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In the March/April 2017 issue of Writer's Digest, an excerpt from Nina Amir's Creative Visualization for Writers suggests we think about what energizes us and what energizes our writing. She recommends listing these activities then incorporating them into our daily or weekly routine.
From my list:
For me - walking on the beach with my husband, early in the morning before the crowds roll in. I can literally feel the muscles in my shoulders relax as soon as I step on that sand, rest my gaze on the sea.
For my writing - knowing I am not alone in all my writerly weirdness. By being a part of IWSG, I am connected to a network of like-minded people who are all dreaming, striving, growing and challenging ourselves to improve in our craft, to live an artistic, creative life.
What gives you and/or your writing energy? Salsa dancing? Trampoline jumping? Dressing up like your characters? Imagining who would play your characters in the movie? Do you make charging your batteries a priority?
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I'm excited to be co-hosting IWSG again this month! Please give the rest of the co-hosts - Christopher D. Votey, Fundy Blue and Chrys Fey - a shout out as well. Thanks for stopping by!
How about salsa on chips?
ReplyDeletePleased to hear the IWSG does that for you.
I'll put salsa on pretty much everything. :)
DeleteIt totally does!
And thanks for co-hosting today!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure!
DeleteThanks for co-hosting today! I love Nina Amir. As what gives me and my writing energy? Reading a good book and manga. And being a bit of a voyeur when it comes to my characters. Getting inside their heads, watching as they rise and fall. And imagining which actor will play them in a movie doesn't hurt either.
ReplyDeleteI always say that if I don't read for a little while every day, I get cranky. Reading fuels me. Good books rock! :)
DeleteHa 'writerly weirdness' would make my hubby laugh. I need silent alone time and to read everyday, although I rarely get time for either so I suffer. It's about making what we need as important as food or water, but I don't know anyone who feels entitled to do that.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the quiet and the reading! And isn't it strange how we often don't give ourselves the very things we need to be our best selves?
DeleteA good idea. I need to get back to walks where I am not reading. Just movement and free thought.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do my weird waddle/jog/run outside, I don't take music or anything with me. I try to just let my mind go. I do need something on the "dreadmill" though, to keep from going crazy with boredom. :)
DeleteI'm with you on the beach. I create my chapters, well, I did, until things changed. Working to get back to the beach!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
I don't get to the beach nearly as much I as want to. Sometimes it's due to weather or stuff like red tide, but It's mostly my own lazy fault. Must make more effort! :)
DeleteSleep. LOL! I definitely don't get enough of it lately. That, and a little time to myself is all I need. Granted, we lived near the beach several years back, and I remember how wonderful it was to go walking, especially at night. I miss that.
ReplyDeleteSee, now I can't go walking on the beach at night. Do you have any idea where my imagination would go if I did that?! :)
DeleteThanks for co-hosting today, Madeline. The IWSG members inspire me all the time! Like you, I love the ocean, but getting outside in nature anywhere restores me and gives me energy to write. That and coffee ~ LOL Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteAh, coffee! I have an iced coffee with cream sitting on my desk right now. :)
DeleteWalking gives me writing energy as well as listening to music and meditating!
ReplyDeleteAh, meditation! Good one!
DeleteThe beach does it for me too. But as that's not a daily occurrence, walking the nature reserve near my house with my dog, with beautiful views of fields and the river, is a brilliant second best.
ReplyDeleteThe outside seems to be a common relief, judging by these comments.
I wish walking on the beach was more of a daily occurrence! The nature reserve sounds lovely, though.
DeleteThanks for co-hosting, Madeline. I love your post. I walk on the beach too, but it's not my only form of inspiration. We are blessed with a beautiful view of Banderas Bay. Did I mention the pounding of the waves? Awesome.
