I am currently in a terrible fuge of writer's block. I don't want to think about things to do to overcome it. I don't want to face it, acknowledge it, or in any way feed it. All I want to do is ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist and to concentrate on something completely different and unrelated - to do something fun and pointless.
What things can I do that are fun and pointless and have absolutely nothing to do with the writing I'm not doing?
listen to the rain
go explore your backyard
go cloudwatching or lay in bed and watch the clouds through a window
light a candle and intently watch the flames
write wishes on a bay leaf and burn them in a stone or metal bowl
go watch some asmr videos
take a long walk in the woods
go stick you head in your cats belly and just breathe with your eyes closed feeling the purr vibrations
have a dance party in your living room
rearrange the furniture
tidy a drawer
do the laundry
do a small task you've been putting off forever
make a vision board on pinterest
make a fort out of blankets and pillows
make a paper fortune teller
play a game of charades with yourself or others
have a water balloon fight
have a picnic in your backyard or living room
play a game of simon says
play a game of i spy
play a game of hide and seek
have a lemon-eating contest
have a karaoke session with your favorite songs
have a staredown contest with yourself or others
have a pillow fight
have a fashion show with your clothes and accessories
play a game of telephone
play a game of red light green light
have a mocktail-making competition
play a game of red hands
have a "how low can you go" dance contest
have a game of thumb war
have a "try not to laugh" challenge with yourself or others.
count how many times you can spin around in a chair before getting dizzy
make a paper airplane and see how far it can fly
see how many rubber bands you can stretch around your wrist
see how many marshmallows you can fit in your mouth
make a paperclip chain
try to balance something on your nose
see how many times you can bounce a ball off the wall
play rock-paper-scissors with yourself
try to make a paperclip stand up on its own
make a tower of post-it notes
do a jigsaw puzzle
see how many times you can do the hokey pokey
play a game of solitaire
try to balance a pen on your finger
see how many times you can spin a pen around your thumb
play tic-tac-toe with yourself
see how many times you can flip a coin
do a crossword puzzle
see how many times you can type the alphabet
make a paperclip sculpture
see how many times you can click a pen
ride a bike
knit, watch youtube, stare into space, play dragon quest
watch the sopranos over and over and over again
go to the beach
Look at writing prompts
listen to the rain
nap
collect interesting pieces of garbage lying around on the street
Coming up with pointless poems and thinking ahead about the weekend and the coming week.
-go on Fanfiction.net and read fanfic
day drink
prank calls. you are never too old or good for prank calls.
Fuck a squirrel. Sing a song about beavers.
try to remember the smell of something you liked as a kid
What we see, therefore, is an author who from the start knew how to sweeten his bitter stories with elegant prose and a meticulous plot, and who in his later years has indulged his flights of fancy while never forgetting to indulge the reader. He has, from start to end, occupied two extremes of the literary spectrum at once. In 2019, when McEwan published Machines Like Me, following his foetal-attraction story Nutshell, his old friend Martin Amis emailed him. “When are you going to stop going nuts?” We should be thankful he never has.
