Get Out of Your Funk!

Have you ever gone through a phase where you couldn't think clearly? You had a blah attitude about everything, (even the important things), and you felt like doing absolutely nothing? For instance, on some days, eating a pint of chocolate cookie dough ice cream seemed to be the most productive thing you did. I've been through this phase a few times in my life and I call it "The Funk"

During this phase you may not even feel like writing, but I beg to differ with you on this. You can write about your funk. How can you write at a time like this you ask? Below you'll find some topics you can write about while you're enduring this temporary phase:

Write about:

• Your feelings and emotions - use adjectives and colorful words!
• The things you see and hear
• The foods you're tasting: describe how they look and taste

While you don't need to write a book about your funk, you can one day use some of these segments for future chapters or characters in a book, an article, or another writing project you'll eventually work on. Whatever you do, let this funk you're experiencing be a temporary situation so you can start writing again with a clear mind and live a life that includes more than eating a pint of ice cream to get you through the day.

Can't Find Time To Write?

Consider your schedule. Are you stuffing it with busy work and non-essentials?

You want to write, but instead you find yourself watching TV, reading another writer's book, or searching the Internet. Ask yourself -- Can any of these things improve your writing or will they eat up your writing time?

Meditate on this.

Shortcuts to Success

Imagine yourself running late for an important meeting. You're racing down the road when you stop at a screeching halt because of an oncoming train going across the railroad tracks. Like the driver before you did, you're tempted to drive across the tracks before the train comes; but you consider the consequences of trying to take the shortcut. To your dismay, the train along with its cargo takes about 10 minutes to complete it's trek.

Angry and frustrated, you start your car and proceed across the tracks to see the car that went across the tracks. You see a pool of ambulance workers, firefighters, and policemen trying to rescue the lives of the driver and his three passengers. They're trying to rescue one person with the jaws of life. Wow! What a tragedy.

Sometimes, we as writers become discouraged when we look at the success of other writers. We get intimidated and discouraged, so we take a shortcut to success. We wish we had the notoriety of Stephen King, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, or anyone else who we deem successful in the writing world. However, we don't know what these individuals endured in order to "make it."

Waiting can be hard, but it can save you from a lot of heartache and restarts. While waiting for your opportunity to shine as a writer is not the easiest thing, you can do some things during this time:

• Read books on writing and marketing
• Create a marketing plan for your book or other writing project(s)
• Write book reviews
• Keep a writing journal and jot down ideas for future projects
  

Your success will hinge on what you do as you wait. With this in mind, exercise your patience and enjoy your slow season because your "big break" will be here before you know it!