ReplyDeleteOur waters are usually calm except when storms are stirring. Then the beach has a different sort of magic, a wild one. :)
DeleteI've read a few different places that it's more about the "why" power - the motivation - than it is the "will" power. :)
ReplyDeleteTalking to my characters helps start my creative juices. Music. Friends. Sometimes driving 70 mph down the highway...very inconveniently I might add.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this month!!
Eek! Be careful with driving! Maybe have your characters do the speeding instead? :)
DeleteWalking in the woods, hiking up a mountain are my favorite. But if I'm still home, turning off the computer and allowing my mind to sort out the details as I walk around the neighborhood helps lots.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for co-hosting April's IWSG question. I've already followed your blog. All the best to you!
Walking in the woods sends my imagination to very bad places. :o
DeleteThanks for following us here at TSR, Victoria!
I wear weirdness as a badge of honor. Normal is so overrated.
ReplyDeleteCleaning and yard work makes me wish I was writing. I would love to be energized by the beach...I just need to talk my husband into moving with me.
I'm with you on the weirdness. :)
DeleteI would love to be able to walk out my door and onto the sand. We still have a bit of a drive but it's not too far.
Visiting a bookstore always gets me charged as does attending the monthly meetings of my local writing group.
ReplyDeleteThose are both good ones, Susan! I love wandering around Barnes and Noble with a hot chocolate in hand.
DeleteLetting the characters play in my head as I do mindless things - working out, driving, showering - is what compels me to EVENTUALLY devote the time it takes to get that story into words.
ReplyDeleteOur characters can be very entertaining!
DeleteThat's what drew me to IWSG...knowing I wasn't alone, because I sure felt it before I found this group.
ReplyDeleteWalking in the woods and just being around nature, especially trees, does it for me. :)
The group really is such a comfort! Especially if you don't have many people in your life who understand or encourage or show any interest in something that is so important to all of us.
DeleteA walk on the beach? Yes, please! Where I live, it's more like a walk along the muddy Mississippi. :-)
ReplyDeleteWalk wherever works for you! :)
DeleteI'd never considered the trampoline as a motivator, but what the heck, maybe I'll give it a shot. Thanks for co-hosting today.
ReplyDeleteI admit it, that suggestion might have been wishful thinking on my part. :)
DeleteAgree completely about the IWSG. I feel fortunate to be part of this group!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a beach close to me but just going out for a walk in the park relaxes me. I love morning walks.
I love the morning, too. I wouldn't even attempt going to the beach later on - too crowded!
DeleteI don't make charging my batteries a priority. Perhaps I should give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy walking along the beach, too. No salsa dancing or trampoline, though. I'd break something for sure. :)
I don't think many of us make charging our batteries a priority.
DeleteIf I tried salsa dancing, it'd probably energize everyone else - with laughter! :)
First, I'd like to thank you for creating an easy to read post. What gives me the energy to write? Well, it feels more like a compulsion. I'm going through a situation that saps my energy and time. However, I manage a weekly writer's group and that keeps the flame alive. Life is beginning to smooth out and I'm positive I'll be back at the keyboard by the end of May. Maybe, sooner! Thanks for co-hosting this month. Great service.
ReplyDeleteI always try to make my posts easy to read and - hopefully! - entertaining! But it's especially important to do so during a huge blog hop like IWSG.
DeleteWishing you good energy and a quick return to that keyboard!
You did two things I deeply appreciate; it's easy to find your comment section and visited my blog. Thanks!
DeleteYou're very welcome!
DeleteI love the support and company of the IWSG and my blogging pals. Most of my writing energy comes from me talking with my mom about my ideas. She's creative too so we talk for hours when something new is on the horizon. It's also fabulous mom and daughter time - thank goodness for the 'free' call option on our telephone contract (Germany to England). Otherwise I'd be up to my eyeballs in telephone debt :) Great post, Madeline. So uplifting. I wish we had a beach near us. Must feel great!
ReplyDeleteYeh for IWSG and blogging buddies! I'm glad you enjoyed this post, Nicola. :)
DeleteThank you for co-hosting #IWSG for April, Madeline. Your energy comes right through the screen. My form of energizing relaxation is reading a good book, preferably a mystery, although most genres fill the bill.
