Hello all! Finn here.
Staying creative in quarantine is… difficult to say the least.
My usual writing routine is to say “I’m too busy” or “I’ll get to it.”
6 months later, my fledgling novel hadn’t been touched.
I continued to deny the issue- I hadn’t written for fun since my school had begun.
Then the quarantine hit. Time was no longer an issue. With my activities on hiatus, I decided to sit down and read what I had written six months ago. I wanted to instantly close my computer. It was terrible! Only 5 chapters had been worked on, and there wasn’t a clear direction to my story.
I wasn’t sure how to keep myself motivated. Turns out, too much time is not a good thing. That’s when I decided to structure my time.
Sitting around and doing things on a whim wasn’t going to work for me. I set up a daily writing schedule.
My schedule entailed working in 20 minute blocks starting from 3pm each day, and stopping no later than 5pm.
If I still had ideas at the end of the 2 hours, I would write them down and put them away. They would still be there the next day.
If I didn’t have ideas, or was forcing myself to create, I would stop.
As a result, writing became more enjoyable, and I am still getting things done. Setting aside time really helped me motivate myself.
That way, I was less likely to procrastinate on school work, and I could see my progress on the page.
So, from me to you, here’s my advice on creating creativity while quarantined:
-set aside specific times to write
-write out what you want to accomplish in your allotted time before you start
-don’t micromanage what you write (the more you do so, less work gets done)
-write out goals for your next session
And remember, this is what worked for me. We are all different- experiment with different systems!
Smile, stay safe, and I’ll ‘see’ you next time.
-Finn