[MistyTiger]

I love writing and always have. But for years I have not been writing anything creative. I just write formal papers, communications but nothing that is an expression of my feelings. I miss that. I miss writing classes in school.

So how do I get back into the habit? Do any of you writers have any advice or writing communities I could check out or join?

Thanks in advance.

[The Immortal Goon]

I largely come to POFO for that reason, to break the ice for writing.

It may also help to think of it in the way that I, and most of my colleagues, do. It's like an old coal powered train. It's heavy, and getting it started is difficult. It is slow, cumbersome, and takes a long time. But once it's going, it's difficult to stop.

Other than that, the basics: make an outline. Don't be afraid to fiddle with the outline as you go. And do it. You'll find yourself alphabaizing your spice rack and taking pointless showers or something, part of that is the process of getting that train going. Just accept it and write...

...I don't know if that's any help at all, but there it is.

[MistyTiger]

@The Immortal Goon

Thanks. That helps a bit. But writing about politics is not something that I feel I do really well at.

I guess my type of writing is more about past life experiences or about creating imagery.

[JohnRawls]

Facebook?

[MistyTiger]

Facebook makes me lose track of time and I end up commenting on posts and laughing at the app requests that I get. Definitely not productive for me so I make it a habit to visit FB once a month or once every 2 months?

[MB.]

I'm working on a few books. For me what really works is breaking it up: I go for hikes, go camping, get out of town to clear my mind.

I split up the projects, so I don't burn out. If I'm feeling like one of the projects is going nowhere, I change pace and work on another one.

Music is really helpful for me to stay focused and I have several playlists covering various genres that I can tune into.

PoFo, as TIG pointed out, is really useful in this regard since it acts as a free-form kind of medium. I can brainstorm ideas or test out opinions without having to commit much time. Now, obviously, I've been here for a long time, so sometimes I get too wrapped up.

I find Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, simply massively distracting and actually depressing since everyone's constant narcissism and one-upsmanship just reminds me how much work I still have to do-- it's not useful at all.

Again, getting out of town is critical for me: getting into nature really re calibrates my mind and literally every time I see something or experience something new that helps clarify my thinking or expand my ideas.

[anarchist23]

I can thank PoFo for teaching me to type and teaching me basic PC skills such as copying and paste. etc.
For this I am eternally grateful.

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

For myself, I require peace and quiet to write. As obvious as this sounds, you have to just sit down and start trying to write. Even if you write shit, you can edit it or take pieces of it and make something different that builds on the stuff you wrote that you're happy with. It's easy to sit around and think about what you want to write, but you have to actually just sit down and start the process.

[colliric]

I use to loving writing short film scripts and even shot one or two shorts(now lost I think, or on a HD or DVD somewhere gathering dust)

I purchased an Imac several years ago hopeful to get back into it. But I just plain lost the desire to sit in front of a damn computer for hours on end. Totally lost the desire.

That iMac was great though, fun memories playing the first three Arkham games on it anyway.