by Alycia W. Morales @AlyciaMorales

With everything going on in our world—all the crazy chaos—it can be difficult to survive, let alone get any writing done. Over the past six months, I’ve come up against depression more than once, which is something I haven’t experienced since college. I’ve faced a few fears. I’ve gotten restless. Bored. Excited. Energized. Tired. My flesh has wrestled against Spirit. And despite working on multiple projects and getting a whole lot done, I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.

For example, this past week, I wrote twenty-six devotions. On a daily basis, I hit a wall in my writing. I stared at the material I was working with for hours, trying to figure out what to do with it. What stories to tell. What encouragement to provide. What thought-provoking words of wisdom to share. When I was finished, I was relieved. I felt like I’d won a battle.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like writing should be such a battle. Not if God put the gift of encouraging others in me and blessed me with the talent of writing. Not if I’m called to do this. But writing in this season of life we’re going through feels like a struggle to me. Like I’m waging war in the spirit. How about you?

We need to flex our writing muscles if we’re going to make it through this battle alive.

Here are ten exercises we can do to flex our writing muscles:

1. Pray

Lord knows there is plenty of noise in the world. I find myself sneaking away with Him much more often lately than I have in the past. I have to. It’s the only way I can clear my head of pandemics and politics and find the peace that passes all understanding that He promises. Because without that peace, I’m too distracted to make a difference. I have to clear my head and focus on the Lord, not the world.

2. Brainstorm or Brain Dump

When we’re short on ideas or overwhelmed with them, it affects our writing. One of the most practical ways to deal with this is to brainstorm (new ideas) or brain dump (all the stuff, which also produces new ideas).

3. Free Write

Pick a topic you want to explore and don’t worry about what comes out of you. Write it down. In whatever voice, whatever tone, whatever emotion flows. Let go and write.

Or pick a character. Choose a side of him or her you wouldn’t expect them to have. Write from that perspective. Don’t be afraid to face their music. Experience a new side of them … and maybe yourself.

4. Use Your Senses

Stand up and take a walk wherever you are in this moment. Be a spy. What do you see? Hear? Smell? What could you use in your writing from what you are sensing today? Go back and make note of it.

5. Watch TV or a Movie

One night, while I was watching a TV show in the genre I’m writing, it dawned on me that I could learn how to write particular scenes from watching them in my shows. Granted, we can get away with more on film than we can in the pages of a book—thank you, believability—but we can still learn a lot about how to make those scenes work and smoothly transition from one to the next from watching them.

6. Read

When I need inspiration, I sometimes turn to books to find it. Coffee table books with a lot of pictures (visual stimulation). Books in my genres (I want to write like that). Books in other genres (maybe I could add that element to my novel). Nonfiction books (fresh revelations). Reading always makes me want to write more.

7. Get Away from the Keyboard

Put your laptop aside and flex your writing muscles by using your hands, pen, and paper.

I do much better with paper and pen than I do electronically when trying to keep my book concepts straight. I made that discovery during the stay-at-home orders. Talk about freedom! My writing is progressing because I’m taking notes where I can flip and rearrange pages, rather than scrolling screens and trying to remember which file I put something in. I’ve also acknowledged that I remember things better when I write them down in my own handwriting than I do typing them out on my laptop.

8. Write Something Different

Are you a novelist? Try writing an article. Are you a devotion writer? Try writing a flash fiction story. Are you a nonfiction writer? Try fictionalizing your testimony. Flex your writing muscles!

9. Choose a Bible Verse

I encourage you to find a new verse for this new season of life we’re in. Something that will encourage you to keep going, no matter what. A reminder to depend on God every moment of every day. Write it down and take it with you. Keep it close. And write out what it means to you.

10. Rest

Athletes don’t work the same muscles every day of the week, and they take a rest day. Our physical muscles need time for recovery and replenishment. They need protection from injury. When we rest them, we get the benefits of improved performance and better sleep.

While writing those devotions, I recognized when I needed to set them aside for a few hours or an evening. I needed to rest my writing muscles. When I went back to them, I always had fresh revelation and could get more finished before running out of ideas again. Don’t be afraid to rest. You may be amazed at what happens when you come back to that writing project.

The world needs our words, our inspiration, and our encouragement. Flex those writing muscles, and take a Sabbath rest. I hope these ten exercises help you get those words onto those pages.

Alycia Morales is a freelance editor and writer. Her writing has been in Thriving Family magazine, Splickety Love, and several compilation books. Her editing clients have won several awards for their manuscripts, including finalist in the Selah Award. Alycia has ghostwritten The Spirit of Hospitality by Larry Stuart and continues to ghostwrite for others. She is currently working on two novels, a YA and a romantic suspense.

She is the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference assistant to Directors Edie Melson and DiAnn Mills.

Follow Alycia at her blogs, Life.Inspired. and The Write Editing. She can also be found on Instagram and Pinterest.

Alycia’s Twitter: @AlyciaMorales

When she isn’t busy writing, editing, and reading, Alycia enjoys spending time with her husband and four children taking hikes in Upstate SC and NC, creating various crafts, coloring in adult coloring books, and watching crime shows.