Every so often I have nothing to say and therefore nothing to write about. I may have some opinions, but they don’t seem important and they certainly aren’t worth sharing. It’s not writers block, it’s more a feeling that my inkwell is dry.
Writing is not like painting in that a painter can sit down in front of a tree and paint, and when he is done, he can turn his chair around and paint some other tree, or building, or waterfall. Ideas aren’t so plentiful.
So what do I do when the inkwell runs dry? I fill it up. Or at least I try. Here are some tips:
• Don’t panic. As a writer, you are good at processing and communicating ideas, but you didn’t come up with the ideas. They existed before you and will exist after you. You are simply the filter through which ideas get poured and processed. There are more ideas out there.
• Get some rest. Your filter is not a fixed mechanism, it’s a living brain, and it needs rest. Take a break from all things philosophical for a while. Attend a movie, read a book, take a nap, but let your mind recover.
• Pray. I’m a firm believer that God brings us things to write about, word pictures to paint, ideas that are good for the world. Pray and wait.
Sooner or later you’ll be writing again.
What do you do when the words won’t come?
I would argue that a writer has the capability of sitting down and painting (with words) the scenery which he is viewing or the thoughts he is having very much in the same way a painter can (with paint). That’s not to say that the scenery or the thoughts are very interesting to anyone besides himself (or maybe not even to himself), but a painting of a tree might not be either.
I found this mostly helpful, though I disagree that you do not come up with the idea, it’s already there (which implies, to me, that you are just reusing an old idea, therefore making your piece copyrighted). A good writer is an original writer. His or her idea may seem worthless to everyone else, but if it’s original, the piece must be something.
So, besides the praying and copywriting (get it?), I found this article very helpful. Thank you!
[...] obligatory cheesy stock photo….ha, like people still use pen and paper [...]