You may have had this experience. You’re making steady progress on your writing project. Something happens, whether it’s family, work, tiredness, illness, or something else that causes you to skip a day. That’s okay. It happens.
You’re eager to get back to writing after the missed day. But then something else happens, and before you know it, two weeks have gone by. You have time again, but now it’s hard to start back. You feel like you’ve lost momentum. How do you get it back?
Loss of momentum after an unexpected break is a common struggle for all of us as writers. Momentum helps us move our project forward. When we lose momentum, it’s hard to start again. The engine is cold, and we’re not sure how to rev it up.
Keeping Momentum on Days You Can’t Write
Fortunately, there is a key to keeping momentum even on days when you can’t write. That same key can get a cold writing engine going again after a break.
The key is to stay in touch with your writing project. That doesn’t mean you need to find a way to write on a busy or low-energy day. But you mentally check in on the project, even when you can’t write.
Ways to Stay in Touch with Your Project
Here are some ways to check in with your project, and you may find other ways that work for you.
On busy days, you can do one of these:
- Think about your project: I am writing about ______ because I want to _______. I am excited about the next step, which is ______.
- Read a randomly chosen paragraph of your project. That will help your mind review the project in the background, even when you’re focused on other things.
- Tell someone briefly about your project. If you can’t think of who to tell, send an email to yourself about your project. Writing the email will help you stay in touch, and reading the email will help you jump back in when you’re ready.
- Think of one question or concern a reader might want your project to cover. Jot it down so you’ll remember.
- Take a moment to reflect on why your project makes you smile. What excites you about continuing your project?
On low energy days, try one of these:
- Think about your project: I am writing about ______ because I want to _______. I am excited about the next step, which is ______.
- Make a short, bullet-point list of ideas for the next section you plan to write. Order doesn’t matter right now; just get the ideas down on paper. You’ll have a great starting place to write when you have more energy.
- Read something related to your project. Don’t use it as a delaying tactic: I have to finish all this reading before I continue writing my project. Just see it as a quick, fun way to keep in touch with your topic.
- If your project involves using photos, you can use a low-energy day to sort through pictures.
- Self-edit just one paragraph of your project. This gives you a head start on self-editing and keeps your mind connected to your project.
Writers Need Days Off
When I talk about staying in touch with your project every day, I’m not talking about your day off. We all need a day off, ideally every week. Feel free to give your project that day off too, unless writing fits the rhythm of how you relax and recharge.
But on days when you would normally write, but just can’t, that’s when you keep checking in mentally. A quick check-in will keep your momentum going. When you return to your project, the writing engine will be warm and ready for you to jump in.
Janet Eriksson 