ReplyDeleteI love a good mystery/suspense/thriller! A page-turner totally energizes me. :)
DeleteI think your point about knowing that you're not alone in all your writer weirdness is one of the most important for me. It is so good to know I am not by myself in living this writer life and that there are people out there who know where I am and are rooting me on as I find myself.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for co-hosting.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat
We might write alone, but with the IWSG, we aren't lonely. :)
DeleteThank you for co-hosting #IWSG! I recharge my batteries walking my dog, running, and reading. Also, since writing is such a solitary thing I enjoy doing it surrounded by people. I'm always on the look out for the next crowded cafe. Being a part of IWSG helps me as well.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could write in cafes, but I get so distracted by everything going on around me. It is good for people watching and jotting down notes and ideas though. :)
DeleteI'm with you, Madeline. I love beach time. It's such a relaxing place and there's something about the smell of the ocean that just relaxes me. Love it! I can't write when I'm there, but it can help get the creativity flowing me when I'm stuck. Thank you for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteI don't bring anything with me to the beach - other than my husband. :) It's more about letting go, relaxing, letting my mind wander than focusing creatively. I sometimes get ideas there, though, or I end up working through some story issue.
DeleteYou posted a wonderful question, Madeline, the one that is bound to attract hundreds of different answers. My answer is reading. It inspires me. When I read, I often speculate: what would happen if a similar story was set in a different genre? Fantasy instead of reality? Magic instead of forensic science? Robots instead of dragons? And what will happen to the hero's neighbor, who was mentioned only once in the story but attracted my attention nonetheless. Some of my best stories come from such speculations. I'm a writing thief and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are an unashamed writing thief! When I read, I tend to let myself disappear into the story. When I'm done reading or done with the book, then I might analyze what I liked or didn't, etc.
DeleteThanks for co-hosting! I recharge by exercising each day. It's the best time to work out plot holes.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can focus on when I'm really exercising is not collapsing and drowning in a pool of my own sweat. :)
DeleteIt is wonderful that there are so many others out there that understand the writing weirdness. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHmm, if there are so many of us, maybe it's not so unusual, so weird after all?
DeleteI don't recharge often enough. I just keep going until I run out of energy. Not a particularly smart move. :(
ReplyDeleteYou are like the Energizer Bunny! I have no idea how you do all you do. You need to get that bench for your garden and sit and relax, recharge that way. And talk to Tilly. :)
DeleteReading a good book and taking a walk energize me. When I feel restless but not ready to settle to an idea (plus, when I'm well), I like to dance around the house for 5-15 minutes.
ReplyDeleteFor writing - I love IWSG and reading about other writers' experiences.
I so can't dance but I do it anyway, as long as no one is around. Even the tortoises have to be in their shells. :)
DeleteCruising in my car, sitting outside, listening to music or finding a great book to read and sometimes a really good movie will inspire.
ReplyDelete' Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
Definitely a great movie! Or binge-watching an awesome series, like Game of Thrones.
DeleteWhen I need to recharge, I read. Just read your answer above. We have a bench in my garden overlooking a large pond. I should spend more time out there. Thanks for reminding me. Thank you for co-hosting this month.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome for the reminder about the bench, but I got that from Maria talking about that over on her blog. :)
DeleteWalking on the beach, out in the fresh air, is always a win. As is hanging with like-minded people.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely!
DeleteReading and visiting fellow writers' blogs help me find inspiration and recharge my batteries when I'm running on empty. I've also found people-watching (at malls, airports, etc.) helps me when I need ideas for developing characters.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy people watching, too. So many "what if?" scenarios!
DeleteRunning is my go-to recharge. Alone, at my own pace, my brain can sort out the tangled threads floating around. Also reading, as it takes me out of my own crazy world for awhile, especially if I am sitting on the porch during a thunderstorm. Thanks for co-hosting today!
