by Anne Gader

Created on: December 16, 2009

Disciplining inspiration for creative writing

Much as writing is an art, a lot of it is also sheer discipline.

How can a writer instill discipline in himself to write consistently and constantly? The answer is in setting routines.

1. Regular Time for Writing.

Find out which time of the day is the best time for writing. For some people, they like to wake at the crack of dawn and sit down and write a few pages before the start of the day. This leaves the rest of the day “worry free” that they have done their writing exercise. For others, they work best in the middle of the night, while others favour a different time of the day.

2. Regular writing spot.

Be it a café, a desk at home by the window, at the kitchen table, or in the garden, writers tend to have a favorite spot for working with their tools around them. It is useful to set up a specific place for writing, and stick to it for a period of time. In olden China, the emperor’s study is only a small room with a desk and a few chairs and a small daybed, as a smaller place focuses one of the task in hand. Think about converting a nook or a cranny in your home to a regular writing or reading spot if you do not have one.

3. Tools of the trade

Some people like to write with a favorite pen, some like to work on a laptop. There is no need to be fancy and extravagant, but you need a set of working tools for creative writing.

4. Regular Inspiration

Set aside a time and activity for regular inspiration, such as a walk on the beach, a new route to work, an alternative holiday, etc. This ensures that the mind is stimulated to generate new ideas, despite the fixed time and/or location that you have.

Then comes the writing itself. Ignore the writer's block. Forget about trying to be perfect. A famous writer once said, you can edit bad, but you can't edit blank. I think so too!

a. Step back away from the topic. Usually, when you are too close to the issue, you are unable to see the "big picture" and form more lateral jumps in thought (which limits creativity)

b. One technique is not to even think and just let your pen flow. Regardless of how unstructured the writing is, just let the mind empty itself and purge of all the nagging thoughts inside the head. Now that you have it on record, you know that you don't have to keep head space for those small matters, and can effectively focus on the writing that you have to do.

c. Promise yourself a reward after writing ... say 100 pages. This way, you have something to look forward to!

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