Overcoming writers block with the help of your kids. All writers face writer's block at least once. Those with children have the opportunity to to learn a few ways from them to beat it.
Writers face the dreaded writer's block all the time. Many write themselves out of it with time, but others don't know how. There are many methods and ideas available but the writer who has children may find they have an advantage to beating it with their children's help.
Children have unlimited imaginations. Because of this, a writer can glean much information from them and learn ways to get past that block. Following is a list of ways to allow interaction with your children to help break writer's block.
* Play word association games with them. By simply offering them one word and allowing them to take it freely from there while you take notes, you may find yourself clustering the words into a creative tale.
* Children have the greatest dreams. Too often, parents forget to ask what kind of dreams they have had. By asking them daily about the previous night's dreams, you will find several story ideas and plenty of details that will fit into various works of yours.
* Help children clean their rooms and use it not only as a time for mind-work (mindless jobs lead to thinking moments) but to also listen to them jabber away. Most recently, I was able to come up with a story-line from this activity and am currently marketing it.
* Play outside with your children. Remember what it's like to be a child and play the pretend games they play. Think of your own childhood when you could run around without a care in the world. You wouldn't believe how well this opens your mind and gets your creative juices flowing.
* Ask your children "What If" questions. What if we could fly? What if the world was square? Take notes on their perceptions of things like this and use them in your works. You don't have to be writing children's stories to benefit from this fun exercise.
* Just listen to your children talk. It's easy to block them out while driving down the road or trying to relax, but taking the time to listen can open you up to the real life dialogue you need for your stories and such. All to often I read novels that have children talking and I usually feel as though the author has never really listened to a child. It rarely rings true to life.
Children may be the ones who prevent us from getting any writing done at all sometimes, but they can also be the same ones to help us get going when we run into a block. Learn to work with them instead of always trying to work around them. You'll find you benefit a lot more this way.
