Getting Back Into a Writing Pattern

It will come.

When you're feeling better and mostly caught up, it will sneak up on you and smack you in the head.

And you'll know it's time to get back to it.

Just my personal experience, but certain movies get me back into the writing mode. For instance, watching Shakespeare in Love always makes me want to write. There are others, but right now I can't think of them. Hope I don't need to use them, cause I have no idea where my copy of Shakespeare is...

The same thing happens to me. If I miss about a week of writing, it's really hard for me to get back into the groove.
Just keep plugging away. It'll come back to you.

Man, I feel your pain. I took a week off in January and then got sick. It was harder than anything to get back into the groove. Maybe it's because if you don't do the wash, you eventually run out of clothes, if you don't cook, you eventually run out of cereal and cookies, if you don't go to work...well, you get the idea. The problem is, you may feel like hell, but nothing bad happens if you don't write.

Pick two half-hour blocks - one maybe at lunchtime, and another in the evening. Turn off the TV, disconnect the internet, turn off the iPod, and grab your preferred writing material. And just write. Writing is like any other exercise, you have to re-groove all the synapses after you've been away for a bit.

Whenever I get sick, my creativity goes out the window and forcing myself to try to be creative only makes it worse. I console myself by knowing my creativity will return once I'm feeling better.

Take care of yourself, and hope you feel better soon!

If you're still tired, and don't have much creative energy, you're still sick or recuperating. If you're anything like me, you're fretting about what you should do well before you should be doing it.

Don't push too hard. This year's flus have been terrible and you could make yourself sick all over. Drink lots of tea with honey in it and trust that the words will come back once you're well

If you're still not writing once you have energy again? Then you might need to worry about this.

Don't force it. Don't put expectations on yourself. Just let it come and write when you feel the need.

I think it depends on the person. For some people, removing the pressure helps. For others (including me), pressure/expectations are huge motivator. I cut my teeth on news stringing so imposing my own deadlines brings me into that "you have to perform" mindset. It's all about what works for you and fits into your personality.

Tallus is right -- don't rush it. Although it's important to maintain good writing habits, a difficult illness can really take it out of you, both physically and creatively. (I found this out when my gallbladder decided to quit without notice last fall.)

What I did after surgery is something you might want to try now: Use this time to refill the well. Watch some of the movies you always meant to see but haven't. Read books you've been meaning to get to, or books you never dreamed of reading before they caught your eye on the used-bookstore shelf. Sleep a lot. Brainstorm without any object. Do this for a while, and you will find that the ideas soon start flowing again -- and at that point, it's very easy to get back in the writing groove.