Writing is a very creative past-time and writers need a lot of energy to write well. I find the more energized I feel, the more creative, innovative and fun my writing tends to be. I also find the words flow better when I am feeling energetic. Here are some of my favorite ways of getting energized for writing.

Get Up Out Of The Chair

If you have been sitting in your chair staring at your computer screen for some time, you’ll find that mental blocks become far more frequent. Our bodies are designed to move so get out of the chair for at least five minutes every two hours at a minimum.  Even just doing a ‘lap’ around the house (or around the block) can be enough to get energized again. Stand, stretch and move your body for a great, quick energizer.

Get Out and About

Getting some fresh air is a great way of getting energized and feeling fresh. If you have a laptop computer, go for a walk and find a nice scenic spot to sit and write outside.  If you don’t have a laptop, make sure you get out of the house every day to meet people, get fresh air and remember that there is a real world out there.

Freelance writers working from home often end up feeling like they have become a recluse but simply getting into the world is easy. Go and buy a coffee from a local café and you’ll write better when you return.

Enjoy Revitalizing Music

Music can be an easy way to get energized. Play something with a bit of rhythm and you’ll be bopping along in your chair. Music also helps writers to block out other distractions like the sound of traffic.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Whenever our blood sugar level drops, we are more likely to feel fatigued, weary and flat. Creativity tends to drop dramatically if we haven’t eaten or drunk anything for a while.  Give yourself a break and eat or drink something to keep the energy levels high for creative writing.

Laugh. Whenever I have a mental block and just can’t seem to get writing, I’ll read something funny to have a mental break. It really helps get the mind working again.

Exercise (Both Physical and Mental)

The body is designed to move frequently, and unfortunately writers can lead a sedentary lifestyle. Get your body moving and you’ll find benefits including and increased attention span, feeling fresher and increased productivity. Getting the blood moving around the body from exercise stimulates the blood moving around the brain too, stimulating creativity.

Mental games and exercises can also stimulate creativity. If you are experiencing a mental block, do something different for a short time to get your mind thinking in another way or pattern. See things from a new perspective to clear your mind for writing creatively.

Routinely Write

The best idea for writers is to practice their skills as a writer. Getting into a routine to write more frequently will help creativity.  Your routine should help you to start writing at the same time each day, but allow for day to day flexibility, depending on your energy level, mood and level of creativity on the day.

Use these tips to help get your energy levels higher, increase your creativity and writing productivity, and to enjoy your writing more.

This is the last of the E=Energy posts in the CREATIVE HABITS series. Next time I’ll be talking about A=Action, so make sure you stay tuned, or RSS’d!

Well breaking your routine might be an overplay in words, but breaks are essential as a way to boost your creative energy.

Having a routine makes it easier to maintain your writing as a way of working. Many infopreneurs and freelance writers earn enough to give up their day job, but then find it difficult to maintain that rate of paying writing work or income from their sites.

By getting into a good routine, it becomes easier to write for enough time each day to keep paying the bills. Just having a routine for your writing will ensure your time spent writing is productive and you do not waste as much time in daydreaming as a way to avoid having to write.

A good writing routine is when you are feeling freshest, usually in the morning, and makes use of the times when you feel most creative.  Ideally you should have a routine that fits in with your lifestyle, and allows some flexibility for the times when writing is not a priority.

Working from home means that you have to be self-motivating and disciplined. This is where having a regular routine for writing will really help. Otherwise, it’s simply too easy to waste a big chunk of the day, before you sit down at the computer to write.

Remember that you are likely to be at your most creative in the mornings, when your mind and body are refreshed from sleep. Getting into a routine that entails some writing in the morning is often the best option to be productive.

The best routine will also allow for exercise and reasonable breaks, in order to keep your mind working clearly throughout the day. Exercise is terrific for getting blood flow to the brain and giving you a clear head.  Some writers like to start the day with a walk or a jog, to get in some exercise in what can be quite a sedentary career, and to ‘blow away the cobwebs’.

Reasonable breaks throughout the day include a regular time for lunch and at least one break mid-morning and mid-afternoon, depending on your writing schedule and the rest of your lifestyle. Allow some flexibility in when and how you take your breaks, to make the most of when you are writing creatively and when you are suffering from mental blanks.

The routine is important to encourage you to start your writing. Starting at the same time each day will encourage productivity. As your body gets used to the routine, it is much easier to start writing each day.

