Uninspired? Try this. . .

By G.Ellen

There’s writers block, and then there is simply uninspired. Say you’ve finished the latest book/article you were working on and didn’t have another project waiting for you. Or, perhaps you just don’t feel like working on something old, you want to work on something fresh–something that captures your imagination.

There’s nothing like a mad-write to get the creative juices flowing. A mad-write is simply what they call mad-libs in school. (Well, that’s what they’re called in the school I work at–grin) Someone gives you a sentence, or a group of words and you have to create a scene, paragraph or short story around them. Sometimes there is a time limit, sometimes not–it’s all flexible.

These are my favorite things. Many times you can get caught up in the middle of editing a story, but you still want to get some words down on paper for the day. It’s that whole ‘writing’ thing. This is the quickest way. You don’t have to worry about plot, or character lines, or anything that would be your normal worry. This is free reign of your imagination.

Ask someone to make up a sentence for you. Go online and find them–there is a whole host of sites that promote creative juices. WritersDigest.com has a category that gives you writing prompts.

I have to warn you–these can be totally distracting. You might get caught up in what you’re writing and create a whole new story out of it. You might even have fun. But then, that’s one of the reasons you write, isn’t it?

Here’s a sentence for you to try: Your mother's uncle wore army boots. Um...nope. How about: The cat jumped up on the table and started licking at the three layered chocolate cake. Or: The monkey decided peanut butter was the next best thing to bananas. I could come up with these all day. Then I wouldn’t have to do anything productive. . .