Is there anything you do if you're in a slump with your writing, or can't find any ideas, or if you're struggling with writer's block? I really love your books!
—Leslie, age 13
Thanks, Leslie! That is a great question, and one that all writers struggle with! I have a few suggestions for you if you find yourself in a writing slump:
READ. I've found no better quick fix to writer's block than this. Reading tickles that same part of your imagination that writing comes from, and so if the writer in me is asleep, the reader in me is the one who has to wake her up. When I start reading, my brain says, "Oh yeah, words! I like those! I can think of some too!" Reading fills up the well of your imagination when it's run dry.
GO OUTSIDE. I love this little poem by Mary Oliver: "Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Those are also great instructions for being a writer. People are always asking authors, “Where do you get your ideas?” And the answer is that the world is full of ideas. Everywhere around you there are ideas for stories and poems bursting out of chimneys and stomping around in boots and dancing down the city streets and blooming in forgotten gardens. Writers pay attention, and they catch those ideas before the ideas float away and disappear. If you ever sit down with a pencil and paper and moan, "I don't know what to write about!" then put down that pencil. Shove that paper aside. You're not ready to write yet. You've got to go out in the world first. Look. Listen. Uncover secrets. Watch out for things that everyone else is ignoring. Then, when you're astonished by something, tell us about it.
MAKE AN IDEA BANK. What is an Idea Bank? Click here for some instructions.