TOP 10 Ideas for Wordlessness

Let's face it. We all have days when we cannot think of anything to blog about. We want to be informative, but feel like we have exhausted our wealth of knowledge in our previous blog posts. We want to be funny, but it looks like we've gone through our repertoire of jokes. We want to be deep and thought provoking, but our well is dry and we have nothing to offer.

Ever been there?

So what's a gal to do when she has no words?

1. She blogs about having no words. Hey, there's a new concept! Write about what you are experiencing at the moment. Let your experience dictate what you write. 
2. Read the newspaper. Check out the news online. What's happening in the writing world? Publishing world? Author world? News is fodder for discussion.
3. Do a book review. People are always wanting to find a new author or read a fabulously gripping book. Share your favorites!
4. Try doing Google Alerts. You can set up alerts to any news regarding any subject. This is similar to #2.
5. Check out Twitter Trends to know what people are talking about.
6. Share excerpts from your favorite authors or possibly one of your own.
7. Design your own book cover and share it with the world.
8. Review your favorite writing books.
9. Do a MAD LIB...nonsense...pure nonsense.
10. Take the day off and read a book. 

So there's a list of Ten things you can do when you are stuck without any ideas. Now if you see any of these pop up here at The Writer's Alley on Tuesdays, you will know that I HAVE NO WORDS!!!! 

Actually, I'm hoping to get my head on straight some time soon and write something of substance. Who knows, maybe I can write some riveting posts that will inspire and motivate you to follow your dream full force. Or at least make you roll your eyes a bit.

*This post was originally posted on September 27, 2010. (Sorry guys...I had no words!)

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

The Blank Page: Making a Mess

Guest post by Christin Taylor

Let's begin with what's terrifying about the blank page: it holds all of our ideas and none of our ideas at the same time. When we look at that beautiful white expanse, we see possibilities. We imagine a work of art.

Yet when we sit down to write, our hands turn to cement and the words come out ugly and lethargic and lazy and we are mortified. So we put down our pens, or we stop typing, and we push ourselves away from the desk thinking, "Next time. It has to be better next time."

But all the while we're haunted by this fear that perhaps it won't. Perhaps next time will be just as bad as this time and we will be what we have feared all along - "failures" and "wannabes".

Here is the cruel irony of the blank page: While it lures us with its pristine landscape, we must first cover it with mud. There is simply no other way to write. It is a brutal act of faith. In writing, we must unleash a mess onto the page and then reach inward and grab hold of every last thread of trust, believing without sight that: "It will be beautiful. You'll see. Just don't walk away."

And here is where we have to unravel the voices in our heads, telling us not to mark on the white walls with crayons, not to scribble over the white couches with markers. Everything white must stay white or be complemented by something as beautiful and perfect as its elegant planes.

But with the blank page we must give ourselves permission to make it messy. Not just visually messy with black scrawls wiggling across the page. But also mentally messy, audibly messy. We must allow ourselves to write terrible, humiliating prose.

Because here's the other irony: Beauty follows ashes. That which is lovely does not rise out of the pristine hollows of the universe, but out of the roiling, disjointed substance of our lives. That is the act of creation: redemption. God can create something out of nothing, but we create something out of the grit of our lives.

So the blank page cannot stay blank for long. You will not magically create beauty without ever messing up, or falling out of the lines, or scratching across the margins. It just won't happen.

But there is a final image that presses itself against my mind: a rusty spigot, with a lever handle. You crank and crank the handle and the spigot sucks water out of the earth. The first sprays are nasty and muddy and rusty, but you do not stop pumping because you know what is coming. If you stopped, the water would stop, and you'd never get to where you're heading. The more you pump, the faster the water flows, and soon the particles and dirt are dispersing, the water is getting clearer and colder and soon you are clasping diamond water in your hands, slurping up big satisfying gulps.

Writing is the same way. Sometimes when we look at the blank page, we carry the conviction that we can only spill the cleanest, most satisfying water on it, but this is not true. You are a rusty spigot, and the water will not come unless you pump the handle. And you pump the handle by picking up your pen and writing, or moving your fingers heavily across the keys. And though the thoughts and words that come out may be murky and rusty and dirty, don't quit. Clear water is coming soon.

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Christin Taylor lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her husband Dwayne, their 3-year-old daughter Noelle, and their new Taylor Tot expected in July of 2011. In addition to being Noelle's personal chef, chauffeur, laundress, and playmate, Christin runs the Blank Page Writing Workshops online. Her work has appeared in Brain World Magazine, Ungrind, as well as other online and print publications. She is currently finishing her first book-length manuscript about the metaphorical shipwreck many young adults face after graduating from college. If you'd like to learn more about The Blank Page online writing workshops as well as Christin's writing, go to www.christintaylor.com.

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What scares you most about the blank page? Any comments or questions for Christin?

*Notebook photo by nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
**Paint photo by Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
***Water photo by africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Writer's Twinkling Personalities

Ah Christmas lights. We drive past an amazing display of lights every time we leave the neighborhood. It has made me think about what kind of people live in each house, according to their decorating tastes. Some lights are very structured, outlining the house using those straight light thingys, and some lights are almost flung on everything...the roof, the porch, the tree, the mailbox. Other houses have bought those giant inflatable snowmen...which to me, is funny, because where we live, we usually end up with six feet of snow for at least 4 months, might as well wait til you can build your own!
And other houses have a sweet manger scene with lights hanging elegantly in just the right places, blinking to Christ honoring carols at just the right moments.

As a writer, I often realize that I can take on multiple personalities in my authorship, just like the multiple styles of Christmas lights we all see this time of year. Do you ever find yourself sitting in front of your wip wondering if you should dissect your own motives at that moment, instead of your characters? Using the examples of the lighting extravaganzas of the season I'll show you what I mean.

The Perfect Outlining Christmas Twinkles: Sometimes I just want to sit down and hash out the plot. I want to go from point A to point B, and skip all the fluff. This is good when you are sketching out your draft. When I find myself in this mood, I switch to excel and start creating lists...it's just not the right mindset to write a masterpiece. ;)


Random Light Sprinkling Overgrowth: So this is often an eye-catcher and intrigues the reader to keep going, but it can completely hide the intended flow of the plot. Sometimes you have so many good ideas and techniques you try to fit them in the story, somehow some way. But when it comes down to it, they can dilute the theme, squelch good solid character development, and leave the reader dizzy wondering if they just read a group of short stories instead of a novel. When I have the idea passion, I sit back and analyze which would move the story forward or just distract from the theme I'm trying to convey.

Inflatables: If I am not in the mood to really sit and think, I find myself pouring out the cliches, the generic images, the deadly adverbs. Instead of working on making it a real, authentic piece, I type away making it a real piece. :)

A Meaningful Christmas Display: Perfectly timed lights to music, elegantly displayed décor, and a solid focus on the baby in the manger. This is the type of writing we wish we all sat down to do, every time. Well thought out, meaningful, elegant, and focused. I've come to find out with my multiple personalities as a writer, this one peeks through when my distractions are few and my heart is right.

Do you feel like you are a "different" writer at different times? I may have some weird writing disorder that nobody else experiences, but now that I've pinpointed my problem, I will know which writer to listen to as I sit down and create a shining display! :)