How Do I Know What to Write? (Ep. 156)

Blinking cursors are the bane of the writing life. Yet, how many times do we sit down and have zero clue what to write? How do we know what we should write and who our message is for?

Listen to episode: (0:37:29)

0:00

0:37:29

How Do I Know What to Write? (Ep. 156)

In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to push past our own insecurities and face the unknown, and write the message God has placed in our heart. It’s something I’ve struggled with daily in my writing. The blinking cursor keeps me from achieving my goals, but I’ll show you why that’s not really true.

I’m finishing a current manuscript. Truth to tell, it’s taken me a heck of a lot longer to finish than I expected. Massive rewrites, overthinking, and making excuses for not getting the job done have made it seem more daunting than it really is. In fact, I should have finished my manuscript a long time ago.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going, right? Well, maybe. Now I face a dilemma. I have to finish my next book, but I have two pieces for an anthology that’s due in November, and I haven’t even started yet.

So, how do we get past this, not knowing what to write? Three ways:

1. Use a journal and write your ideas.

I know, you’d think that a writer would keep a journal filled a plethora of ideas, but in reality, most writers don’t write in a journal. I know I struggle with this. And you’re wondering why I’m even telling you to keep a journal if I don’t.

Truthfully, I keep a variety of ideas written in Evernote. I have a running list of ideas and I pull from those ideas and they will either spark their own story/idea, or I’ll simply write what inspires me at that moment. But keeping your ideas written somewhere will help you break the wall of “blank thoughts.” Try it and see what it will do for your writing.

2. Consider writing exercises.

Often when I’m stuck on what to write, I’ll use a writing exercise to help my brain prime the pump and spark something new. It’s easier than you might think. Here are some examples of what I do to exercise my brain.

EXERCISE 1: Look around you, out the window, on the floor. What do you see? What animals are frolicking in the yard? Where is the ant going in your dining room? What are their stories? Write that.

EXERCISE 2: Write about what you did this morning when you got up. Were you angry and upset? Were you happy? What were you looking forward to doing as the day progressed? What went wrong and what went right?

EXERCISE 3: Find five random words in the dictionary and write a sentence using that word. It’s amazing what your mind will come up with. Now, take those same five words and use all five in one sentence.

Do these exercises, and your mind will awaken to new thoughts, ideas, and strategies to tackling your next project.

3. Get up and go for a walk.

This is probably the easiest of all these tasks, but simply getting out of the house and going for a walk will unclog those brain cells and stimulate your mind. I’ve often had to stop and do something else when I get stuck. I try not to sit long, waiting for inspiration. I get up and go search for inspiration.

You don’t have to wait for something to pop into your mind. You can go out and discover the world that God created. When you get back, begin writing down what you saw, who you met, and what you did along your walking journey.

We all love writing, but taking the time to discover something new to write about will open up new possibilities and allow your mind to be free to write the things God’s placed on the inside of your heart.

Write Now With Scrivener

There is a way for you to stop spending hours organizing your writing files, spending too much time on navigating a never-ending scrolling document to find where you stopped editing all while having all your research, files, character sketches, and manuscript all inside one document.