Bust The Writing Rut

The first thing you need to know about a writing rut is that it can happen to anyone. It can happen to you. It can happen to your friend. It can happen to your dog. It can happen to your dog’s friend. It can happen to your dog’s friend’s dog, who is imaginary.

Rut roh.

If you, or someone you know, are in a writing rut, here are some things you can do to unrut yourself.

DM your friends. DM your writing friends. Start a group chat. Complain to each other about your writing rut, in the group chat. Be rut buddies. Shift your shortcomings onto someone else. Let them carry your burden.

You will feel better about yourself when others are also unsuccessful in their writing endeavours.

Be the writing rut. Don’t let the rut consume you. You consume it. Eat or be eaten. It’s a dog eat dog world.

All together now….rut roh.

Get creative. Don’t just be creative. Get it. Think about thinking outside the box. You know why people think outside the box? They’re claustrophobic. Claustrophobia is your ticket to the outside. Claustrophobia leads to creative freedom.

But Paul, where do I begin?

Write the words. Write any words. Write about giraffes. Write about pencil crayons. Write about a kite stuck in a tree and how it’s recovery might just be the next best thing but not quite me.

Boom. Rhyme the words.

Rhyming what? Writing rut.

Write about your writing rut. Write about having nothing to write about. When you write about how hard it is to write, you inspire others to also write about how they have nothing to write about.

It’s a behind-the-screens pity party.

Next thing you need to do is get out of your own way. Get in someone else’s way. You can’t write, if someone else is stealing your material. Be a one lane road. You want to go North? Wrong. Go South. That’s where the keyboard is.

Boom. Enlightenment in the face.

Re-route the writing rut. Go places you’ve never been before. Take your words in different directions. Use a map. Be the compass. Write about your feet. Write about your friend’s feet. Write about your friend’s dog’s imaginary friend’s feet.

That’s called a writing rut roh.

When you’re done, release it into the world.

Writing is all about forcing others to read your words. Tape their eyelids open. Threaten them with pudding under their armpits. Blow in their ear. Let them know that your words are more important than anything else they could be doing.

As the saying goes, even a writing rut is right twice a day. Not once. Not thrice. But twice. Twice a day. That is one more than one. It’s two, buckle my shoe, three four, use the correct version of “your”.

Writing rut recap.

DM a friend. Get creative. Rhyme the words. Become claustrophobic. Write any words. Behind-the-screens pity party. Re-route the rut. Be the compass. Pudding pits. Twice a day.

Bust the writing rut.