Same old, same old — not!

July 7, 2023

Happy Friday!

Now that summer is here with a vengeance, and feeling tired and listless is inevitable, I decided to delete some of the spam that clogs my inbox. It makes me feel productive while I stay inside where it’s nice and cool.

Because I once bought something at Home Depot I get a lot of emails from furniture and home design companies. I decided to clean out all of those, but when I came to one from a company called Apartment Therapy, a post caught my eye, and yes, I opened the email and started reading.

I couldn’t help reading it, and I’m going to share it with you. She’s very cute, and this article inspired me to write.

I enjoyed her enthusiastic tone until I realized that I was pretending that I wasn’t a writer, just a regular nice person. Oy! I then pondered what are sixteen things to help a writer get unstuck, so here goes:

16 Things Writers Can Do When Feeling Stuck in a Rut

1. Listen to a song or piece of music that you love, and write one sentence about why you love it and where you first heard it.

2. Dance to a song that makes you happy. For example, when I’m feeling stuck, I listen to Independent Women by Destiny’s Child from the movie Charlie’s Angels.

3. Call someone you enjoy talking to and ask them how their day is going. Afterward, write a one-sentence summary. For example, my friend James described how he’d gone to a local beach with old friends visiting from Minneapolis.

4. Go for a walk and buy yourself something yummy to eat.

5. Read an inspiring quote such as my recent fortune cookie: “Celebrate your successes and your failures; both required great courage.”

6. Take a nap.

7. Look into a mirror and say, “I love you,” to your reflection. You’ll reel at the cheesiness, but it will really make you feel better about everything.

8. Imagine you find a twenty-dollar bill on the ground. What will you spend it on?

9. Copy a few lines of a favorite poem or song in your best handwriting. My go-to is “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…” from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.

10. Go to the gym and do twice as many sit-ups.

11. Think about a great memory and write a few lines, such as my recent attempt, “On the Fourth of July, I went to dance the tango outside near the Hudson River, and while dancing, someone nearby exploded fireworks in the sky right above us!”

12. If you have a pet, give it some affection. If you don’t, imagine hugging someone you care about.

13. Read a favorite book from your childhood, such as The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum.

14. Watch a movie or TV show episode that inspired you. Think of a different ending.

15. Set a timer for two minutes and meditate by repeating the words “Love, joy, and happiness” over and over. When the timer goes off, remember to take a deep breath.

16. Write the words, “Thank you to me,” and list all of the things you do for yourself every day. You’ll be amazed at how good at self-curating you really are.

I’m surprised at how easy it was for me to come up with so many things I actually do! Maybe the real secret to getting unstuck would be to make your own list!

In today’s Word of the Day Club, we used the word, “enjoyment,” as our prompt.

Nancy, who lost her beloved dog, Darling, created this homage using the clustering technique.

SPIRIT GROWS IN THIS GREEN FIELD

Chasing balls,

And a deer runs by.

Remembering with fondness,

A basket of warmth, love, and breath.

Sweetness, her middle name.

Laughing will bring the dead back to life.

Yet sitting still is enough.

Now the veil gets thinner.

Listen and wait.

The breeze has spoken.

shhhhh

Nancy Cohen