How To Put the Fun Back in Your Creative Writing

How much fun have you had writing lately? Has it felt carefree and exciting, like an adventure of discovery with good friends? Or as enjoyable as a wet weekend in a cramped hotel room with people you don't even like?

Here are 5 tips for putting the fun back in your creative writing:

1. Think journey not destination. One of the quickest ways to stop your creativity dead in its tracks is to place too high an expectation on yourself every time you sit down to write. When you focus only on the outcome, or end product, you neglect to enjoy the writing journey and all its many facets. It’s like eating delicious food without savouring the scent and flavour, it goes from your plate to your stomach in seconds, without you appreciating it. Aim to be fully present as you write, allow yourself to get lost in what you’re writing and forget about where it may be heading.
2. Try new forms of writing. An excellent way to freshen up your creative writing and put a little fun back is to try new writing forms. Explore some books or online sites with new techniques and pick some to get started with. Again, don’t get hung up on perfect end product. Instead, be curious about how these new forms challenge you as a writer, and how they enhance your creativity and resourcefulness. Be careful not to overwhelm yourself with too much at once though--pick only 1 or 2 new styles at a time.
3. Link up with other writers. We can learn much from the writing of others. By teaming up with other writers in a supportive group, you gain in a number of ways. As well as discovering new styles and techniques, you get to support others as their writing evolves, as well as receiving the same kind of encouragement for your own writing. Explore the options you have locally and online to join a writing group of some kind, and see the increase in enjoyment in your writing.
4. Experiment with language. Language gives the building blocks with which all creative writing is constructed. But sometimes a new set of building blocks is just what you need to get the fun back. Maybe you could try writing without any grammatical rules, or write in made-up words, or even try writing in a completely new alphabet, either an existing one or one of your own making. However you experiment, have fun, and remember all of these language adventures enrich your experience and abilities as a creative writer.
5. Write in small chunks. Trying to write huge amounts every time you write, and being unsatisfied with anything less, will not allow you to enjoy and appreciate what you do write. If you start with the aim of writing say 50 words, then inevitably once you get going, you’ll write a few hundred anyway, and feel good about it. But setting the aim of writing 1000 words and writing that same few hundred, you’ll feel disappointed because you set such a high demand. Enjoy small, tasty bite-size chunks!

You can use any of these tips to enjoy your writing more again. Which are you going to try first?