I'd like to think that everyone has gone through a bout of feeling discouraged with their writing. Now what I mean isn't going through depression or anything, but the actual separation of self from writing because their heart just isn't in it anymore.
So, this week, I'd like to see what everyone else thinks about this topic, and what are some strategies that you've taken (whether they worked or not) to help relieve the tension.
great advice as ever @Shen Friebe - thank you. And I hope what I do moving forward will be worthy of Dan's memory. I do think Poetry as a medium is the most likely to have a "spark" just appear, I do love that about this method of writing.
Sorry to hear about your friend, Rich. 🌹 I'm sure all your poetry from this point on in time will make them proud; it's a wonderful way to honour them and carry their memory with you.
To answer Ken's question, in my opinion- and I have said it before- the biggest motivator for creativity is curiosity. The mind will race through a million thoughts, possibilities and fantasies all at once, before it starts stringing them together in words, images, metaphors, ideas and allegories. The more you ponder, the more it energises you, and the more you become inspired. Allow yourself to write/record random phrases or ideas that come to you, and in time, those ideas will snowball into something like poems.
If you're looking for that spark of inspiration though, I say start by reading up on topics, events, people or things in general that you have an interest in, and it should bring some inspiration to you, albeit it, even in time. Ultimately, your mind will probably reveal magnificent things about topics you really care about.
this happened to me not too long ago, I even posted a thread somewhere. I had read a couple of poems that won a competition, and they were so beautiful that I thought I could never write to that standard.
I received some great advice from peeps on here but one stuck into my brain and that was from @Sophie who said I should re-read the poems and identify exactly what it was that I like and how I could maybe use that as inspiration.
I think that helped to change my chip from something a bit negative into something more positive
Great question Ken, from my own experience I have unfortunately had a writing partner pass away in his mid 30's form cancer, and that has broken my entire link with that genre, understandably I guess. There's a lot of complex emotions linked with that type of work (sitcom script writing) for me and it forced me to return to other genre's I had tried before, fiction, horror, flash fiction etc. But that bought on a discouragement of its own, life circumstances changed and I ended up not writing anything seriously for a few years. Reading beat generation writers and poets like Bukowski, Kerouac, Satre, JG Ballard, and Salinger made me feel open to the idea of poetry and a more "outsider" style of writing. I then found @Adam Gary's channel on youtube and enjoyed his style and watched a lot of his video's thinking could I? maybe? poetry? My belief is that if you are a creative, you are a creative. As for strategies, I needed help to understand I was allowed to feel like I wanted to feel, and not be scared of the blank page. Journaling helped. The Cove has defiantly helped, its like a safe place for me with folks who are kind, constructive and knowledgeable as well as really talented.