Writer’s Block During the Holiday Season (Hope’s Hacks)

This month’s cure: Twelve Days of Writer’s Block

What the cure is: A list of twelve items set to a classic holiday favorite to help you work through that winter slump.

Why the cure will help: Music can help spur the writing juices, especially this holiday season. And the best way to spread holiday writing cheer is singing loud for all to hear. Try out this tune and see if your writing muse will harmonize.
 

Twelve Days of Writer’s Block (Sing along)
On the twelfth day of writer’s block, Hope’s Hacks gave to me:
Twelve playlists a-humming,
Eleven pipe dreams piping,
Ten words a creeping,
Nine hazy plannings,
Eight weeks worldbuilding,
Seven dawns a-dimming,
Six pieces of praying,
Five olden things,
Four bawling nerds,
Three colored pens,
Two labor of loves,
And a cartridge of printer ink.
 
Song explanations
Twelve: Spotify playlists made about your books can set the tone and mood for when you write. For instance, Hope made a Spotify playlist for her book Den. 
Eleven: Dream big. Even if it seems impossible, the best way to break a block is to shoot for the heavens.
Ten: Even if you can only get down ten words a day, consider that an accomplishment. Every word counts.
Nine: Have several ideas bouncing around your head at once. Jot one down. No matter how vague, when you come back to that list, you may reap new inspiration.
Eight: Half the fun in writing comes from worldbuilding. Make maps, appendices, even a new language for your world.
Seven: Don’t write well in the morning? Try evening. Or vice versa. A change in routine may just get your plot going.
Six: Meditation and prayers can help when anxiety and depression serve as writer’s blocks.
Five: Whether an old book or a note from a teacher back in high school that said you were meant to write, these memories can remind you why you started in the first place.
Four: We all have that T.V. series, movie, or book series in which we nerd out about—and often cry over. Friendship over similar tastes in literature can help get through tough writing times.
Three: Red for (shudder) edits. Other colors for doodling and making pretty pictures in the margins of your book.
Two: Having multiple projects going at once can spur the juices (in case one project is faltering). Not to mention, we write because we want to. Not because a reward always lies on the other side of a finished book.
One: Ink for all the writing you’re going to do, of course.
 
Have a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to providing encouragements for you next year! Keep writing.