If you were asked to describe a writer, one of the words that you would probably use is ‘creative.’ Naturally, this makes sense as we are creating our work.

However, the word creative comes with so much more meaning than just being a creator of something.

If we imagine someone creative, we might believe them to be poetic, artistic, imaginative, and unique. A creative person is a person dedicated to their craft, one who is passionate and energetic and sees the world in a slightly different, cooler, more bendy way than those ordinary, non-creative folk.

While that’s all great, and may well ring true to writers sometimes, there is nothing worse than feeling uncreative as a writer.

We’ve all been there. You know, when you sit down in front of your computer screen and frown at the blank page your hands poised with eager anticipation above the keyboard, and….nothing. Your mind goes blank, or, worse still, every word that you type is so offensively, eye-wateringly dull that if it were someone else, not you, who wrote them, you’d immediately tell them to quit forever and perhaps bind their fingers together with sellotape just to be sure that they’d never attempt to do it again.

The truth is that creativity isn’t necessarily something that comes naturally to all writers. We don’t go about our daily lives with lightbulbs flashing on in our minds every ten seconds with another brilliant, original, flawless story idea. We don’t always see the beauty in things or find the complexity of human nature endlessly fascinating. We don’t always want to read challenging literature and have intellectually stimulating conversations.

Sometimes we want to eat beans on toast in front of the TV just like everyone else.

Of course, the problem with this is that when it comes to your writing sessions, you want to be able to feel creative straight away. Unfortunately, writers are not ingrained with a creativity button that we can push on when we want to write, and, more often then not, when we try to force ourselves to be creative, it only makes the situation worse. Then, before you know it your very worst enemy, Mr. W. Block is waving at you from the corner of your office.

Most writers don’t have as much time to write as they would like. Therefore, making sure that writing sessions are as productive and prolific as possible is essential.

So what can you do to be more creative, and reduce those instances where you feel as though you are not only not very creative, but perhaps the most unimaginative, uninspired, talentless husk of a writer that ever lived?

Stop with the pressure.

Forcing yourself to be creative is like trying to get a dog in the bath. It’s an unbearable struggle, and you’ll probably give up exhausted, defeated and no better off than when you started.

Try and find the things that naturally make you feel more creative instead.

Some people love to get up at the crack of dawn to write. Others prefer to get cosy with a glass of wine in the evenings to help relax them into the creative mindset. You need to do whatever works for you.

Experiment, try different times, and settings and set different goals too. You might find that writing nonstop for twenty minutes a day keeps you at your most productive, or it may be that sitting down for a long afternoon of writing once a week means you can really get your teeth stuck into it and produce work to be proud of.

Play music.

Music is excellent at steering us towards a particular emotional state and can be very helpful at making us relaxed, energetic or tapping into particular feelings that can inspire us to write. If you are about to write a tragic scene in your book, for example, you could find some truly heart-wrenching music to help you explore those emotions. If you are writing a fight scene, a song that’s full of energy and ferocity could be all the motivation you need to help your characters beat the hell out of one another.

Get rid of your distractions.

Your mobile phone, the TV, that pile of ironing that’s been sitting there for over a week and you can feel is definitely starting to judge you. A cute dog wagging its tail with a ball in its mouth. Trying on outfits that used to fit you for no good reason, baking a cake for no occasion, eating the cake while weeping quietly to yourself…whatever your go-to distractions are, get rid of them, now!

While trying to force creativity can squash it faster than a fat man sitting on an overripe tomato, distractions can be just as bigger culprits by giving your mind permission to focus on other, meaningless tasks rather than try to tap into your creative self. So turn off those screens, shove the ironing pile in a cupboard and give the dog a bone and make sure that you can properly and fully focus on the task at hand.

Do something that makes your heart race.

If you think your creativity has been flatlining of late, you might need to jump start it to get back on the old train to imagination town once again.

