What’s new in my writing room: Honored to be included this year n the wonderful “How We Spend Our Days” series by author Cynthia Newberry Martin who has interviewed so many amazing writers (the likes of Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond and Dani Shapiro!) about a day in their writing life. It’s an inspiring look inside the process and imagination of each working writer, and I loved contributing. You can read about my (not-so-typical) writing day here.

I first learned about short self-assignments from Natalie Goldberg's well-known primer, Writing Down the Bones. Goldberg introduced the concept of "freewriting" to us with that book, and many writers discovered new energy to sail past writing stall-outs by giving themselves freedom to write small, short, and random.

Working on a book project often brings me a sense of being so overwhelmed, I can't think of anything to write about. I make brainstorming lists of topics, and this helps. But sometimes I have to write outside my story, just to get the momentum going again.

Short self-assignments help tremendously.

In another Natalie Goldberg book, Thunder and Lightning, I read her story of a time when she and a friend were stuck, unhappy, and unable to think of how to move forward creatively. They tried talking. They tried taking a hike. But nothing worked until they both sat down and did a timed writing session. As I remember the anecdote, they picked a topic outside their current writing projects, something that had less importance or weight, and this freed up the stuckness.

I wanted to share this idea if you’re finding yourself in need of a boost this week. For me, getting stuck is a normal process that helps me work my way out of repeating the same thing over and over. I’m forced to try something new and use my creative imagination.

One way I do this is by writing outside my story.

In both painting and writing, I can become too timid—afraid of “messing up” what I’ve started but not realized fully.

Often, this leads to stuckness. I become overwhelmed with the importance of what I’ve already done and don’t want to risk! When this happens, I write outside my story by giving myself a very short self-assignment.

I use a list of random words. I set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes and let myself blah, blah on paper without worrying about quality or quantity. I come up with nothing, sometimes, so I try it again the next day. Eventually, the trick works. I come upon an idea, something completely new.

It might be a small idea, not really big enough to mess anything up, but enough to intrigue me. To mull it over, I take a walk.

This evening, when I tried it, I looked at the field behind our house, where the farmer just hayed, and the huge rolls of hay in the late sun reminded me of a Claude Monet painting. Somehow the image of that field and the thought of this artist gave me an idea for my struggling chapter.

I set the chapter aside and wrote for two hours about that field, that light, that idea.

At first, it seemed a detour. But as I wrote, I found it connected very subtly to my story, and there was a cool way to weave it in.

Felt like a miracle. Want one for yourself?

1. Pick one of the following words:

red
lamp
wicker
sparrow
gutter
fingernail
bottle
rusty nail

2. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Write anything that comes, using the word as a trigger. Don't think about your story. Write outside of it.

3. Put the writing aside and take a walk. Let the scenery around you bring something to your imagination.

4. When you get home, set the timer for 20 minutes again. Go back to a stuck place in your story. Bring what you've just experienced to the page.

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I love to give a shout out to writing friends and former students who are publishing their books and encourage my newsletter community to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers. Be sure to let me know if you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months! Just email me at mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! (I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Mary Walerak, Finding Alineade (Kirk House Publishers), August

Karen Lueck, The Green Thread: Reclaiming Our Spiritual Authority (Goodness Press), September

James Francisco Bonilla, An Eye for an I: Growing Up with Blindness, Bigotry, and Family Mental Illness (University of Minnesota Press), November

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. it was also a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Book of 2024. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, was published in October 2023 and also became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.