ReplyDeleteSitting and reading on the porch during a thunderstorm sounds both romantic and haunting - excellent ways to energize that creativity. :)
DeleteBeing part of the IWSG is a total booster! Also reading a great book or taking a hike in the woods helps me.
ReplyDeleteIWSG really does give an energy boost!
DeleteWhat charges my writing? stormy weather, walking through castles (doesn't happen very often), watching movies, attending my crit group meetings. All these things make me want to write. Thanks for co-hosting this month's IWSG blog hop.
ReplyDeleteCastles?! Now that would totally charge my imagination!
DeleteOoh, the beach recharges me as well, but as I don't get there but once or twice a year, it's not a regular thing. I think being out in nature and seeing beautiful music or art recharges me and my writing. I'm also inspired by tidbits of conversations or experiences that seem made to become part of one of my stories. Not to mention meeting interesting people, i.e. future characters. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post!
Music and art are two more excellent examples! Thanks for the reminder. :)
DeleteThanks for co-hosting! Great post. Coffee is my big writing inspiration, that and silence. That's why I get up at 4:30 a.m. to do my best WIP production. Just me, my Keurig and my imagination (once that first cup kicks in!).
ReplyDeleteToday I have an iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts but my Keurig is my go-to most days. I don't even want to think about my day or my writing without that jolt of caffeine. :)
DeleteReading always inspires me.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading a good book, I'm motivated to pick up the pen and write.
Prompt writing energizes me because I love the freedom of interpretation linked to the word/phrase/picture.
Thanks for co-hosting the IWSG this month!
Prompts can be really helpful. I like writing and subbing stories to themed/limited word count contests and publications, too.
DeleteI think this is a great idea - lots of friends are in this group!
ReplyDeleteIt's really a great group!
DeleteFresh air recharges me. Taking a break from writing will help clear my mind if writer's block settles in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting.
Fresh air can really help clear out the cobwebs - literally and figuratively. :)
DeleteI wish I could answer that, but I'm a little lost today. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Please find your way back soon!
DeleteCharging my batteries works best by going for a walk in nature (the beach sure works) and taking a break from the screen. But the problem lies here: whenever the weather is nice, I feel obliged to take advantage of that and go for walks. Walks are more fun than sitting behind the computer... and, summer is upon us. So many excuses not to write. I love the IWSG for its encouragement and like-minded souls, but it also proves that there are so many people out there who take their writing more seriously and to a higher level than me.
ReplyDeleteLess screen time - computer, phone, TV - works for me!
DeleteRemember, we're often writing even when we're not physically writing - our imaginations are usually working away even when our fingers aren't. :)
"Writerly weirdness". LOL That's a new one, but it fits!
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming to visit my first IWSG post, and for commenting. :)
It certainly fits me. :)
DeleteWelcome again to the IWSG!
Walking to music often helps me. Also,reading good writing can inspire me to sit right down and get working.
ReplyDeleteI find that sometimes reading good writing makes me want to work while other times it makes me want to curl into a ball and sob that I'll never be that good. :)
DeleteHeh, writing energizes me! After my week of terribleness, I finally got the opportunity to write and it was so invigorating. As far as my writing goes, I love drawing my characters. I'm currently working on a series of cards I want to make. I do have actors/faces that match my characters, but they aren't the right ages, and they keep getting older. Plus my characters aren't normal looking, so it'd either have to be CG or wigs. I don't think live action is in my writer's future. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're feeling invigorated again, Loni! You did have a rough week.
DeleteI love the writerly weirdness camaraderie too :-) Thanks for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of us out here. :)
DeleteMan, I would LOVE to walk on the beach on a regular basis. How inspiring. Traveling is what does it for me. Traveling, and taking breaks when I need them.
ReplyDeleteYou are an awesome traveler! Especially how you go to all those creepy places, too. :)
Delete