You ever see a possum play dead? 

I haven’t, but I rather like this description by asknature.org: 

“When predators attack opossums and block any chance at escape, opossums lie on their sides, their muscles rigid, their bodies flexed and unresponsive to touch—right down to their toes. Their breathing and heartbeats slow down and become hardly perceptible. Their mouths, frothy with saliva, hang open. Their tongues turn blue and dangle out.” 

And you know what?

Writers are like possums. 

Ok, ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But you can’t look at me and tell me that writers don’t freeze up when they don’t know how to channel their creative energy. It can be paralyzing.

What do you do when you don’t know what to make? What do you do when you don’t know where to start? How do you get past that treacherous blank page?

Write bad stories.

First drafts are first drafts for a reason. Nobody gets it on the first go–not unless they’re superhuman or something.

I used to be so paralyzed to start a project that I wouldn’t write anything for weeks. Sometimes, weeks turned to months. I’d think “I’ll never be able to find the right words.”

But hey, Past Lucy put too much pressure on herself. She thought that she could pump out a flawless short story in one-go if she thought about it for long enough.

Let me ask you this: how many drafts are you writing in your head? Hm? Why don’t you actually write those down? Let me tell ya–it’s a lot easier to keep track of that way.

First you write down everything that happens in a story, then you make it good later.

Sir Terry Pratchett once said:

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

I love that. It makes it simple–takes away the expectations.

Where do you start?

“Ok, Lucy,” you say. “I get that my stories don’t have to be good. But what if I don’t know what to write at all? What about that ‘paralysis’ you were talking about earlier? Remember when you called us possums? Huh? EXPLAIN!”

I’m getting there!

I find that the easiest way to get my creative juices going (although I really don’t love that expression…I don’t want to hear about juices) is to have some guidance.

I’m talking about writing prompts!

Wow. Shocker, I know.

But I feel like it’s important to stress that using writing prompts isn’t a bad thing.

Writing prompts are a great way to get your mind turning! How would your body get stronger if you never exercised? It’s the same thing for your writing skills. And let me just say that it’s a lot more fun than going to the gym.

There are writing prompts all over the internet–sometimes it’s hard to find good ones, and sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated.

But did you know that you don’t have to write by yourself?

In fact, if you’re dying for some prompts and some good ol’ motivation, I have the perfect thing for you…

Writing challenge!

Over at The Company, where I’m currently a writing apprentice, we’re hosting the Spring Writing Challenge!

It’s going to be so much fun, guys. And it’s free to participate in!

Starting April 21, you’ll get a writing prompt each week for six whole weeks. You’ll have one week to write a 1,000-word short story based on that prompt!

Aaaaaaand, If you win the challenge by writing a story each week, you’ll get a free laptop sticker! It’s not of a possum, but it IS of a totally cute sloth (it’s so adorable…)

Did I mention that it’s all completely free?

Go sign up today at https://writers.company/resources/springchallenge/

Or click the cool button!

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