The next time I get stuck — can't think of anything, can't write anything —maybe I'll think about one of these two methods.
One is from Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit, who occasionally brings up anger as a good motivator:
The tantrum, judiciously applied, is a great wake-up call to get people to do something. It's the same for you when you're alone and scratching for an idea. Throw a tantrum at yourself. Anger is a cheap adrenaline rush, but when you're going nowhere and can't get started, it will do . . . When you're scratching for an idea, you don't need to think ahead. You have to trust the unconscious rush and let it hurtle forward unedited and unencumbered. Let it be awful and awkward and wrong. You can fix the results later, but you won't generate the ideas at all if you cool down the white hot pitch.
The other is from the story "Westbound Tanker," from The Most of A.J. Liebling. In it Liebling describes the tanker's steward, who had once been a gymnast.
He spent a good deal of time composing letters to English and American girls on a portable typewriter he had in his cabin, and when he was at a loss for an English phrase he would get up, face his berth, and jump high in the air, twisting in time to land in a sitting position. Usually three or four jumps would bring him the phrase he wanted and he would return to his typewriter.Posted by mastr at December 10, 2004 09:39 AM