Slump Buster

Something often spoken of with much fear is the dreaded writer's block. It's something that I may or may not have suffered. I have struggled to write on plenty of occasions, but the nature of this blog is that I generally need not force anything particular. I merely need wait until an idea worthy of some four or five hundred words comes to mind. Sometimes it takes a little time, and that's why I'm always endeavoring to have a reserve of posts ready to go so that I don't have to go with something I don't really like just so that I don't break the streak.

Lamentably, I have no such cushion at present. I have taken all the time I can afford to in hopes that something will come to me, and nothing really has. At fault, I believe, is that I have had no time to speak of alone with my thoughts. Idea generation has the two parts: first, I receive some manner of stimulation. It could be a party, a walk or a day's work, but it's something where I'm with people or at least not in my head.

Once that's through, I need time to cogitate. Preferably, I'm alone and isolated from all stimuli. Probably I'm at home in my bedroom, and have already exhausted all typical means of killing time on the internet. I have no remaining excuses, and I start ruminating on what has happened of late. Hopefully I have written down a few notes so that I don't forget the absolute gold I struck earlier. I may have recorded an audio note if the subject of my idea was not within earshot to get upset.

It's then time for writing. I usually say that I'm "writing up" an idea because by the time I am sitting before the keyboard it has largely written itself in my mind (although sometimes I start writing something that takes an unanticipated tack partway through). If I'm really cooking, then I am able to reel off five or six in a row and for the remainder of the day see myself as a great author. It's not writing a bunch at once that make the thing go, though. It's routine. Routine makes consistency and consistency makes momentum. That's when it goes.