Recharge your mental batteries

We all need to recharge our mental batteries.

For writers this isn’t about writer’s block, it’s about avoiding that condition. Sometimes writers can become so caught up in pen and paper or computer time that we forget about the real world.

For everyone else it might be about digging through the doldrums and getting things done.

How do you recharge your batteries?

You could read a good book or a bad one. Your choice might include fiction, nonfiction, books, or magazines. Don’t say you don’t read. If you don’t, you need to change that. Read what you enjoy or what makes you feel. Let other writers’ words make yours flow faster, even if you’re showing you can do better.

Leave your workspace. Sit on your deck, porch, or patio. Lounge at a pool, or a lake or perch on a park bench. Go to a bookstore coffee shop or any other coffee shop. Soak up nature or people-watch, whichever works for you. Go to the mall and wander around. Go to Walmart, or the Dollar Store, or any store with a dollar area, and rummage. If you give yourself a spending or time limit you can play for a while and catch fun bargains. You can put things back if you have little money with you.

Watch people and listen to them or window-shop. Any of these can work at different times. Listen, watch, and soak up what’s around you.

Physical activity can make a writer’s blood flow and sometimes feed his or her brain. For as long as I remember I’ve watched people and made up stories about them. "There’s a story in there somewhere." I’ve said it and I’ve heard other writers say it in response to a new item, an overheard conversation or just watching people interact. Even without hearing people’s words, we make assumptions about they’re saying and how they feel for purposes of giving them a story. I can spin an entire tale without knowing anything.

Movies and television shows can offer more food for thought and escape for a while. Watch a silly show, a kid movie, or even cartoons.

Or dig in the dirt! Re-pot your inside plants. Plant something outside, cause it's Spring!