How To Write When You Think You’ve Forgotten How

Beneath all your fears and concerns about writing, you have the same abilities that you've always had. In fact, because now you're more experienced than you've ever been before and you've more material in your own life to draw upon, you're actual in the best position you've ever been to rediscover your creative writing abilities.

But we can't necessarily sweep all those fears and concerns to one side in an instant and just return to writing again in full flow. Or you would have done that a long time ago already.

So how DO you get back in touch with your writing abilities? How do you even begin when the thought of writing even a couple of sentences seems about as easy as running a marathon backwards? Whilst giving a gorilla a piggyback!

There are two key components:

1. Write a little at a time. The quickest way to overwhelm yourself when you're returning to form in your writing is to take on too much in one go. If you've written little more than shopping lists and a few cheques for the last few months, expecting to come up with half a novel this weekend is going to be a little unrealistic.

   So be kind to yourself, and meet yourself where you're at. The best coaches don't say to their clients - "When you're ready to write that novel and know you can do it within a couple of weeks, and feel you've overcome all your anxieties, and have put your inner critic to rest for good, then give me a call and I'll be happy to help..."

   Instead, the best coaches say: "Let's have a chat about where you're at, and where you'd like to be, then we can come up with a plan together for how we're going to help you get there, one step at a time."

   So show the same support and kindness to yourself. If you only write one line each time you sit down to write for the first week, that's great. You have 7 lines more than you had before, and you've taken 7 steps towards being more creative.

2. Write often. We've just mentioned writing a little each day, even if it's just a line. This is at the core of all consistent creativity. Create every day. The benefits run far deeper than you just actually producing new writing.

   When you create every day, you form a powerful habit. Your creativity knows and expects to be called into action, so it's keen and raring to go. Have you ever had a new puppy or kitten that jumps on you in bed in the morning, ready to play before you've even opened your eyes? That's what you're creativity becomes like when you show it that creating every day is the natural way.

   How do you start then - by setting aside 2 hours a day to write? Again, small steps are best. Start with just 15 minutes a day for 14 days. 15 minutes a day is one quarter of one hour of the 24 hours in each day. That's just one part out of 96 that you're setting aside to create. However busy you are, all of us who recognize the importance of creating can set aside this tiny fraction of our day, each and every day.

Put these two key components in place - write a little each day, every day - for 14 days and the habit you begin to build will be the secret to becoming more creative than you've ever been before.

So, stop reading, go and do your first 15 minutes writing!