I’ve written about this before, but one of the best ways I’ve found to cure Writer’s Block is to jump start my creativity with a craft or art. And, since I’m not really artsy, I tend toward crafts. My passion in crafts is quilting.
Here’s a few of the hundreds of quilts I’ve made. In these I see changed dialogue, deleted scenes, rewritten paragraphs.
Sometimes it takes a few days to work out what’s bothering me, why I can’t progress in my writing. It’s often because I’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere.
But right now, it’s because I don’t have enough subplots and nothing’s really coming to me. So, I’ll climb the steps to The Loft, take out my latest pattern, and let the sound of the sewing machine and monotony of repetitive tasks empty my head (you remember what I said about the gears in my head spinning too fast, don’t you?). Then, once my mind is all clear for a little bit, something usually comes to me.
Of course, I discard it immediately, and wait for something better to come along. But sooner or later, the little squirrels in my head will snag on that first idea and say, ‘why not?’
Why not, indeed?
Wendy L. Koenig 