flow // #hopewriterlife

day 3 // flow ✨

No matter how hard I try, lately it seems as if my stories won’t flow.
But, despite the block, ideas do.

In fact, I’ve a working notebook right now with two novel ideas that I take to lunch with me to brainstorm & dream in.

There are no solid stories yet—but there are characters.
Settings.
Inklings of new novels.

And those inklings keep me dreaming.

Too often we writers frustrate ourselves when the words won’t flow, but I’m learning to look at my writing life in seasons, just as I do everyday life.

Some weeks...
Some months...
The words flow freely & I can pen chapters.

While other weeks or months stay stagnant.

When the words don’t flow, I often know it’s time for something else. Usually yoga.
Or movement of some sort.
Currently, in this season, it’s gardening.

But just as the stillness of Winter turns into the aliveness of Spring, so too do my writing seasons change.

As school wraps up, I have no brain power (or time!) to sit & pen chapters of a new story even though my soul years too.
But I can dream about my new characters & plot lines, tending my words a little bit each day.

Soon my season will change to working from home, & I know that will be when chapters start to flow.

But until then, I keep writing.
Even if it’s little ideas.
Because one season bleeds into another & for me, I’m learning how to cultivate all the aspects of a writing life.

Seasons of quiet need tending in a different way for they bloom a different kind of growth.

I’m learning to be here for all of it.
I’m learning how to flow.

_______
This post originated on Instagram as part of the Hope Writer’s #hopewriterlife challenge round 2, but I’m sharing it here are part of my Notes from a Writer’s Desk series.