Sometimes we sit down to begin our writing time and it happens, our minds go blank and we have no idea what to write about. We spend a vast majority of this time struggling over what it should be. We try several approaches to get the creative juices flowing, exercise, meditation, reading, napping but nothing seems to help. We expect to have this flash of insight, knowing exactly what the beautiful topic of the day may be. But the truth is, there will be no flash of insight.

The first thing to realize is that it happens this way. There are days when we don’t know what to write about, don’t stress over it. The more you stress over it, the more you won’t write because stress is counter productive to creating and writing. The only way to get the creative juices flowing is to be creative. As a writer, the way to do this is to write. Sure you could argue that you could do other creative things like brainstorming or painting but, writing will produce the fastest results for a writer who wants to write.

OK, so we should just write, but that doesn’t answer the question of what to write about. Here are a few suggestions on how to come up with something to write about.

• Write nonsense – Start out by writing, “I don’t know what to write about.” and keep repeating the phrase  until something else comes to mind. You can also use any other nonsense phrase. The idea here is to just get writing, putting words on paper, then wait until the mind takes over.
• Keep a list – Maintain a list of thoughts, subjects or ideas that you can turn to in a pinch. The problem is, when you get in the mood where you don’t know what to write about, none of these ideas may look appealing to you; choose one (or two or three) anyway and start writing.
• Weird Basics – This one goes along with ‘write nonsense’. You start with the basics: A character in a situation who is faced with a decision, neither of which is good and is opposed by someone. Then you choose the most off the wall aspects to fill in the spots. How about your character is a purple cow? Who is opposed by a dandelion. By making it completely weird and impractical, you open up the creativity.

Those are just a few ways that you can start writing. There are many more and some of the ideas may work better for some than they do for others. The idea is to use whatever works for you and roll with it. The main thought behind these techniques is to just start writing and let your creative mind take over. Writing shouldn’t be a difficult or stressful process, we began writing out of enjoyment and fun. When it becomes too much of a struggle, it is no longer fun and we need to find that joy again.

So what do you think of these ideas?

What else would you suggest?

What have you tried before?