Tag Archive - Writing Prompts

5 Creative Ways to Help You Get Writing

Anton Chekhov wrote: “My country house is full of people, they never leave me alone; if only they would go away I could be a good writer.”

I bet you have your own “if only …” sentence that tells why you haven’t reached your writing goals.

Mine change from time to time. “If only I was more knowledgeable about this topic, I would feel confident enough to finish this novel” (my present “if only”). “If only I wasn’t so easily distracted” … “If only I felt more motivated” …

I’ll tell you one thing that does help me break through my “if only” dilemma, and that’s working on something I’m really excited about.

Many prolific writers generate innumerable ideas, and my guess is they’re mostly great ones. Ideas for poems, short stories, plays, screenplays, novels. You have to generate a lot of ideas to get to a few truly great ones. Continue Reading…

The Writer’s Practice: Your Everyday Writing Warm-Up

Today’s guest post is by Anuradha Prasad.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about practice.

Did you know that all art forms and spiritual work are rooted in deliberate practice? Practice is the time set aside every day to honor your work and develop your skills. It takes the shape of rituals and exercises. Practice gathers your attention and brings it to your work.

Ballet dancers train for hours. Even the most basic steps are repeated over and over again. The movements and the dancers are inseparable. When they are on stage, these movements are transformed into performance.

Singers  warm up with the basics, stretch their vocal chords for two to three hours a day. Athletes and gymnasts train every day. They are always in shape and ready to push to the next level. Continue Reading…

5 Methods to Help You Meet Your Writing Goals

Today’s guest post is by Lisa Rowan:

Whether you’re kicking off the new year by tackling a new writing project, or are hoping to revisit your work with fresh eyes, finding the motivation can be tough. After all, you are your own worst critic, and beating back any negative thoughts you have about the quality of your work or how productive you’ve been can feel impossible at times.

There are countless methods to help you write more, and you could read entire series of books on the topic. But which tips will work best for you?

The methods below are just a few that have worked well for me. Sure, I still have plenty of days when I don’t feel like writing, or I get frustrated when I can’t find the exact word I’m searching for. I still fall into the black hole of Facebook feed-scrolling or Wikipedia exploration. But I know I can always come back to one of these methods to clear my head and refocus my efforts. Continue Reading…

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