Recently, I’ve been getting more into writing again. When I was younger, I used to write quite a lot, be that fanfiction, short stories or even just diary entries each day or week. I loved it, especially when I was really in the mood to write and could keep writing for hours at a time. I had a lull in writing the past couple of years but now I’m back at it again!
The past few weeks, I have been very motivated to get things done, sort my life out (I’m trying) and spend more time on hobbies I’ve neglected for a good while. I also want to start new hobbies too. I’ve been organising my days (see this) to not only include definite commitments like work shifts and appointments, but also time for leisure and interests like baking, scrapbooking and – you guessed it – writing. Sometimes this planning works, other times I ignore it and do something else! But that’s okay. I just like having a general idea of what I would like to achieve with each day.
I’ve been trying to get back into writing of all kinds. I mainly just wanted to discuss what I’m writing at the moment and a couple of things I’ve found helpful since starting to get back into it!
I’ve found journalling a really useful thing to start doing again. Mine is nothing special; just a simple notebook where I write rather messily about how I’m feeling or how my day has gone, good and bad. I find writing about my feelings is a good way to kickstart a writing mood. Once I’ve written in this, I usually want to carry on writing something else!
An obvious one of course is blog writing! I’ve been loving BEDM so far and it’s really got me back into writing for the blog. I think an important thing for this is not limiting yourself on topics. It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut when you write what you think people want to read, or keep only with certain types of posts like reviews or tags. Branching out is fun; writing about what you are inspired by at that moment is great. I personally love reading chatty posts by other people! I have lots of plans of posts and I’m reading tons more now, so expect a lot more posting from me after May too!
I also find it fun writing short stories or individual scenes. I usually do this on impulse. I will suddenly get an idea or bout of inspiration and I will write it down instantly or as soon as I can. It’s often messy and sometimes bits don’t make sense because I just get it all out. Editing is for later! I LOVE when this happens, it’s my absolute favourite thing. I have so many saved documents on my computer and pages in notebooks where little scenes or short stories are written.
Script writing is something I am quite passionate about. I’m planning to make more short films and write the scripts for them too. Oddly, I usually write in a story format first before adapting it to a script. I think this may be because my writing style is quite descriptive and I find that easier to express without the format of a script. Maybe I need more practise, or maybe that’s just how I write! I haven’t spent lots of time on this yet but I will be – I have lots of ideas!
I think the most important thing is practice. I, like a lot of people, want to write something I adore the first time I write it. This isn’t realistic though and often editing is so important and useful. Also, practicing it helps. I’m using prompts to write stories or scenes or scripts at the moment, just to get back into it. If I never use what I write again, or barely read it again, that’s fine. It’s just practise! Accepting that you have to work on things to get better is key. Don’t feel disheartened if what you write doesn’t meet your expectations – try not to be so hard on yourself.
Do many people here write stories or scripts or anything? I would love to know and maybe even see if we could do some sort of prompt exchange or something. Charlotte runs a short story challenge over at Wonderfully Bookish and I would definitely recommend trying it out. I want to do the next prompt on it too!
The Little Contemporary Corner 