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Ask Regarding Getting Back In the Habit of Writing

I haven’t been able to write in four months. I don’t know what to do. My mind is blank. I have no more ideas, at all, and I feel so useless not writing. I just want to write, but I can’t! It’s so frustrating! If I sit down to write, nothing comes at all. I can handle it for a week or two, but four months? What do I do? I feel terrible.
 Anonymous

Okay. First thing’s first, take a deep breath. Take two. Beating yourself up is counterproductive, because you can’t write when you’re feeling down on yourself like this. Here is an unrelated story about a funny dog. Go read it. Laughing is good for you.

Now. My recommendation is that you work your way back into writing gently. Set yourself a word goal. Make it something easily attainable, say, 50 or 100 words a day. As soon as you hit your mark, reward yourself. Maybe go for a walk, or raid the chocolate supply. Watch your favorite show or read a good book. Just build up positive feelings for writing on a schedule again. It doesn’t have to be good, or on topic, or anything. You can write about your day. You can write silly poems to FYCD, I’ll read them if you do. ;) If you can, find someone who will read your writing, that enjoys it, and will whine/punch you if you try to get out of writing. Eventually, you’ll want to keep writing after you’ve completed your target. If you miss a day, just pick yourself up and keep going the next day. I’m told that, on average, habits are formed within 21 days. After this long without writing, you’re out of habit. You just need to build yourself back up into the habit of writing.

Now, let’s see what other encouragement/usefulness I can provide you…

If you are having trouble finding inspiration, there are tumblrs that run prompts. Here are some I like: 

WriteWorld 
YeahWriters 
Get Scribbling

If you are having trouble getting your page count, here’s

Written? Kitten! which is good positive reinforcement
Write or Die which I swear by because I’m actually just lazy and need some needling to work.

And… 

Here’s WriteWorld’s article about getting out of a writing slump, and in case you get stuck, these things.  

My favorite writer’s block quote.

Now, I hope that you feel like you can get back to writing! Drop us an Ask if you need anything, we’re here with you as you work on it. Good luck and get writing!

-Evvy