Let’s say you had to “take a break” from your writing and are trying to get back into it again. You have added writing time back to your schedule and are working on that unfinished story that you set aside, oh so long ago. Great! But something is off. Your mojo isn’t there.
You are putting in the time and/or word count again, but it isn’t the same. You know you are supposed to quiet that inner critic while you are writing, save the editing for when you are done with the first draft and all that. Still, you read over what you have written and…well…it isn’t good. Just like you knew it wasn’t. It is dry and painful with no life and devoid of that creative spark. Your mojo is gone.
It happens to all of us.
Those of us who don’t earn a living from our writing will find times when we need to take a break from it. There can be many reasons: moving, changing jobs, going back to school, having a baby, burnt out, etc.
My reasons were that I had changed jobs and started going back to school. I tell myself that if it had been one or the other I would have stayed on track with my writing, but who knows. The new job and school both required time and energy that left me doing little else. Taking the extra hour every day to work on my story was hard. Harder was realizing that I had to prioritize my “creative energy.” Creativity doesn’t just flow out of me in an unending stream. It has limits. I found that I had enough for only two of the three, and if I tried to spread it out beyond two, then all three suffered. Badly. Since I paid for school, and my job paid for everything, I decided to let the writing rest for a bit.
I am now on a break from school and want to work on my story. But my mojo was missing. I was sure that if I just stuck to it, it would come back. But by that time I might be starting school again. I needed short-cut. But what?
The secret potion to restore your mojo!
Then I saw my old “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg. I don’t know where it had been, but it was placed on the little end table by my chair. Either one of the kids had borrowed it, or my wife had found it and didn’t know where it went and just placed it at my spot. Regardless, it felt like a divine intervention for my writing.
If you haven’t read it, I recommend you do so. This is actually my second copy. I had to buy it again when I lost my first one years ago. It is that important to me. The premise is simple: Pick a subject and write about it for a predetermined amount of time. During that time just keep writing. Don’t worry about punctuation or spelling, don’t cross anything out, just keep your hand moving. Natalie talks about not thinking, just doing it, let the writing go whichever direction it chooses. Lose control and don’t shy away from the hard, scary, or personal stuff if it comes up.
It is a wonderful book and will inspire you. The book goes into much more detail, but it is all worth reading. It includes Natalie’s personal journey, the few rules for this particular style of writing practice and a long list of subjects for when you just don’t know how to get started. It will jump-start your creative juices and shut down that inner critic.
And keep at it!
Read the book and commit to doing the writing practice for ten minutes a day for five days and you will be back to where you were before your break. Your unique voice will start to shine through your writing again, that special way that you think and communicate and which makes your writing so valuable.
I plan to keep on going with the practices, to keep things fresh. Even when life gets “too busy” again and I have to put my projects on the shelf for a period of time, I plan to keep on with these practices. I have my mojo back, and I don’t want to lose it again!
