The Path Creativity Takes

How to enhance your visionary efforts

There are days every writer has where you just don’t feel like a real writer. You’re not motivated, the story is coming out sub-par, and the word count generation is about as easy as burning calories at the gym.

Most of the time, this feeling creeps in when you’re not producing, whether due to life responsibilities or writer’s block. When you are making progress in a story, even if it’s not the top notch work you want it to be, you at least have that self-validation that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. What you’re meant to be doing.

It happens to the best of us. Our job and family take over, our projects fall behind, and keep falling, until they putter out and stall and we lose sight of what we were trying to do. Then, you feel like trash because you’re not creating, and you’re not creating because you feel like trash.

You need to put an axe through the middle of this. It is a self-perpetuating loop that has caused the death of more than a few writers’ dreams. Set aside some time with yourself and focus on the part of this you used to love. The part that brought you joy. That was the reason you showed up in the first place.

Creativity is an engine that runs on things that modern living has worn into short supply. It needs designated space, mental stillness, and a willingness to play. If you don’t fuel that engine, it won’t run.

Once you get that creativity up and going, however, it’ll multiply. A single idea will spawn others, and that one will branch into even more. You’ll wind up with a whole family tree of lightbulbs to choose from.

So much of this game is about confidence. If you’re not seeing results from yourself, your confidence will falter. But if you can push past the pressures of modern life and get writing, your inspiration will kick off because creativity begets more creativity.

How to feed the fire