I’m not one of those writers who has to “feel the Muse” to get my work done, exactly. I’ve had to write for deadlines before, and I don’t really want anyone as Woo Woo and unpredictable as a mythological creature for my writing buddy. But lately I’ve been wishing I had a Muse, so I had someone to blame for my lack of productivity. I feel like I’ve been trying to light a bonfire with wet matches. As my mom would say (decidedly Woo Woo, as she is an acupuncturist and Reiki Master), I had no chi left. No spark.

The problem is, I’m still at what should be the thrilling, “sparky” stage of my current WIP. (Now I’ve decided: If I ever get a Muse, I’m naming her Sparky.) But for some reason or combination of reasons (Um… Christmas holidays? Kids home for three weeks? Father-in-law living here for a month? A #$%@ton of rejections for magazine pieces? Illness and turmoil in the family? Torpor from too much Xmas pigging out?), my pilot light almost completely went out last week.

I mean, here I was, sitting back down at long last to my fabulous little WIP, that darling creation of pure genius (Thank you, Sparky!) that had lured me away from all the other darling possibilities my popcorn brain sent to pester me at 11:30 p.m. as I was falling asleep– and poof! No words — no spark, no fire in the belly, nothing.

Sigh. Since I’m not one of those Woo Woo writers, though, I made myself sit down to write. And I did. A thousand uninspired words here, a few hundred there. Not loving any of it, until I figured out what was wrong.

So, here’s the slightly less narcissistic part of this blog post: my own personal list of ways I get my spark going again, when I’ve lost it. It seems to be working for me. I hope if you, Writer Friends, are experiencing anything like this (Heaven forbid!), that one of these will get your little campfire going.

Nikki’s Surefire Woo Woo Writing Restoratives

1. Lunch with a writer friend, no drinks allowed. Be selective. Only your very best writer buds will listen the whining anyway, so leave your non-writer friends out of this.

2. Long walks. Go outside, and don’t take the dog or anyone else. This does it for me almost every time, which is why I live on a hillside in Texas Paradise, so I have constant access to nature/my Happy place.

3. Writing Smaller Stuff. This is like the kindling to the novel-logs of my fire. What I’ve discovered is that when the novel won’t light, if I churn out a couple of fun, silly essays or stories, it’s a little like turning on the gas in my modern fireplace. Whoosh!

4. Reading. Preferably not Twilight or anything that will take you away from the job at hand for too long. Something I’ve read before works for me, so if and when I get a good idea for my WIP, I feel perfectly happy to put the book down — I know what’s going to happen anyway.

5. Critiquing a friend’s work. This can help, as long as your friend isn’t a vastly superior writer, or producing something really depressing and angsty. So, I avoid critting Kate diCamillo or Laurie Halse Anderson’s work when I’m spark-deficient, no matter how they beg. LOL

Stuck? Chi-less? Try a few and see what happens, and add your personal remedies in the comment section if you like. It would be a dark world without all our creative blazes. I hope yours shines brightly this week.