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Best thing about this time of year: I get the house completely to myself for 4 days.

Worst thing: I am completely by myself and I might have just accidentally pissed off my scarily unstable brother who I think wants to stop by tomorrow.

And now instead of having a relaxing, peaceful time, it's just pure a n x i e t y lmaooooo.

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6 Quick Writing Exercises to Wake Up Your Imagination

We all hit those blah writing days. Your fingers are ready, your doc is open... and your brain goes static. That’s where writing exercises come in — small creative boosts to shake off the dust and get back into your story flow. Here are six to try when your words feel stuck in traffic.

1. The 5-Minute Word Sprint

Pick a random word (use a generator or close your eyes and point at a book), set a 5-minute timer, and write anything involving that word. No stopping, no deleting.

2. Dialogue Without Context

Write a short convo between two people. No descriptions. No setting. Just back-and-forth lines.

3. Rewrite a Scene in Another Genre

Take a scene from your current story and flip the genre. Drama becomes comedy. Fantasy becomes sci-fi. Romance becomes horror.

4. Describe a Place Using the Five Senses — No Sight Allowed

Can’t mention what anything looks like. Only sound, touch, smell, taste, and intuition.

5. Character Swap POVs

Write a paragraph from the POV of a side character reacting to your main character. Bonus if the POV is brutally honest or completely wrong.

6. One Line Story Hooks

Write 3 one-sentence story starters that make you want to keep writing. (Example: “I woke up married to my enemy, and worse — he knew it before I did.”)

You don’t need to write a masterpiece every day. But showing up — even for a silly exercise — keeps the creative part of your brain warmed up. Try one of these before your next writing session, and see where it takes you. 🍒

[ivorydice]

Hello dear mod, I hope that you're doing well! You offer a lot of wonderful advice, both for writing in general and ao3 specifically, I hope it's okay to ask for some myself. ^^;;

I have a problem similar to that of a recent ask, in that I've been struggling to actually write anything for months now. The ideas are there, I want so badly to write them at every moment except when I finally have the opportunity *to* write.

But I can't seem to figure out why I'm blocked so thoroughly. I tend to plan what i want to write in my head for a while before I do it, and I keep doing that with a few ideas and getting right to the point of wanting to move to actually writing and then it just... won't happen. I'll have the words one minute, open my notebook or pull up a document, knowing the sentence I want to put down, but it just dissolves in a blink.

Do you have any advice on how to identify the cause of a block like this? I feel like im stuck in a room with no exit, and it's so frustrating. T-T

*hugs* that's definitely a frustrating place to be in, anon!

It seems to me like this might be a form of writer's block? It's not one I've seen talked about before, though, so that's just a guess.

I suggest pausing the next time you experience this and just sit in the feeling instead of trying to push through it. Feel around the edges of it. Try to see what it is that's actually stopping you, since the words are there right up until you try to write them down.

Are you sitting in an uncomfortable location or trying to write while there are too many external factors distracting you?

Are you worried that someone is going to see you write or ask you what you're writing?

Are you used to operating in dark mode and staring at a white page is throwing you off?

Is the device that you're trying to write on annoying in some way? Does it make it harder to type?

Are you worried you're going to be interrupted?

Are you experiencing any kind of anxiety? Perhaps you're afflicted with a type of perfectionism where you correct each sentence as you write it and that's making you not want to write any sentences at all, for example.

Once you can identify what the actual issue is, you'll be able to start tackling it. This is one of those "the only way out is through" kind of situations, I think, so if you want to keep typing out your stories you'll need to figure out what makes typing them hard.

If you're okay with changing your methods, however, or if you just can't figure it out no matter how hard you try, then I recommend not typing your stories out.

Since writing in your usual way isn't working, try writing differently and see how that works out. Dictate your story into a voice recording and then transcribe it with speech-to-text. Then the typing part can start at the editing phase instead of a blank page.

Or maybe you need to see the words, but a screen is the problem. Try grabbing a pencil and some paper and going to town. Notebooks and pens can be inspiring in their own right, and you can use them almost anywhere. Take yourself out to the park or the beach or any place you find inspiring and see if writing there makes you more comfortable.

Have any of you experienced this particular kind of writer's block before? How did you manage to get past it - or around it?

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kingsglaive luna based on the painting “selene” by jules louis machard! (x) that dress is one of my fav designs ever

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As long as I live there will be Ardyn's fanart

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i'm proud you.

but as a parent, i wanted to live longer.

I know... thank you, dad.

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Patreon | Ko-Fi

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you guys know you can get USB connectable CD, dvd, and blu-ray players right. and you can buy external hard drives with crazy amounts of space for an amount of money that would make the average person from 2009’s head explode bc of how cheap it is. and if you do this and get ripping software such as handbrake for CDs and DVDs and makeMKV for blurays you can both own a physical copy of whatever media you want and make it accessible to yourself no matter where you are. do you guys know this

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I love when people are like “I can’t believe you reblogged that despite their user name, icon, bio, and last twenty posts” bc to me my dash is the only part of this website and I’m not slowing down to look at urls you could all be the same person

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Continue✨ Keep going✨

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if you ever tell me that you go to a chiro this is what i envision them doing to you

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If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

[ivorydice]

What you call self-sabotage might just be your body saying: "Familiar pain feels safer than unfamiliar peace"

What you call procrastination might just be your body saying: "I'm overwhelmed and everything feels too much"

What you call anxiety might just be your body saying: "I've been in danger before, and I don't know if it's over yet"

What you call neediness might just be your body saying: "I didn't get what I needed, and I'm still longing"

What you call overreacting might just be your body saying: "This feels like danger to me because it once was"

What you call emotional instability might just be your body saying: "I was never taught that feeling emotions could be safe"

What you call resistance might just be your body saying: "I don't feel safe enough to do what you want me to"

What you call laziness might just be your body saying: "I'm frozen because I had to work hard for too long"*

What you call numbness might just be your body saying: "I had to shut down to keep you safe"

What you call avoidance might just be your body saying: "Im not ready to face this yet. I need slower exposure to it"

(the.trauma.educator on ig)

*gentle reminder that body gets tired also after doing mentally draining work/job (which includes feeling stressed too, not just studying or working 9-5 in front of a computer -which holds responsabilities, anyway)

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Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies