My essential question is how does an out of practice writer become an active, disciplined writer?

One thing that I’ve learned is that perseverance matters when it comes to writing. I had a ton of writers block and very little motivation to even write at all recently. Despite that thought, I managed to write a lot for one piece. What I’ve noticed is that I need to be in the right mental head space in order to write. Something we talked about in my Cohort group yesterday is that sometimes, it is also helpful to have a physical space to write. Or having certain objects or actions that will switch your brain into writing mode, like lighting a candle or eating a certain snack. I really want to start this practice but I don’t know what would be my switch. When I write I close all the other open tabs so that way I have to take an extra step to get distracted. Usually I just write on my bed, but now I want to find a specific place to write. This could be my writerly switch.

Another thing that I have noticed is that my motivation fluctuates with my mood. I believe I wrote about this in a previous blog post. Finding the motivation to write is very difficult, especially during these hard times. For me, writing has become a distraction from everything that is happening around me. I use it as an escape mechanism, because I don’t write about anything related to the pandemic. However, it gets harder and harder to not let pessimism slip into my writing. I have noticed that more of the ideas I get for writing have become dreary and sad. Hopefully this changes soon. Putting on music also really helps me focus. I will try listening to happier songs and maybe that will change my mood too.