his bootlace he noticed his companion freeze, his lips curled back, teeth showing, growling.

3 - A voice called from the woods up ahead.

Remember, there's no pressure to write, no deadline, unless of course you want to enter a comp with a deadline, it's a good way to keep you focused.

Good luck.

bigsmokewriting

'The Right to Write' by Julia Cameron is an excellent read to help you feel more comfortable about your writing - it's lots of short very readable essays on different aspects of writing, followed by a writing prompt for each one. Bit hippie-ish in places but might be just what you need.

Doc Ruby

Ooh I hate that, looking back over some of the stuff I wrote in my teens, and there was copious amounts of it, it was actually pretty damn good. I'm struggling to shrug off years of corporate lingo and copy which has built up in the interim.

What I'm doing these days is I might get an idea for a scene, a sentence, a phrase, a character, and I jot them down real quick in the notebook that follows me everywhere. I have a few overall worlds I want to bring to life and I'll fit these snippets into the milieu, shuffle them around and see does it make sense.

I'm also getting back into tabletop roleplaying, which for sheer ad lib craic can't be beat for jolting the creative cells into motion again, plus the source material is wide and deep for some games. And free - check out Talislanta, two decades of imaginative inspiration, itself only one of hundreds of high quality games out there.

I also like to wander through deviant art and draw inspiration from some of the unbelievable artwork in there. What does for example an overgrown and elaborate bridge across an exotic jungle valley inspire in you? How about if you mentally paint in colourful bedouin style tents at some of the pillars? And right there I just got an inspiration with jungle vines being used by rope nomads to swing great distances and fall upon travellers from above.

doomed

The Francis McManus short story competition is coming up in January. Set yourself a target of writing a story for it and submitting it and forget all about the quality. Send it in. At least you will have written something and who knows? Then write something else.