Often doing something that scares you, takes you outside of your comfort zone or is at least a little bit adventurous can be all you need to get those ideas flowing once more.

Most writers find their best ideas are born out of experiences, so the more you get out there and live an exciting action-packed life, the more easily your creativity will flow.

Declutter inside and out.

There are lots of blockages that can obstruct a person’s creative self, so identifying them and removing them will help you become a more creative person.

Find whatever works for you to declutter your mind and get rid of the everyday stresses and strains of life. It might be doing some meditation, it might be going for a run on the beach, it might be eating beans and toast in front of the TV or tackling that massive pile of ironing that’s been glaring at you for days on end. Do what you need to do to declutter, and you’ll find the path to creativity a much easier one to navigate.

Trying to be more creative is all about finding energy and positivity as well as freeing up space in your mind and your life to allow it to come naturally to you. So next time you want to get those creative cogs turning, try the above and see if you set your imagination free!

In the years before I became a full-time writer, I used to dreamily imagine what it would be like. I’d stare out of my dreary office window and fantasise about afternoons spent in arty cafes, chewing wistfully on a biro, wearing trendy glasses and an outfit that subtly hinted at my artistic nature. I imagined myself getting up early to go for walks on the beach, barefoot probably.

Mornings would be spent in dusty libraries, and evenings sipping wine at book readings and chatting about my projects to my fascinated contemporaries. I assumed my partner and friends would be wonderfully supportive, clamouring ‘more, more!’ every time I gave them a sneak preview at what I’d been working on, and of course, without really trying that hard (but after a few rejections so I could feel like I’d paid my dues) I’d be published and go on to become really witty but also totally humble on daytime chat shows, while wearing trendy glasses and an outfit that subtly hinted at my artistic nature – of course.

So when the time came for me to finally take the plunge, give up my day job and start working as a writer full-time, it was, to say the least, something of a shock.

I think I did, in fact, spend my first few days on the job sitting in cafe’s, until I realised that my back was killing me, I was becoming dangerously addicted to caffeine, and my productivity was somewhat curbed by involuntary eavesdropping on people having conversations or eating too noisily all around me.

I was also somewhat surprised to find that despite no longer having a day job to eat into my writing time, there was suddenly rather a lot of other distractions rearing their ugly heads. Who knew how all-consuming my urges to clean the bathroom and do the ironing would become until faced with the choice of doing that or trying to force myself to be creative?

This lack of productivity naturally had a knock-on effect when it came to getting published. The inability to actually finish anything proving a rather severe obstacle, and of course, even the politest and timidest inquiry from my nearest and dearest about my work was met with at best, ingenious deflection – have you SEEN how clean the bathroom is?’ and at worst, grave hostility – ‘I don’t remember YOU writing any books lately!’

The sacrifices writers have to make to be successful are plentiful and drastic. Long gone are the days where being a successful writer meant you just had to be good at writing. Now writers must wear many hats and perform many dances if they are to fulfil all the requirements of the job description.

To become successful, writing sacrifices must be made!

Your time

Writer’s have to find time to write. It’s as simple as that, and time is precious, and it’s essential to make the most of it. Procrastination can be an issue for many writers and if you feel as though you aren’t using your time as productively as you could, try to adjust your schedule and experiment with what works for you.

You might find you cannot write without your house being tidy – that’s fine, but make sure the tidying happens the night before or get up a bit earlier to get it done so it doesn’t eat into your writing day. You might find you are much more productive in the evenings with a glass of wine to loosen those creative cockles in hand, in which case you need to manoeuvre things in your day so you are free to have this time to work.

Then there are those heroes that manage to write while holding down a day job at the same time – the sacrifice is felt even more intensely here. Whether it’s getting up an hour earlier, writing during your commute or your lunch break, if you know that writing is your passion, finding time to do it – and not letting anything else get in the way – is the most important thing you can do.

