Now, there’s a title that resonates with me! The only state I can write in is when I feel awake, alert, alive! But lately, that hasn’t been me… The image on the left is me (okay, younger and darker). So whenever I see a post with ideas about writing when you feel anything but, I devour it! And know this: whoever writes a similar post, I’ll instantly reblog for my amazing 2,500 followers, unless instructed otherwise.
Kevin M. Jackson, author of two bestselling sonnet collections, For Life With Love and Disturbed Solitude, and the fantasy novel Storytale, gives interesting and doable options for punching those keys through the haze of your mind. I usually go for option two, that’s why I never have a zero draft stage. My draft might be puny in terms of word count, but very readable. Here’s Kevin’s article in its entirety, reblogged by permission of the author.
Too Tired to Write?
by kevinmjackson
The other night, maybe a couple weeks ago now, I sent out a tweet (@KMJacksonAuthor), asking if anybody ever sits down to write feeling too exhausted to actually write. On that night, I was. Working a nine-to-five to afford being alive and with a busy personal life, many nights come where I am far too tired to write. Do you want to know what I do? I write anyway. I’m currently in the middle of writing my fourth full-length novel, and I can’t fall asleep at night unless I’ve added to the word count.
When you do feel too tired to write, you may want to choose one of the ideas I have here.
One option is to take the night off and get a full night of rest. If you’re writing like me, at night after a long day of work and other activities, a good night of sleep will serve well for your primary job and set you up for a strong night of writing that following night. Also, when you think of writing as a second job, if you had a more typical second job, would you really be scheduled to work seven nights a week? Overall, I don’t like this option because I’m obsessed with writing daily.
Another option is to not start adding to your story right when you sit down but go through what you’ve recently written, consider where your characters are taking you, play with a few future scenes, recheck where you are in the story, then proceed with new words. I would consider this gearing up to write. With this scenario, you’re tired and would rather go to bed, but open your document anyway. As you start to look through your story and play out coming events, your mind starts rolling on your work, and you forget about ever being tired. This is my option of choice.
Better yet, grab a cup of joe and give it a go! (I may have just made up that little rhyme, so for now, it’s a nickel to use it.) Not into coffee? Grab some (caffeinated) morning tea or chocolate or a glass of Mountain Dew, whatever gives your mind a quick jolt. You could always combine this with the second option above.
So those are my only suggestions for now. I’d love to hear what some of you fellow writers do when you drag yourself to the computer and flop your head in your hand, thinking, do I really have to write right now? If I think of a few other ideas, then I will make a second blog on this topic.
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Please leave your comments on the original post’s page, here. Thanks for reading!
MM Jaye's HEAs 
Those are great suggestions. When I’m too tired to write, I settle for some light editing. More often that not, that kickstarts the writing process! 🙂
I do too, Nicholas! Although, in my case, most often than not, it’s just editing, resulting in a very polished half draft 🙂
I’m sure there’s a market somewhere for highly polished half drafts! I mean, there has to be a demand for it, for God knows we’ve got the supply side of things covered! 😀
MM, thank you so much for this reblog. Nicholas, I appreciate your response!