Dominate Your Writer’s Block — Simple Ways to Inspire Yourself

Push the limits of your creativity and find a new pace.

Some authors are prolific to an extreme with writing output. Some take a little more time to get started.

I am lucky enough to be rich in the amount of words I write per day and rarely find myself stumped for ideas to write about.

Those of us in that category get asked frequently about how we’re able to do it. Is there some chemistry in the brain that makes it happen? Is there some special magic spell we cast or deal made with a demon to get those words flowing like a waterfall?

Well, I don’t know how it is for any of those other authors, but for me, it’s more about finding inspiration in weird ways.

How can you get inspired?

That’s a big question, and there are many ways to get to the answer.

The first thing I say in response to it when asked is, unfortunately, sometimes we can’t.

There are times when even those of us who output a lot just don’t have the juice in the tank to get it done. We sit to write, but nothing comes out.

Whether or not we like it, life can get in the way. That’s not always a bad thing, though. Sometimes I think if I pressure myself to put words down, what comes out is useless garbage.

That does nothing but disservice to my readers, and I’m not willing to let that happen. It’s not fair to them, and it’s just as unfair to me.

There are times, for instance, when I come off of an extensive project — a novel, perhaps, or a series of short stories — I need to do a bit of a break. A reset, so to speak, to let the brain recover before moving on to another.

There have been instances of that which have lasted a couple of weeks before I can sit to write again.

That doesn’t mean I stop working, though. There’s always marketing, editing, schmoozing editors and agents and more that need my attention. There’s also a never-ending well of things along those lines to get done.

It never ends.

There are, though, some things I do to massage the inspiration and they might just help you, as well.

Habit is a big key.

I started writing quite young. I remember putting those first words down, terrible though they were, at about 8 years old.

What starting that young allowed me to grasp was how habits can make a massive difference to the flow, to get into the “stream of consciousness” we writers seek. We can slip into writing mode instead of parking at Procrastination Station for a while.

One of those habits, for me, is music.

Music unlocks the mind.

One good thing about YouTube is the multitude of channels dedicated to music of all genres.

Swaths of channels are ready to serve you the music that can inspire you. The option to create playlists from any videos makes it simple to get things set up for you and whatever mood you want.

For instance, I have a playlist set up with over 300 hours’ worth of instrumental music, mostly in “Epic Trailer” style or post-modern (also known as Shoegaze) genre. The great thing about this particular kind of music is there tends to be no lyrics involved.

Songs with vocals going on distracts my mind, to the point it can color or taint what I’m trying to say. I’ve even accidentally put some of the words into dialog. It gets strange.

If music isn’t necessarily your thing, there are also countless hours of ambient sounds to choose from. Sometimes, if I’m looking for a certain mood in one of my stories, I will listen to sounds from space stations with ships passing through, faint announcements of incoming traffic, and that sort of thing.

Other times, the choice is swamplands, or post-apocalyptic landscapes.

It’s all depending on what you’re wanting your mind to grasp or what you’d like your readers to feel. It helps get the emotions flowing and the words streaming.

Set up as many playlists as you’d like, each forming patterns of the worlds you’re looking to create.

Once you’ve done it for a while, your brain gets trained to know when that kind of sound comes in, you’ll automatically be in writing mode and ready to go.

Another sound-scape website useful to writers is called myNoise.

They set the site up to create atmospheres, using ambient sounds and tones. While most people use it as an aid for relaxation or meditation, I’ve found it a perfect addition to my writing arsenal.

The sounds are endless, and if you’re a patron of them (it’s extremely affordable with a one time cost of $5.00 for a lifetime subscription), you get access to channels they create for even more options.

These “channels” are spectacular. They take 5 random sound-scapes from their massive collection, which have been tagged for specific themes or genres. These random sounds are then animated, gently raising in volume, lowering in same, or altering in tone to fit the overall theme you’re going for.

A specific one I listen to a lot is called “Space Odyssey.” This has an assortment of space and science fiction themed sounds and creates an amazing mood. I’ve listened to it for hours at a stretch and still go back to it frequently.

Right now, I am hearing musical tones with gentle hums and blips interspersed. The hums are from the bridge of a spaceship (think Star Trek), and a station with random numbers quietly wafting and waning around in my ears fills in the ambience.

If, while you’re listening, you want to have a little something different, all you have to do is reload the page and a new randomized set of sounds begins anew.

You could listen to a sound channel with nature, winds blowing through leaves in a forest, while a babbling brook nearby burbles its soft tones. Or, on restoring the page, you could hear the crunching sounds of footsteps on a forest floor begin, while a distant rainstorm picks up.

It’s a really refreshing site, and I highly recommend it for any writer to get inspired.

Your space is the thing.

Another method of getting the inspiration flowing is to have an established place you write.

I know many authors who work from cafes, bringing their laptops along to get words in while the flow of people around them makes their noise.

This can work for some, but definitely not for me.

What I find works better is having a specific place to write in, separated from anything else.

If you set up a space in your home, for instance, where you write, and do nothing else there but compose, your brain will habituate to the fact that when you’re there, you’re writing.

You can train yourself to slip into that writer mode just by sitting at that desk, at definitive times in the day.

Or, if the coffee shop works for you, do that too. But try to make sure you’re even sitting at the same table at the same time of day each time you go. Again, it’s a way to trap your brain into the cycle of creativity.

A hack, if you will.

Train your brain to work with you.

In this way, you’re making it so your brain doesn’t automatically fight against you when you try to do your work.

While I have a special place, myself, to write in, I go so far as to have a specific device I use to create the words, too.

It’s a device from Astrohaus, called the Freewrite.

Essentially, it’s a modern-day typewriter with an e-ink screen, used as a distraction-free writing device.

I know when that thing is sitting in front of me, it’s time for me to write. My brain shifts right into it.

There are, of course, as many ways to get inspired to write as there are people, but these are just a couple of ways I have found to help my own creativity get going at those slow times.

What ways do you have to find inspiration?

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