Get Your Writing Mojo Back

It happens. It’s super-annoying, frustrating and anxiety-inducing when it does, but it happens.

At some point in your writing life, you will hit a period of drought. The words fail to come when you sit down to write. Ideas abandon you for a Summer somewhere else. Cleaning the tracks on the sliding doors with a toothbrush suddenly seem incredibly important when you think about sitting down to write.

The harder you try to plough the field, the drier it gets. And we all know, without that life-giving rain, seeds don’t sprout, crops don’t grow.

Sometimes there’s a trigger and sometimes it just comes out of the blue.

For me, as a fledgling writer it took hold after attending a writer’s conference: an event that was designed to inspire me and fire me up to becoming a productive commercial success. It ended up quashing my creative juices completely. For. Months. Truly. Oh sure, I wrote in between but very little and not much more than a few hundred words for writing classes or small competitions.

Not knowing why I couldn’t write, I poured myself into other activities and a constant series of writing courses and exercises to kick-start the engine. Didn’t happen. But I gained considerable insight into craft issues like point of view, use of place, importance of characterization and so much more.

That’s one thing to keep in mind when the mojo disappears: use the time to develop your craft by doing courses, learning from others, reading books in your genre and spending time at the library looking up writing magazines and books. Make notes about your learning (see? you’re writing!).

Here are some other techniques.

Work out the trigger that stopped you.

It will give a clue on what’s underlying your loss of mojo. In my case, the conference subconsciously had me comparing myself to these other productive and published authors and, in my mind, falling way short. I’ll guarantee you that, unless a tragic circumstance intervened like loss or injury, the foundation is fear. Fear is designed to motivate you to keep you safe. Ask yourself, ‘how is this working for me?’ There’ll be something like failure or rejection that pops up as an answer. You have to name it to conquer it.

Give yourself permission to not write.

It’s ok to take a break. If your mojo has deserted you, take advantage of the opportunity. Play in a new space – take up drawing, pole dancing, volunteering – anything that gives you a different slant at life. Everything you do ends up bleeding onto the page somewhere so it’s never a wasted experience.

Be kind to yourself.

When you stop writing, and you know you should be, your inner critic comes out to play. It will tell you you’re no good, remind you of all the other times you didn’t commit, any negative input it can find will pop into your head. Don’t listen to it! If you do, it will kill your chances of getting your mojo back.

Stress less about not writing and utilise the time to do what will enhance your writing. Let it flow. But don’t let it flow too long. Give yourself permission to ‘take a break’ but then set a deadline to get back into the practice and routine of writing – you don’t want your mojo to take a permanent holiday!

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