Many writers work hard on deadline. Then life happens. It could be a pandemic. It could be a busy season with your day job. It could be a season where your children need more from you. It could be so many things. The key is writing gets interrupted. Then the contracts come again. Inspiration hits. It’s time to resettle at the computer and create more stories.

The challenge can be getting started.

How do you do it when the muse has been on vacation or the season has been busy? Here are a few ideas to help get you restarted.

• Give yourself permission to recognize that it will take some time to get back to the pace and speed you used to write with. Some of us have written long enough to know our rhythm and pace. I can write a chapter a night or 2,000 good words in 90 minutes when I’m in the flow. That’s really helpful to know when the deadline is coming in a few months. But when I haven’t written in six months, that can be a daunting statistic. Instead, as I get started again in May, I’m going to focus on getting 1,000 words on the screen in a session until my writing muscle has built up again. It’s okay. In fact it’s good. It means I’m writing again. And eventually I’ll get back to my prior rhythm.
• Build in consistency. Like any habit writing consistently takes discipline and a pattern. I may write in the morning which I have never done, but in this season, that may be the best time for me. So I’ll set my alarm, get up at the same time and head to my keyboard. And I’ll do it day after day until it becomes my new normal. And in that rhythm, I’ll rediscover or create a new rhythm that works for me in this season.
• Give yourself grace. I’ve been in this place before. I want to dive right back in and attack my keyboard with gusto, but I’ve learned I’ll need to spend time on the front end on character development. I might need to outline more of my plot than I have in a while. I might need to mix up my process as I find a new one to get to a place where my subconscious is ready to work. It’s not bad. In fact, it can be really good as I push myself to improve and grow. But I’ll need to adjust my personal expectations and give myself grace as I write again.
• Remember why you write. What drove you to the keyboard in the first place? Give yourself permission to remember that. Then experiment until that becomes the fuel that propels you through the drudgery of hitting a deadline and back to the next point.
• And a bonus: rediscover the joy. You wouldn’t sit in front of a computer monitor for hours if you didn’t like it. Give yourself permission to rediscover your why. Why does it matter? What is it fun? What why propels you to write when there are other (sometimes better) options out there? Lean into that!

What would you add to this list? Together let’s attack our stories this summer and rediscover the joy and why of writing.