- 5,178
- Worcester, MA
- skip0110
Here are some from http://www.43folders.com/2004/11/hack_your_way_o_1.html interspersed with few of my comments. Do you guys have any interesting ones that you use?
- Talk to a monkey - Explain what youre really trying to say to a stuffed animal or cardboard cutout.
- Do something important thats very easy - Is there a small part of your project you could finish quickly that would move things forward?
- Try freewriting - Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of timesay, 10 minutes to start. Dont stop, no matter what. Cover the monitor with a manila folder if you have to. Keep writing, even if you know what you're typing is gibberish, full of misspellings, and grammatically psychopathic. Get your hand moving and your brain will think its writing. Which it is. See?
- Take a walk - Get out of your writing brain for 10 minutes. Think about bunnies. Breathe. Or don't breathe, and have a ciggy.
- Take a shower; change clothes - Give yourself a truly clean start.
- Write from a persona - Lend your voice to a writing personality who isnt you. Doesnt have to be a pirate or anythingjust try seeing your topic from someone elses perspective, style, and interest.
- Get away from the computer; Write someplace new - If youve been staring at the screen and nothing is happening, walk away. Shut down the computer. Take one pen and one notebook, and go somewhere new.
- Quit beating yourself up - You cant create when you feel ass-whipped. Stop visualizing catastrophes, and focus on positive outcomes.
- Stretch - Maybe try vacuuming your lungs too.
- Add one ritual behavior - Get a glass of water exactly every 20 minutes. Do pushups. Eat a Tootsie Roll every paragraph. Add physical structure. (I really like this one.)
- Listen to new music - Try something instrumental and rhythmic that youve never heard before. Put it on repeat, then stop fiddling with iTunes until your draft is done. Or don't listen to music at all.
- Write crap - Accept that your first draft will suck, and just go with it. Finish something.
- Unplug the router - Turn off the Interweb and close every application you dont need (especially IM). Consider creating a new user account on your computer with none of your familiar apps or configurations.
- Write the middle - Stop whining over a perfect lead, and write the next part or the part after that. Write your favorite part. Write the cover letter or email youll send when its done.
- Do one chore - Sweep the floor or take out the recycling. Try something lightly physical to remind you that you know how to do things.
- Make a pointless rule - You cant end sentences with words that begin with a vowel. Or you cant have more than one word over eight letters in any paragraph. Limits create focus and change your perspective. (This sounds cool...I wonder how well it works though?)
- Work on the title - Quickly make up five distinctly different titles. Meditate on them. What bugs you about the one you like least?
- Write five words - Literally. Put five completley random words on a piece of paper. Write five more words. Try a sentence. Could be about anything. A block ends when you start making words on a page.
