Welcome to the Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition IV!
Round EIGHT of this popular event is coming your way the entire month of August 2018 and it's going to be epic! Everyone from your all time favorite Wattpad Super Stars, to USA TODAY Bestsellin...
What began as a temporary writing break turned into a writing hiatus, and then into a rut. When I look back, writing should have been the one thing I tried to create time and focus for, no matter what. I could blame it on all the external factors I just mentioned, but in truth, I let myself stop doing the thing I love to do most.
Writing motivates me, inspires me, and makes me come alive. Being an author has been my dream for as long as I can remember, and it's part of who I am. It took a while, but I realized how unhappy NOT writing was making me, and how that was spilling over into other parts of my life. I needed to find a reset button, and fast.
What I ended up doing was going back to basics. I knew I might not be able to create the same amount of writing time I once had, but I also knew I owed it to myself to make time throughout the week and to have go-to tricks to eliminate mind clutter and distractions so I could get into the writing mindset. Not long after I rediscovered my focus-setting and time-creating tricks, I wrote multiple new chapters of one of my works in progress, and I created a new extended version of one of my previous works by writing six new chapters over a couple of weeks.
Here are the brain hacks and time hacks I used for getting my writing groove back. If you're reading this and have been lacking focus or time to work on something you love, I hope these tips also help you.
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MY TOP BRAIN HACKS FOR GETTING THE WORDS TO FLOW
1. Find something that focuses your mind on the moment.
This is a big one for me. My mind is all over the place the further into my day I get, since I'm either meeting about, answering emails or Slack messages about, or actually working on a number of different topics and projects each day. By the time I'm at the end of a work week... what's a coherent thought, again? My go-tos for settling my mind and quieting the endless torrent of thoughts about all the things I have to do are Kundalini yoga, meditation, or going for a walk. What I choose to do often depends on the amount of time I have and where I am. Once my mind has calmed the heck down and I'm in a space where I'm focusing on the present and one thing at a time, I'm much better able to write, and the words flow much more easily.
2. Make a playlist.
There's something about music that helps to refocus my attention and switches my mind over to the writing zone. This is a brain hack I've been using since my journalism school days when I needed to turn around a news story on a deadline. I remember the topic of listening to music to help with writing came up in one of my reporting classes, and that it was suggested by my professor, who'd spent years in the news industry writing to deadline.
3. Have a shower.
This is another brain hack that goes back to journalism school for me. I don't know why, but words and scenes just seem to come to me while I'm in the shower. I've seen other writers mention this works for them as well, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Your guess is as good as mine, but I swear by it!