A good routine is to do some exercise early in the morning, shower and then sit down ready to write. Many writers will spend half an hour or so in preparatory work such as increasing vocabulary, reading other’s people’s writing or catching up on where they left off the day before. Then the common practice is to write for an hour or so, have a brief break and then do some research for an hour or so. Write for another hour before you break for lunch. Breaking up the chunks of time spent in actually writing will enable you to keep your focus while you are writing.

It is a great idea for writers to spend some time increasing their vocabulary and to complete some mental exercises to encourage better writing and the use of creativity in their writing.  The following sites have some excellent mental exercises for writers:

www.wordsplosion.com – this is a site dedicated to all those weird and wonderful signs out there. It’s full of pictures of signs, and in this case there is real truth in the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Click on the link and see for yourself!

www.wordsmiths.net – this site is dedicated to writers of Derivative or Fan Fiction. It has lots of great resources and well worth a visit. Who knows, you may end up a contributer to it..

www.freerice.com – I’m not sure how to describe this site except say make sure you visit it. It’s a sister site of Poverty.com and aims to help ensure free education for everyone and help end world hunger. I’ve recommended it as the home page tests your knowledge of the meaning of words. For every right answer they donate 20 grains of rice.

When you are writing, be prepared to break up your routine when you need to encourage fresh ideas.

• You can jump on a website and play a quick game as a mental refresher, you may need to keep an eye on the clock though!
• Going for a quick walk, doing some housework, meeting a friend for coffee or chatting to other authors on a writing forum can give you enough of a break to get back into your writing.

Aim to have breaks of about half an hour at the most, and then go back to your writing. You should feel refreshed and find the words just start to flow again.

This is another post in my CREATIVE HABITS series where we’re exploring E = Energy habit.

E = Energy Levels

I’ve found creative writing happens best when your energy levels are high. Your mind seems more capable of making those creative leaps and getting the flow happening in your writing when you are well rested and feeling energetic.

When your energy levels are low, it’s much more difficult to find the right words to write and you’re likely to waste time simply staring at the blank computer screen and wondering how to start.

Every creative writer has times when this happens and it is often difficult to break out of the mental fugue.

This is why paying attention to your energy levels at different times of the day can really help your creative writing. Physically, whenever your body has energy to spare, the mind has a better capacity to focus.

It’s a commonly recognized fact that children who skip breakfast have less energy to draw on than their fellow students and are likely to do far worse in scholastic achievements. Why? Their concentration span is reduced and they find it difficult to focus on anything for a long period of time.

As adults, we often forget that our bodies work the same way. If our energy level is high, our writing will be sharper, flow better and will be more creative. Some tips you can consider are:

• Energy levels do change throughout the day and having small, but frequent breaks is often a way writers use to increase their energy levels to continue writing.

• Understanding that energy levels can change throughout the day will help you to recognize the patterns, work when you are most alert and not to beat yourself up when your energy levels are reduced. It could just mean you need a break to get re-energised.

• Pay attention to when you are more alert in the day. Most people feel more alert in the morning and will write better and more creatively earlier on in the day. Setting up a routine of writing when you are physically more alert will help you to increase your productivity generally.

• Starting the day with some mental exercises can also help you to get the creative juices flowing and help you to feel energized and focused on your task when you start to write. There are a number of word related games that help to increase a writer’s vocabulary that are great energizers, both at the start of the day and when you need a mental break throughout your day.

• A good trick is to give yourself a five minute break as a reward whenever you finish a page, a chapter or reach a milestone in your writing. This will help you to come back to your writing with a fresh mind.

• Eating or drinking something increases blood sugar levels and give your body the boost of energetic metabolism, which aids concentration.

• Sometimes, you will need to take a much longer break in order to refresh the mind and body and increase those energy levels again. Going for a walk not only gives you fresh air, but any exercise increases the body’s metabolism, gets blood flowing faster and therefore increases the blood flow and oxygen levels in the brain. When you return from your walk, you are likely to have a clear mind and be able to approach your writing in a different way.

• One of the best things any writer can do for their energy levels is to make sure that they sleep well, exercise regularly and eat proper meals. Healthy bodies really do make healthy minds and when your livelihood depends on your creativity in your writing, it is well worth the effort to ensure you are in top condition and feeling energized when you write.

What do you do to keep your energy levels up?