Writing is hard!

Getting back into creative writing after a long hiatus is grueling! 

I went over a year without working on any of my projects and it took me a long time to realize that I needed my passion back in my life. 

That thunderclap didn’t make it instantaneously easy to get back into the creative writing game.

Nope! I spent a couple of months fumbling around, starting to write, and then falling back into old habits. 

There are many excuses and means of procrastination that writers at a standstill can use to hide behind instead of getting back to their work.

I get it! The world is shiny, bright, and busy! There’s lots to do and see. 

But every time I’ve used an excuse, even a seemingly valid one, there’s always a tiny part of me cringing inwardly as I bemoan the time that I don’t have and the reasons that I just can’t…

I’d say that all writers go through this phase more than once in their lives. We get drained. We get discouraged. It happens to the best of us. 

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that taking vacations away from your creative writing can be beneficial.

But, there’s a difference between a dedicated break time and a stuck-in-a-writer’s-rut situation.

Right now, maybe you’re doing great! Writing consistently and feeling optimistic about your perseverance.

Or, perhaps you’ve just gotten back into writing.

You might be someone who’s finding it hard to write at the moment.

All of these situations are okay! We can work with this. 

Today, I want to share a bit about my journey back to creative writing (what happened and how I did it).

Then, I’ll give you a few concrete suggestions and leave you with a list of writing prompts to give you some momentum. 

Without further adieu… let’s get started!

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly one reason that I stopped writing.

I was in the middle of a rough draft for a novel in a genre that I’d never written before.

Sure, it was challenging, but I wouldn’t say that I gave up or stopped because it was too difficult.

I think I just let the to-do list of life and work take over. There was always one more thing to get done.

The house always seemed cluttered and at the end of a busy day with my students, sitting on the couch, and watching tv was easier.

Once I’d pressed pause on writing for too long, I’d broken my habit. Then, the longer I went without writing, the harder it was to start anew.

Navigating my return to writing seemed like a mountainous achievement.

That’s it—no big trauma. I just stopped and didn’t get back into it for over a year.

In that year, I thought about writing often- dreaming up story ideas and daydreaming about characters that I’d left frozen in time.

I considered grabbing my pen and paper. I promised myself that next weekend I’d start up again, but I never actively made the shift.

Not until January 2023…

I have this extremely long to-read list and one of the books on the list was The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

I found it in a thrift store and set about reading it just after the holidays.

Very soon into reading this book, I realized that it was not going to be a passive self-help book. I wouldn’t be finishing this in a couple of weeks.

The book is divided into chapters that provide you with weekly tasks and a commitment to writing daily Morning Pages.

It took me twelve weeks to finish the activities. The deeper I got into it the more excited I was to get back into writing.

It didn’t happen all at once. I didn’t work on any personal writing projects aside from the morning pages for the majority of that time.

However, as the book began winding down, I realized that I needed to find new ways to align with my creative process. Ways that worked for me at this stage in my life.

So, in between the tasks and work, I completed some time management and productivity tools research and I came across another book!

Atomic Habits by James Clear is an easy-to-digest read that focuses on the small habits before the habits that maintain your productivity and commitment to action.

I didn’t by any means follow his tools to a T. Instead, I took what I liked and adjusted it to fit my lifestyle.

I started using my phone timer. I would work on my lonely manuscript for just five minutes every night for a month.

When the timer went off, I could put it away, feeling accomplished. Or, I could continue writing if I wanted.

After month one, I increased my time to ten minutes a night and I continued this process, adding five minutes to my timer every month until I hit twenty-five minutes.

This was simple to do. I could easily spare five to twenty-five minutes every evening without worrying that the kitchen wouldn’t be cleaned.

Even better, these short writing spurts added up and by May I had completed the rough draft of my manuscript.

I’m sure that I’ve made this sound too easy. Full disclosure, there were bumps along the way. I missed nights, more than one in a row at times.

But I no longer punished myself. I maintained the attitude of “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

I kept my reentry into creative writing to myself at the start.

Sometimes, I think that we get too excited about our newfangled tools and goals. We tell others all about them. Then we scare ourselves into procrastination because we worry what they might think if we fail. 

I didn’t need that added pressure. Writing at this stage was just for me anyway. I could share it with the world later on.

It helped that I was working on a piece of writing that had been put on hold. I already had the plot and the characters mapped out. My notes were all on hand.

This set me free from needing to create a new story. I didn’t need to yet worry about the brainstorming process or if I had any great ideas.

I could just write, starting with my bullet point notes if I was stuck and fleshing it out once I’d eased back into creative writing.

That was it! From there, I started on my new writing project (this blog and revising an old novel).

I still used the timer method when feeling stuck or especially time-crunched and I stayed gentle with myself.

I’ve missed many days of writing, but I seem to be staying the course at the moment.

Will there be other dry spells in the future? I think so.

I believe that life can tap us out at times. But, if something is our passion, we’ll find our way back eventually.

Perhaps, that sounds naive. I don’t see the benefit of a harsh reality check around our creative passions.

Take care of them, treat them gently, and give them the time, space, and patience to grow and evolve. 

The next time I fall out of writing may look very different than in the past. It’ll be a new adventure to tackle when it appears.

For now, I’d like to give you a few concrete suggestions to start with.

If you’re struggling to get back into writing or any creative passion, consider if one of these tips might support you.

Start small. A timer set for five minutes every morning or evening does the trick.

Be patient and give yourself time to truly feel the schedule out.

Reflect on your schedule often and tweak it until you find what works for you.

Start where you already have ideas. Reread your old work, and look through your notes.

Spend time back in the worlds you’ve already created and use those to reignite your writing energy.

Maybe, you can return to writing a story that you’ve put off for a while or perhaps you could use your completed work as a jumping-off point for a short story.

Do what makes writing feel safe and easy. Don’t press too hard just yet. Let your writing flow.

It doesn’t need to be perfect, inspired, or for anyone else to see. Write for you.

If you don’t have a work in progress on the go, utilize writing prompts to get you started. These can easily be found online or in bookstores.

Did you write tonight? Find a tiny way to treat yourself.

You wrote three days in a row? An entire week? Great! Buy some ice cream.

You finished a chapter in your novel? You finally plotted a solid denouement? Listen to your favourite band.

Finding reasons to celebrate your hard work sends signals to your brain that keep you motivated.

Sometimes, we just need to write. It doesn’t need to be for anyone but you and it doesn’t need to be an intricately thought-out story.

At the end of the day, remember that false starts and missed sessions are a part of building any new habit.

James Clear states that it takes about two months for a habit to become automatic.

So, go forward with patience. If you miss a day, no pressure.

Try again tomorrow.

Looking for some further reading?

Masterclass has a great article on nine ways to get back into creative writing.

The Write Practice highlights tools to start writing your book again after a break.

What “get back into writing” hack works for you?

Share them in the comments below!

Download 10 Prompts to Get You Writing Again.

Talk soon!

Julia