Tips for Writers
Are you stuck? Writer's block? Use Peter Elbow's technique of freewriting (see his book Writing with Power). Here's how it goes:
Set a kitchen timer for five minutes. No stopping. Keep writing (or typing) anything that comes to mind. If you get stuck write "I am stuck" until you get unstuck.
When the timer goes off, re-read what you have written. Circle the words or phrases you like and might use in something some day. Did you stumble on a topic you might want to develop? If not, don't worry about it. Do this every day. Peter Elbow says sooner or later you will find the gem in the garbage. It works!
Here's another exercise to free your creative side. This one comes from Gabrielle Rico's Writing the Natural Way. This one needs to be done with paper and pen. Set the timer for 10 minutes. Start with a word. Something simple like love or family. Put it in the center of the page. Draw an oval around it. Then, draw a line and write the next word you think of. And the next and the next and the next. Make sure you circle each new word and that it connects somewhere to another word. Start a new trail if you need to. It's fine if the topic shifts away from the original word. Let this take you wherever. Every time you do this, it will look different. At some point, after a few minutes, start to write. You'll know what to write about and when to start. Stop when your timer goes off. Read what you have written. The typical result is a complete and fluent vignette.
One more for all you poets out there. Robert Bly, the poet and translator of Rumi, the Sufi poet, advises that you write a poem a day no matter what. Most will be awful, but occasionally there will be that jewel in the junk.