Your relationships

Your scrawny children look up at you with unblinking eyes as you serve hastily cooked fish and chips for the fourth evening in a row. Don’t try to kid yourself, they are judging you. Your partner suggests a romantic evening in and is met yet again with your unwavering mirth. Your friends start creating WhatsApp groups without you and slowly but surely, everyone you’ve ever loved disap…

OK, so it doesn’t have to get this bad. However, the point is that if you want to be successful as a writer, there are going to be times where, as tempting as it is to head down to the pub quiz with your friends, you’ll instead stay in because you’re at a turning point in your book. Or they’ll be evenings where you miss the kid’s bedtime because you are so in the writing zone even their dreamy little faces can’t snap you out of it. Or perhaps you’ll get an earful from your partner from time to time because they feel a bit like you’re having multiple affairs with your characters -but that’s a sacrifice you have to make.

It can be tough to think that your relationships are suffering because of your writing, and the key is to find a balance. It’s OK for there to be times when you can’t as good a friend/parent/partner as you want to be, just don’t let the frequency change from ‘occasionally’, to ‘most of the time.’

Your Ego

Being a successful writer isn’t something that will just fall into your lap, at least not for 99.9% of writers anyway. Just because you have written something doesn’t mean that people should read it, particularly if you are thinking of charging them money for the privilege. In this busy modern world, people are inundated with choice, and you have to work tirelessly to get them to choose you. Always think about what your reader wants, and continue to have them at the forefront of your mind as you write. As soon as you can get into the mindset that it’s all about them and that it’s all for them, the faster you’ll journey down the path to success.

You’ve also got to deal with rejections, unhappy editors, changing deadlines and the fact that most of your family and friends have got their own stuff going on and can’t be there to give you compliments and tell you how great and talented you are every single second of the day. You’ve got to accept that the one thing all successful writers have in common is that they never gave up – so keep knocking on that door, and eventually, someone will hear you!

Let go of your romantic ideals

Writing is cathartic and creative, and it can feel fantastic to be doing something you love, to be following your dreams. There is nothing wrong with indulging in that, but at the same time, writers should try to keep both feet firmly on the ground, even if their heads do pop into the clouds from time to time, and remember that writing sacrifices must be made to give yourself the best chance of success.

Remember readers want to read something compelling, moving and entertaining. Does your book deliver? You can write any book you want and if it’s crucial for you to stay true to your creative integrity that’s fine, but be realistic in your expectations of how broad an audience you can reach. If you are looking for mass appeal and great success you need to write for an audience that you know is out there, ready and waiting and hungry for more.

Remember, no one is going to discover your writing through the power of thought, nor are masses of interested readers going to ‘stumble’ upon your novel because the universe is just that kind. However, that doesn’t mean that success is not yours for the taking. So get out there, make the necessary sacrifices, and it will all be worth it in the end.

Making New Year’s resolutions has always been a bit of an oddity to me.

You come out of the festive season in a blur. Too many late nights, too many lunchtime drinks, too many handfuls of peanuts on the way to the fridge to get more cheese. You eat, drink and be merry, you forget about your troubles, your work, your diet, and yes, even your writing.

Then the clock strikes midnight on December the 31st and suddenly, like a bunch of pork-pie laden Cinderella’s we are supposed to scuttle off to bed and wake up in the morning full of motivation, determination, and inspiration to make this year the greatest one yet.

It’s a pretty big ask.

That’s not to say that New Year’s resolutions don’t have their place. Particularly for writers who need goals and structure and something to keep them on the right track. However, expecting to suddenly be a whole new person just because the date changed is unrealistic, and that’s why so many people fail at their New Year’s resolutions before they’ve even got started.

You wanted to go vegetarian, not drink alcohol and write at least 500 words every day but on the first of January when you find yourself clutching a bacon sandwich, drinking a Bloody Mary and snoozing in front of Disney films all day while scoffing the last of the mince pies it feels as though you’ve started the new year on something of a back foot.

