Getting Into The Writing Flow ~ @AuthorKristina Knight

Hiya, WordWrangler readers! Kristina here, carrying on our kind-of theme about how we get going/motivated/back on track. I think for every writer there is a different way of doing this. Some can sit down and the words just flow. Last week Liz talked about giving it a set amount of time and then. . .moving forward. I'm somewhere in between.

Some days the words just don't flow, no matter what I try, and on those days I work hard at giving myself grace. I'll work on some other task - like a newsletter or a social media graphic - so that I'm at least doing something with my writing. Those days, though, are fewer than they once were, and I think it's because I started to surround myself with reminders of where I'm at and where I want to be. 

Which brings me to my biggest tip: the things on my desk. 

I've done a few "what's on Kristina's desk" posts here before, and this is very much like those posts

although things taking up space today are different than things I've highlighted in the past. 

There is this little snow-dude. He reminds me of Frosty and the magic of story. That magic inspires me to keep going when I just don't want to, when the words are particularly persknickety, and when I'm tired. Because storytelling is a kind of magic - it takes us on adventures, gives us solace, makes us laugh, and opens us up to possibilities. The snowman reminds me to dream . . . and when I dream, more often than not, I can write. Also, when I turn on the candle inside his belly, it just makes me smile. 

There are my hourglasses - I picked these up about a year ago and I just love them. First, the colors of the sand are perfect. Second, the times are graduated - the blush sand is about 5 minutes, the pool blue 10 minutes, the deeper teal 20 minutes. Perfect for a round of morning (or afternoon or evening) sprints to get the words flowing. 

And then there is my planner. No matter how unfocused or unmotivated I am or how uncooperative the words are, my planner gives me direction. This is where I write down my goals, where I journal about what I want to achieve, where I jot down story and scene ideas, and where I house more stickers and washi than most tween-age girls. My planner has my deadlines written down and those deadlines are divided into daily and weekly word

count goals - and believe me there is nothing more motivating than a looming deadline. Because even when the words aren't flowing, even when they are but they're crap, as long as I'm moving forward I can fix the dreck. But I can't fix the words if they aren't first on the page. So when I'm really stuck, I'll page through to remind myself of where I am and (more importantly) where I want to be. 

Some days the words don't flow easy. 

Some days I have to throw in the towel. 

But some days there is real magic between my fingertips and the keyboard. . .and that keeps me coming back.