Creative Writing

As I’ve said many times before, I don’t particularly believe in the term “writer’s block”.  If you’re a writer, you can always find something to write about.  I was sitting here tonight, thinking of what to write about when I realized that I have a ton of ideas sitting just a few feet away from me.  As someone who’s been writing and scribbling for many years, I’ve got a ton of notebooks and loose sheets of paper lying around filled with little notes and tidbits.  So, I decided to go through a few of these and see what I could find.

For anyone who’s had the itch to write over the years, it’s a pretty good bet that you’ve got something similar to my situation.  You may not have quite the volume I’ve got, but you’ve probably got notebooks lying around, computer files sitting there doing nothing, or just little slips of paper with basic ideas scratched on them.  So, pick them up, rummage through them, get them organized in a way that makes some sort of sense.

As I sat here going through a few of my old notebooks, I began to think about all the things I’ve been interested in over the years.  I’ve also come to the realization that I may need a therapist, but that’s a different story.  The point is that over time, you’ve surely come up with a few ideas that you may have thought were totally worthless, but may now be something you can use.  You never know unless you take the time to go back and look them over again.

A great way to take stock of all your past writings and scribbles, is to sit down and get them organized.  I do this by creating several different files in my computer for different things.  I have files for writing prompts, story starters, mythology, historical facts, and article starters.  I never know what I’ll find to go in each of these files, but it’s a blast looking through some of my older notebooks and getting them put into their prospective files.  It’s also a great way to go back to the folders and see some of the things already in there that I’d forgotten about.  Over time, you can create a ton of ideas for those days when there just doesn’t seem to be any inspiration.

So, rummage through all your old ideas and see if you can’t find a few diamonds in the rough.  You might be amazed at how many things you thought to be bunk, could end up being just the thing to get you back on track and writing your little heart out.  Go ahead, I dare you.

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