A seriously ridiculous exercise
The more ridiculous the better, tbh
Today, make a list of things that challenge your writing or prevent you from writing as much as you’d like. That could be things like not feeling like you have enough time, being too mentally exhausted to write, or, say, a neighbor constantly practicing the tuba so loudly you can’t hear yourself think. (*looks directly into camera*)
Now, set a timer for at least 3 minutes (if not 5) and free write the entire time (without stopping*) about solutions that could help you, but here’s the catch: they can only be completely ridiculous and/or implausible solutions.
So, as a solution to the neighbor noise, for example, you could write about swiping the tuba and make your neighbor go through an elaborate series of tasks to get it back. Or, about shooting the tuba out of a cannon. For the “too mentally tired to write” issue, you could write about quitting your job and moving to a remote-but-tricked-out-with-wifi desert island to write until your heart’s content. Or about hitting pause on the entire world, sleeping for a week, then getting to work, writing the greatest book in the world, then hitting unpause to re-start the world. You get the idea. The more ridiculous the ideas, the better. And, don’t feel like you have to limit yourself— you can also make a list of ridiculous solutions for each issue on your list.
After you finish to your satisfaction, turn your attention back to a piece of writing that’s got you stumped, or, better yet, start a fresh page and start anew on some writing that’s not hanging together quite right for you. Having just given your brain permission and validation to borrow from the absurd, see if you don’t come back to your writing with a little broader horizon and write yourself out of that corner.
And, this technique works for life problems, too. Someone I know who was feeling burned out and unappreciated at work for an era of her life put a literal crepe paper finish line insider her front door as she left each morning so she had to laugh and dramatically run through the thing to close the book on each day. Does that take the place of making hard decisions to fix your life? No, it does not. But, did it also bring her a little bit of joy to buoy her spirits during a tough time until she found a better situation? You bet it did. And, meeting herself with that little bit of lightheartedness and ridiculousness at the end of each day, she also gave her brain permission to think expansively about solutions to create change.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
* Take the act of free writing seriously by writing without stopping. The minute you stop, your inner-editor will catch up with you and you’ll start to self-edit, and that’s a whole other part of your brain. The point of a free write is to outrun them, so even if you can’t think of what to write next, write “and I can’t think of what to write next and words words words words” until something comes to you. Capture it all. The full river of your thoughts.
