when i first started writing lyrics years ago, stream of conscious writing was a great exercise. i wrote nonstop gibberish, random rhymes, or words until i filled up a page or two from there i would then highlight anything that seemed interesting to expand upon - this can work in any writing field really...
i also love the notes app - any idea that comes into my head goes down there. great mini diary or thought collage to get the idea out whenever something comes to mind whenever wherever
as far as what to write about, that’s difficult to answer but i feel like these tools are a great entry point because its a casual low pressure way to get the juices flowing
Mar 23, 2024
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If I want to just write SOMETHING I'll do some automatic writing. I often get random phrases stuck in my head so I usually start off with one of these and then just... keep going. It doesn't have to make sense it just needs to exist and get you moving. If you get stuck start describing the room, the weather, what you're wearing, what you ate today, etc. being really descriptive with language is always a good exercise.
Tips:
- Don't go into it expecting to write anything good. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, the point is just to write something.
- Don't read it back straight away. Just write and leave it. Come back to it next time you open your journal and see if you can find anything good in there. You might find a good turn of phrase or word you've not used in a while
- Automatic writing is a great way to make use of those words or phrases that you overhear or that get stuck in your head. You might find yourself making sense of them or putting them next to another idea that makes both stronger.
Apr 22, 2024
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I write lyrics/poems/prose/essays/the occasional substack/text based art/performance art and the most successful process I've found works for me is just 'hold a pen and hope that it happens'. I can't get any real ideas done on a laptop (my substacks are all drafted in bullet points by hand first). I don't write every day because I don't have the energy or time or enough that is important to say. I only write when I really get the urge in my fingertips and then I get my notebook and just open the page and get whatever out I can. Sometimes it's an idea I've been mulling over that finally comes out and others it's just nonsense sentences that eventually form something.
Basically my advice if you're struggling to get started is just whenever you think you want to do it, just hold a pen and a blank piece of paper and just do it. Maybe it'll be brilliant from the off. First lines are hard so don't worry about it if it's not, fourth lines are where it gets good. I definitely produce 70/30 shit/good writing and that's okay because who's reading it??
Also sometimes you go back a few months later and realise that what you thought was terrible was actually great all along it just needed a different context!
May 3, 2024
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was gonna write One sentence down just to remember an idea that i wanted to expand on later... and ended up writing 5 pages of admittedly incoherent blabbering, but 5 pages of valuable insight nonetheless! love it when the pen just tells me what to write
Feb 23, 2025
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promotes positivity
pro tip, dreams don’t always make sense - so when weird/bad stuff happens, you can shrug it off and be like wow what a weird dream bro 🤷
Feb 6, 2024
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been extra conscious of it this week and have been feeling better than ever. be nice to your brain and your body
2d ago