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When the Well Runs Dry · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, thanks so much for joining me for today's episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm joining you here from my office in my co-working space, by the way, with a fresh cup of hot jasmine tea.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that wherever and whenever you're listening, you're also drinking something that's soothing your soul, calming your spirit, and giving you some joy.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, let's dive into today's episode.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever wondered whether you have something valuable to share with your readers?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if that's the case, and that's probably the case with all of us at one time or another, if that's the case, I think you're going to relate to this question from email subscriber Susan.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: She says, Any advice for when you just don't feel like you have anything worth saying?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like to have all been said before.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Susan, thanks for the question.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I think we could all probably relate to that at one time or another.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I'm feeling like my well is dry, creatively speaking, it usually means that I'm tired and I need some help lowering the bucket into the well, so to speak.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I need some prompts to help pull ideas out of me.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And here are three things that work really well for me.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is I ask a friend to interview me.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually doing this for a short book project that probably will come out next year.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's not actually related to anything else that I'm working on in my writing or in my business, but it's just a short book on a very specific topic.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I have lots of raw content for this book already, but I've also asked three different friends to prepare some questions and interview me actually for the book.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I will probably include those interviews as a bonus resource or a section of those transcripts in the book or something like that.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with that material.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I do know that whenever people ask me questions, it pulls ideas and stories out of me that I wouldn't have thought to, that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think having people interview you can be enormously powerful.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, whenever the creative well has run dry, I take a walk.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to being great exercise, walking helps me process ideas and experiences.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow just being active, even just going for a drive, much less going for a walk, for me, being in motion pulls out ideas.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of gets things unstuck mentally and emotionally and psychologically.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I find it to be a really, really big help in my creative process.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I'm going for a walk, or if even if I'm going for a drive, sometimes I ask myself questions like these.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: What am I learning?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: What is frustrating me and why?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where do I need to do better?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who do I need to forgive?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And who have I possibly wronged who may need to forgive me, in which case I would need to ask for their forgiveness or apologize.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where are my own perceptions about a situation wrong?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So those, of course, aren't the only questions that I ask, but those are just a few that come to mind right now.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever I go for a walk and I'm trying to get unstuck, I'll make voice notes on my phone as I walk if I'm putting together ideas or just reflecting, just to get down some thoughts.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And those are great seeds for material.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then number three, I ask AI to generate questions on whatever topic I'm thinking about.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I actually did this just the other day when I asked AI to give me a list of prompts for a future book that I'm thinking about doing, and those questions helped me see some angles that I hadn't considered.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So my suggestion is if your well has run dry, creatively speaking, pick one of these ideas and give it a shot.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: The ideas are usually out there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that sometimes you need a better bucket to help retrieve them.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope this helps you break through your creative blocks.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just as a quick side note, some of my favorite podcast episodes and my daily emails, they start off as your reader or listener questions.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I would love to hear your question.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Generally, if you have a question about writing or publishing or the creative process or any of the things that you know that I talk about on a regular basis, I would love to hear from you.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can shoot me an email at Kent at KentSanders.net.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would genuinely love to hear your question and would love to use it on a future episode.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.