Getting My Mojo Back

Writers block can be a big problem for many writers. I don’t typically have this problem. I usually try to write every day even if I am not feeling the magic once I start writing the magic somehow finds its way to my pen/fingers. But lately I’ve suffered something similar. I have a novel I’m working on that doesn’t seem to captivate me like all the others I’ve written.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the characters and learning what makes them tick. Finding out how they got from here to there physically and emotionally. But I don’t have them pestering me all day. They aren’t fighting for every spare bit of my consciousness like all my other stories/characters have.

There are many things that can cause this kind of problem. It might just be that the story doesn’t have what it takes, other ideas might just have a higher priority, or life might be getting in the way. For me it’s maybe a bit of all three, with the latter having the lion’s share of the blame.

So how do you get past this problem, you ask? Well for everyone it is different. For me, since this was a multi issue problem it requires multiple things to create a solution. First I had to make the difficult decision to set this current work in progress aside, at least until it holds the same pull over me that requires I write it to free myself. It’s the second thing that I’d like to address though.

It’s something that I think applies to everyone, not just writers. Sometimes in the process of living life I think we forget why we are doing it. We lose sight of what’s important. In doing this I think we often forget what it feels like to be us, or at least the us that we actually like.

So, in order to get our mojo back we have to remember/find the us that is worth commuting 55 miles a day, each way for, or working a job that doesn’t satisfy us so we can afford to do the thing we love, or just getting out of bed for. I can’t tell you what will do this for you, but for me it’s usually something physical. Hitting the treadmill hard while blaring some soul salve music, taking the dogs and spending a day on the trail, or my favorite, dancing around the living room while singing at the top of my lungs.

(Thank goodness I live on a couple of acres so no neighbors ears will be caused to bleed so I can regain my mojo!)

No matter how you do it though, I find that reconnecting with myself not only makes me a better writer, but a better friend, love, and overall human. And if nothing else, it makes life a heck of a lot more fun.

And that’s my story.