It’s been a while, hasn’t it.
So what do you do to get those creative juices flowing again?
You give yourself a deadline to revise the parts in the first book of your series you didn’t like by scheduling a book blog tour!
Did it work? Hell no!
Masterclass has a great post with some tips on How to Get Back into Writing but I’ll give you my opinion on them as well.
1. Read a Lot. Reading other author’s work is a way to jumpstart your creativity, and reading outside the genre you tend to write in could inspire new ideas. I’d also suggest reading something by an author who has a very different writing style to yours. I write in third person close, where I give the reader the inner thoughts and feelings of my MC and other characters, but never at the same time. Another author could write first person close, which you only experience that characters point of view. The one I struggle with writing is third person omniscient – where the narrator tells everyone’s thoughts and feelings at the same time. It’s so hard to get it right!
2. Make a Schedule to Establish Writing Habits. As someone with ADHD, a full time job and a special needs child while trying to stay somewhat fit, there is very little time left to “schedule” anything. Kudos to those who can.
3. Assign yourself Creative Writing Exercises. Ah, no. Life is difficult enough without giving myself homework.
4. Start a journal or digital document for story ideas. I have one of those little digital recorders in my bag but have I ever used it? Ha! The Notes tab on my phone has entries of ideas for dialog that I never went back and used. So many story ideas in my head that only come when I’m doing something else. Like driving.
5. Get Ideas from Real Life. My life is so utterly mundane that I’d put myself to sleep. However, the #WheelerNovel series does feature real cycling races from the 2015 Women’s World Tour!
6. Comb through old writing projects. Go back to something you’ve written a long time ago (gee, like say 2015) and revise parts you didn’t like to reflect your now grown up writing style! (And because you’ve self-published like me, you own the rights and can do whatever the hell you want!)
7. Get ideas in unorthodox ways. I offer to beta read other people’s work, which often gives my creative brain the dopamine it needs to reboot. They also get my constructive suggestions on edits whether they want them or not. (haha)
8. Brush up your creative work as a content writer. Restart your blog. Start a new one. Hunt down the questions you have and post your own take on it (like me!)
9. Write for writing’s sake. Basically, they mean don’t write to get rich because that will never happen. And honestly, they’re right. Write something that pulls at you instead of what you think will sell.
Just be sure to hire a good editor, or a few years down the road, you’ll be revising the first novel in your trilogy too.
Wheeler 