USING PROMPTS WHEN YOUR MUSE IS QUIET

It is said that one of the keys to writing is to get thy butt into the chair and just do it. Great! Butt is in chair. Now what?

Now, I sit and stare at a blank page on my computer screen and think. Think? Do I really think? If I were truly thinking, I would be typing at jet speed, or maybe warp speed. But I’m sitting here rereading what I wrote and trying to get inspired.

I can be driving home from work and ideas hit me from the right and left. But once I get home and sit down at the computer to actually write, NOTHING.

OR

I can plan to get up with the alarm at least an hour early and write then, or so say many writers. Really? It takes at least an hour and two good cups of coffee for my brain to activate. It’s like the Power Rangers can’t find each other.

So, what’s a writer who is trying to write each day supposed to do. Especially if they have an idea for a novel and NaNoWriMo hasn’t started and it’s October?

I like to work with prompts. I make my creative writing students write to a prompt each day as soon as the bell rings. Mondays = story idea; Tuesdays = 5 words; Wednesdays = picture; Thursdays = personal; and Fridays = story starters. I generally write for 10 minutes to the same prompt they are given.

Sites for writer prompts:

Although Creative Writing Solutions says it is a website for teachers and parents, it is a site that offers some thought provoking writing prompts.

http://www.creative-writing-solutions.com/creative-writing-prompts.html

Creativity Portal offers several different kinds of writing prompts, from story starters to a daily picture.

http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/writing.prompts.html

Writing Prompts: Creative Writing Ideas is an article on Hub Pages that identifies prompts in categories such as “Life Experiences”.

http://ripplemaker.hubpages.com/hub/writingprompts

World’s Best – Daily Writing Prompt contains a library of writing prompts.

http://www.daily-writing-prompt.com/index.html

Other places to look for inspiration include song lyrics, the newspaper, the news, books that make you wonder what a character would do “If?”, even history.

So, don’t procrastinate, produce. Don’t worry about the topic or the blank page. That’s what is so great about writing. If you don’t like how you wrote it, it is easy to revise what you have done OR “scrap it” (but never actually throw it away – it might be useful somewhere along your writing journey) and start something new OR let the idea simmer on the back burner behind a closed door in your mind until it seems to make sense.

PROCRASTINATION and CHALLENGE

My hand pauses on the doorknob. Procrastination bubbles to the surface. I don't have to do this today; I can wait until tomorrow. I nod in agreement with myself. I didn't tell anyone where I was going. Tomorrow will be a better day to do this.

"What are you, chicken?" a voice deep inside me bellows. "It's always tomorrow with you, isn't it?" I am still paused with my hand on the well worn knob. "If you truly look at it, this is yesterday's tomorrow. Pull the door open, would you?"

I take a deep breath and pull. The door opens to a gymnasium and arranged center court sit 12 gray metal folding chairs in a circle. The gentleman with the clipboard looks up before I can escape. "Welcome. I'm glad you finally came."

Eyebrows raised, I point at myself.

"Yes, you. I've been waiting for you. I am always waiting for procrastinators, but they seldom find the right tomorrow. Won't you take a seat?" He motioned to the 11 empty chairs. "I believe you'll be the first member of Procrastinator's Anonymous."

WHERE IS PROCRASTINATOR'S ANONYMOUS

Unlike support groups for other maladies like alcoholism, drug abuse, and over-eaters, procrastinators rarely catch up to tomorrow. They wait for tomorrow to set goals, accomplish tasks, start something new.

What causes procrastination? At least for me, I think procrastination comes from fear of the unknown and fear of failure as well as from a lack of self-confidence.

At first, I thought having an empty house for the better part of every two weeks would be a blessing. I could write. I could clean. I could grade. I could write. I could write.

It has now been almost three years since my husband began a career as an over the road trucker, but I have accomplished little with writing (or in cleaning for that matter).

THE CHALLENGE

It has taken my husband, who listens to book radio, to challenge me out of my procrastination. Although there is no support group for procrastination, my husband has listened to many author interviews. What he has gotten out of these interviews is that I need to be like the professional writers who set writing goals for themselves.

His goal for me is to write 2,000 words a day. It doesn't matter if those words are part of a novel I have talked incessantly about, a short story, or just to write whatever comes to my head, but I MUST WRITE 2,000 WORDS A DAY.

Have I started? I sure have. I haven't hit the goal yet, but I am working toward it. At least I have my backside in my desk chair and I am striking keys that will put words on the page.