Investing in Your Writing

Sometimes you're stuck. Uninspired. Out. Of. Ideas. Bored. Discouraged. If and when any of those things apply, sometimes you have to shake it up a little. Here are some fun ways to do that!

10 of My Favorite ways to Invest in Your Writing Life for $5 or Less...

1. Go to Starbucks and buy yourself some kind of inspirational coffee drink. Sometimes I get my favorite, sometimes if I'm writing a story where the heroine loves coffee, I'll get her favorite.

2. Wander around Barnes and Noble. Look at the books. Smell the books. Think about yours or don't; either way you'll leave inspired.

3. Buy a new notebook (I like the black and white composition ones!) and some pens (I like the purple papermate pens, but everyone has their own favorite. We writers are picky about our pens, right? ;) ). Sometimes just having a new medium to think on, brainstorm on, helps.

4. Buy a book. Read it. Think about what you loved or what you didn't. This will apply to your writing and help you with it even if you don't intentionally think about it. Personally, I can't analyze "fun" books too much or it becomes work for me. I can analyze the stew out of literature, but I like to let fun books just be for fun, BUT I know I'm absorbing things those writers did well. At least I like to think so. =)

5. Go out for a (cheap) dinner with a friend. Remember, living life is one of the keys to writing about it.

6. Buy some new lip gloss. I don't know why, but it helps with everything. Save this tip for any number of problems in life. ;)

7. Go outside and write. Or go inside and write. Go somewhere you don't usually go and write. (This one is free!)

8. Wander around a clothing store. Pick out clothes your heroine would wear and try them on. Think about why she wears those clothes and you'll learn a lot about who she is.

9. Buy some sticky notes. Seriously, who can stare at a stack of brightly colored sticky notes and not be a little inspired?

10. Save your $5. Save it for a writing conference, for a comfier desk chair, for conference CD recordings, for a book on writing craft that you've been wanting. If you do this enough, you'll have some serious cash to invest in your writing, even if you're not seriously overflowing with cash. $5 at a time doesn't seem like TOO much (at least most weeks).


Any others you'd add?