Can’t write? Try a 15 minute writing burst
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Have you ever found yourself staring at your screen and praying to your fickle muse to grant you the strength to take the words out from deep within you? If you say yes, stop it. Yes, I said stop trying to get a hold of her, because she’s on vacation in Cabo San Lucas and the last thing on her mind is you.
So how do you get back on track? How are you going to write that blog entry? Finish that piece of flash fiction? Top off the novel you’d been writing for the last six months?
Try a writing burst.
A writing burst is a session of writing where you concentrate on nothing but output. It doesn’t matter what you write as long as you write. If you wanted to you could focus on writing a letter to your grandmother, a blog entry, a recipe, a short story, or your comprehensive plan on taking over the world using only strawberry Twizzlers. The point is you just have to write something.
To keep things flowing well, I recommend your writing burst be fifteen minutes long. Fifteen minutes is a small enough piece of time where it doesn’t feel like a major commitment, but isn’t small enough were you’ll be out of time before you even started. It also helps you silence your inner editor long enough for you to sit down and produce. Once your fifteen minutes are over, you’ll be surprised at what you’ve accomplished.
For example, I finished this entire blog entry in fifteen minutes.
If you’d like to try a writing burst, call or message a couple of your friends who also have writing to do and do an impromptu writing burst. Have no writing friends? Join me on Plurk and we’ll go ahead and do a writing burst together. You’ll be happy you did, and your muse will be even happier you’ve left her alone with her tall Piña Colada sunning at the edge of the pool.
7 comments
Crap. How did you find out about my plan for global domination utilizing twizzlers?
Great advice! I will try this sometime because my muse is forever fickle
My burst will be to help with next week’s gardening column. Possible headline: “Fooled by Nature (Or Why We Didn’t Check To See If They Were Weeds In The First Place) ”
Thanks for the reminder. I do this often.
My muse is on vacation in Cabo? Dammit, if she’s there with Tony Romo it is ON.
Great advice. I’ll have to remember to try this…and then hunt down my muse and hit her upside the head for going to Cabo without me.
Good idea. If it works, I don’t need the damn muse. I’m hiring a hit man and buying him a ticket to Cabo San Lucas. Revenge is sweet.
great advice. I actually started doing this a few days ago, with a 15 minute writing burst every weekday, and i put it up on a website. Its really great to get myself writing more often aswell as improving my skill. I actually got the idea from a school exam thingy where you had to write something in 15 minutes based on a picture. So i recommend it for others, its great fun, and though I’ve only been doing this for a couple of days it really helps to get you writing more often!
Leon Rice-Whettons last blog post..Comment on WRITING: Train by NEWS: Train and buffers. » Gecko Breakfast
Leon,
It is a great way to kick yourself into gear isn’t it? I’ve found that using this technique can yield some interesting results. It also gives you the freedom to write and not worry if it’s crap.
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