How I Get More Writing Ideas

It’s OK to say that to be a successful writer you need to write.

But what when you have no ideas?

For me this isn’t a problem for two reasons:

• I’m extremely creative (always have been)
•  I have 2 notebooks full of ideas

Being creative and blessed with a good imagination helps. But many people ask me how I find the time to come up with ideas.

And the answer surprises them.

They seem to imagine that I sit and wait for the muse to strike me.

On the contrary.

Usually I’m not even sitting when ideas strike me. When I get an idea it normally strikes when I’m busy doing un-related things that have nothing at all to do with writing.

They come often when I’m dog walking, from what I see, what I think, or what I hear if I’m listening to an audio as I walk.

Many ideas come to me when I’m doing mundane things like housework, car cleaning and even mowing the lawn.

But most importantly – and this is really, REALLY important – I write all my ideas down IMMEDIATELY.

And that’s how I collect so many.

Try it for yourself and see.

Get a notebook just for ideas. Mine are spiral-bound shorthand notebooks.

Then every time you get an idea, write it down, or, if you’re out, voice record it till you get home.

But never EVER think that you’ll remember an idea – you won’t.

That’s a lesson I had to learn many times over.

So don’t make the same mistake.

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The Importance of Writing Every Day and How To Do It

If you read a lot about being a writer you’ll know that it’s important to write every day.

But why?

There are a variety of reasons and each one is just as important as the rest.

And here are three of them.

• Laziness. It’s all too easy to get out of the habit of writing. First you miss a day, then another, and before you know it you haven’t written anything for over a week and you’ve lost the urge to write.
• Habit. Bad habits are far easier to cultivate than good habits. That’s because it’s easy to NOT do something. So write every day to keep up the good habit.
• Easy. Once you start writing every day, it becomes the norm and so it makes it easy to sit down and do it every day.

But sitting down and writing every day can be difficult if you don’t know what to write.

So make it easy on yourself.

Don’t think that you have to sit and do a writing marathon.

Begin with journaling. Just sit and write for 5 minutes about whatever’s in your head. 

Journaling is fun so you’ll want to sit and do it every day.

Or copy out someone else’s writing by hand. Just get out a book or article you wish you’d written and copy it out with a pad and pen. This will not only help you to learn that style of writing, but it gets you started writing.

Being a writer isn’t easy. Its having a job just like anyone else and it takes a lot of self-discipline to do it.

But every day I’d rather be a writer than anything else.

And THAT'S why I do it.

Writing Quickly Helps With Focus

I talk often about writing quickly.

And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, writing quickly does not mean writing badly. It’s just the opposite.

I find that when I sit down to write and put my timer on before I start, it helps me to get straight down to work and not procrastinate, because I don’t have time to waste. I only have 25 minutes to get as much written as I can before the alarm goes off and I have to stop for 5 minutes.

And while I’m writing against the clock it also helps me to stay focused and ignore distractions.

And the more I do it, the better I get.

It’s just like anything in life.

It’s better to practice good habits instead of bad or lazy habits.

Once I sit down and start writing it’s so easy to keep going.

Just try using a timer and see for yourself.

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Thrown Out Of My Own Home Office

I write mostly at home.

I also write mostly in my home office.

But now my husband has given up his job and has taken over the office.

He trades on the stock market and now runs the financial side of my business for me so that I can get on with more writing.

It's great that he's helping me, but I have had to find somewhere else to sit and write on cold days (It's only just turned Spring where I live but the temperatures aren't great yet).

So I've set up camp in the annex room at home.

This is a big room that sits separately behind the house.

I don't have a desk in here and instead sit on a small pink chair at a small folding table.

And I sit in front of the patio door to get as much light as I can because the walls are dark in here.

Eventually this room will be renovated and get freshly painted walls, built in desks and a comfortable, big, office chair.

But for now I have to make do.

I will also go out and write at the library and in the park when it gets warmer and less windy.

I just have to keep telling myself that I am a professional and so I can write anywhere.

But I find that once I start writing I forget where I am anyway.

Lucky for me.