Fighting the Winter Writing Blahs

Have you got a case of winter writer's block? Try using writing prompts or set yourself some clear goals to write your way out of the slump.

My favourite time to write is the fall. When summer ends and the days get shorter it's easy to curl up inside, watch the rain fall and focus again on the internal world of writing. But come mid-winter I'm restless and ready for spring. My mood drops because of the endless grey, and writing ideas seem hard to come by.

This year I've been trying to keep writing through the winter blahs by giving myself small goals and specific challenges.

In December, a friend – inspired by her children's advent calendar - suggested writing a daily haiku as a way to keep writing. It's a basic structure: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables, and traditionally haikus contain some mention of the season. They're quick, easy and fun to write. Here's one:

Winter writing's hard.

Grey sky, bare branches, waiting

for inspiration.

By the end of the month I had thirty-one haikus, which seemed like a major accomplishment. It's also a nice record of the month to look back on, and some of them turned out to be surprisingly profound.

An alternate to daily haikus could be a daily word count, or page count goal. The satisfaction of reaching a writing goal provides great motivation to keep going.

I've also been using the prompts on Judy Reeve's website. She's got some guidance on how to write from prompts, and a list of prompts that scrolls up the left hand of the screen. The basic idea with prompts is to just go with it: ignore the inner critic and let your creativity run wild. It's a good way to get past writer's block, and though you may not use what you've written you may find it helps you approach your other projects with a more open mind.