Setting New Year’s resolutions should be fun. They should be positive and motivational and make you want to do them. Too restrictive, too painful, too sudden and you are just setting yourself up for failure.

With that in mind here are some 2019 New Year’s writing resolutions that might tick those boxes:

To learn about writing in better ways

Writers are often told that writing is a skill. It can be studied; it is something you can get better at. However, there is nothing worse than forcing yourself to learn about something that doesn’t interest you.

We’re all grownups, we’ve left our school days behind, so studying only works if you do it right. Writers already find it challenging enough to fit in getting words on the page let alone giving themselves lessons in the art of writing on top of this.

However, learning can be fun, and there are ways to trick yourself into studying the craft without making it feel like studying at all. Reading, for a start, is an excellent way to learn about writing and is one of the most pleasurable, relaxing, exciting and inspiring hobbies imaginable.

Talking of hobbies, why don’t you get out there and learn some cool new stuff? Experiences make writer’s writing better. Life is a brilliant and utterly insane source of inspiration – so if you don’t want to spend your days scowling over a textbook trying to perfect your grammar then don’t. Make your writing brilliant because you’ve lived an adventurous life. Get Grammarly to correct your work, or hire an editor, or just don’t bother because life is too short.

To be more specific and goal-orientated when you write

Writers often get nowhere with their goals because they make them too damn hard, or too damn large not to feel massively overwhelmed by them.

Goals aren’t supposed to make you feel depressed or swamped or panicky. They are meant to be exciting and energising and realistic and achievable. So don’t make your writing goal to ‘finish your book.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Instead, try something else. ‘To get a short story published in the New Yorker by 2020.’ Then work out the steps that are necessary to make it happen, and go for it hell-for-leather.

To write while wearing a cape!

Have you heard of the power pose? Well, it’s been proven (mostly) that if you stand or sit in a power pose for as little as two minutes, you could feel more powerful, more motivated and generally do better in life (I might be paraphrasing here). The study conducted by Amy Cuddy suggested that those who took on high-power poses showed an increase in testosterone (the sexy power hormone) and a decrease in cortisol (the horrible stressy hormone).

OK so you don’t actually have to write while wearing a cape, but adopting your own version of the power pose (or just doing it) means you are looking inward to find your own superhero.

Writers should be proud of themselves for the example they are setting – to their kids, their friends, the world. The stuff it takes to be a writer, whether a massively celebrated and successful one or a struggling but determined slightly crappy one is remarkable and it’s well worth remembering that.

To be a kinder writer

Kindness is rarely talked about in writing, but being a kinder writer can bring with it lots of benefits. For a start, make a promise to be kinder to yourself. Be strong and healthy, be courageous and determined, go easy on yourself when things don’t go your way. Allow yourself time to grieve and heal and rest. Allow yourself time to do other things. Reevaluate regularly and make sure that whatever you are doing – writing or otherwise – is making you happy. Because there is nothing more important than that.

But kindness can also be extended beyond the realm of your writing room. Why not make a promise to be kinder to your fellow writers too? Make some writing friends (be that virtual or fleshy), be encouraging, share your work, get feedback, buy their books, leave positive reviews, start discussions, have fun.

You know how great it is when someone bothers to get in touch with you, when they buy your book or when they leave you a helpful review. If you want that to happen for you why not start the ball rolling? Pay it forward.

Buy one book a month from an unknown author – that’s a writing resolution we all could do with sticking to.

To talk about your writing more

Don’t be afraid to talk about your writing. It’s all too easy to feel like we are hassling people (even our nearest and dearest) when we ask them to read what we have written, to buy our book, even just to tell them about our day. But this year, let’s make an effort to talk about our and others writing as often and as eagerly and as passionately as we can.

If you truly love writing then share that enthusiasm with everyone – writing, creativity, reading, imagination – they are all gifts, and so let’s celebrate them accordingly.

These writing resolutions are ones that every writer can stick to.

Do you have any you’d like to add? I’d love to hear from you!