Where are all the ideas?

As writers the thing we need most, other than the ability to write, is the ability to come up with, and use, ideas.

Writer's Block is supposedly a lack of ideas - or 'inspiration'. But sometimes you can have a vague idea that needs working on and fleshing out a little.

There are many ways to generate ideas. The big one is to keep a notebook, and write stuff in it. When you are fresh out of ideas, have a look and see if anything triggers something. Another good one is random pages in magazines and newspapers, or use a news story.

One I have learned of recently, but which is so obvious, is to turn on the radio and note down the first thing that is mentioned. When I did it, I got the tail end of a song and a comment on the weather.

So where are all the ideas? When you are uninspired, it can feel like they have all ran off and hidden from you. But in actual fact, they are everywhere if you just know where to look.

Feel free to share your idea-generating tips in the comments.

Can An Old Dog Learn New Tricks?

Excuse the cliche of a title, but it is a very important question.

It is not the sort of question I hear asked of published writers, particularly those that have been in the game for years. But perhaps, when you are published, you don't need to learn new tricks?

Photo courtesy of  www.speedpropertybuyers.co.uk

I have a new trick up my sleeve, a very good one at that. I am not saying that I am either old, or a dog, but like many wirters I have been writing and reading about writing for more years than I care to count. And the old problem of the blank page is one we will always battle with. There has been much written about overcoming that fear of the blank page, mostly 'Just Write Something'.

This new trick sort of follows the 'Just Write Something' school of thought. The something you should write? Emma said that.

Fancy that! It doesn't have to be Emma, it could be Simon, Jayne or Thomas. You get the idea. The suggestion is that you use the name of the character you are writing about.

Here is how it would work:

Let's say we have a story about Emma, who is a 'boy racer', and her mother is an estate agent. Emma is depressed and her mother is sympathetic. It's a snowy day and Emma is in the attic of her home and she finds a photo of a dog with mismatched eyes.

We have an inkling of a story, so where do we go from here? Let's see:

'Emma said that' she needed to get away from her mum. The snow had made the roads impassable, so it was a 'Snow Day' for everyone. She had been fighting with her mum for a while, though her mum tried to be sympathetic to Emma's depression. So Emma decided that she would go upstairs to the attic and just look through the boxes. She came across the photo of a dog with mismatched eyes, and her mum was cuddling it's neck. She went back downstairs to ask her mum about it.

There! This was a start that I have written off the hoof. But I would not have written any of it, had I not put 'Emma said that' at the start. It launched me, as I asked myself 'What does Emma want to say?'.

From that point, I could reconcile the relationship between mum and daughter as they bond over a story of a dog with mismatched eyes! Perhaps the dog got killed by a boy racer!

The other option, for those who like to write in first person, is 'I remember'. Used exactly like 'Emma said that' and off you go!

This is a trick I will definitely keep. Please let me know if you like it, if you used it and whether you got success from it.

Another Bad Blogger

I am late in writing this post. In fact I am so late in writing this post that, on today's 'to-do' list is 'Write Blog Post'. For this, I am sorry.

The other day I got an e-mail in my inbox. I subscribe to a blog called 'Write On'. The title of the post that landed in my inbox was 'A Bad Blogger'. I read this post with humour and familiarity.

Although this blog has only been active for about a month, I completely relate to the post. I started this blog with the intention of sharing my learning journey. There aren't many blogs out there that deal with the process of getting into print (and if there are any, I have yet to find them). But I also have a 2 year old daughter and an autistic ten year old boy. Both of whom sap my energy daily. Just this morning, I had had enough by 8AM. Considering we had overslept and didn't get out of bed until 7:40AM this is a record, even for my family! This puts additional obstacles in my path. My daughter starts part time nursery in September, leaving me with THREE HOURS A DAY child free! Yes, party prep is in full swing. My fiance has said that I should not hope for much in the way of success until then. This is not to say he is not supportive. On his days off, he takes over the childcare whilst I run away to a coffee shop, laptop in tow. And to top it all off, we have just booked our venue for our wedding next year.

So, I don't know exactly the direction of the blog, and I am trying to keep coming and writing. But in the meantime, I will have to accept that I too am 'A Bad Blogger'.

New Month And New Beginnings

The month of January was dismal for me. With the exception of my Blog posts - which I don't count at the minute - I wrote a grand total of 0 words. I did work, in the sense I did a lot of editing, but nothing new was created.

I found January depressing. It is well reported that January is not a good month, and even I suffered on Blue Monday.

But January is now in the past and it is February! A brand new month! I don't know about anyone else, but I see the start of a new month the same as the start of a new year - a time to reflect, measure goals and make new ones. And that is exactly what I am going to do here.

Someone pointed me in the direction of a wonderful blog post (which can be found here) and it is very good reading, and gives food for thought. Although I have read Simon Whaley's Positively Productive Writer more than once, I always love reading how to become more productive.

I don't have much 'new' work this month at the minute, so I will say that I will aim to complete 200 words, finish my assignment (which I am well on time to complete) and have a nosey at the next assignment and plan it. As my goals change, I will post them here.

How was January for you? Did you meet any goals you set for yourself? I would be really interested to hear how you manage your time and priorities!