Photos by Spicie Foodie and text by Nikolas Baron.
Today I have a very special guest joining us, Nikolas Baron of Grammarly.com. You’ve all heard or Grammarly, right? No? It’s an automated proofreader and like a personal grammar coach; It is one of the best online tools for writers! Grammarly reviews and improves your text, correcting grammar, spelling, word choice and style mistakes with unmatched accuracy. It does all of that in about 60 seconds — impressive isn’t it? I’ve been using Grammarly for a couple of weeks now and can honestly say that it has truly helped me in correcting and learning from my writing mistakes.
I have invited Nikolas to share some tips on finding inspiration when we are feeling burnt out with our writing. In addition he and Grammarly are going to be giving away three 30-day premium account memberships to 3 very lucky winners. The giveaway details are at the bottom of this page, but first make sure to read over these great writing tips by Nikolas.
So You’ve Exhausted Your Writing Gene (Jeans?)
Your jeans are worn out from pacing around your office. Your writing mind is tired and feels like it’s always buzzing. You can’t come up with any new ideas but you also can’t sleep. But there’s a deadline looming. How will you finish your work in time? What can you do to help get yourself, and your mind, back on track? Even when you feel like you’re running on empty, finding inspiration can help remind you why you write.
Photos
Photos are a great way to remind you why you write and help you find inspiration. They can bring back old emotions that you’ve kept deep down inside or they can help you describe a setting you’re having trouble with. The ability to see an image allows you to describe it easier. If you’re writing a story about your favorite cheesecake and you see pictures of your mom’s cake from one of the celebrations, it can remind you of its vanilla aroma and fantastic strawberry aftertaste.
A photo’s emotional value can also enhance your writing. Tapping into the feelings of your first crush while leafing through an old yearbook can help you detail the emotional rollercoaster of a young character. Photos can make you laugh and remind you that writing should be fun. Writing becomes difficult when it’s no longer entertaining or fulfilling. Look back and laugh at pictures of you in the tub with your favorite duck and remember that writing isn’t always about mass amounts of typing and frustration. If you have some emotions to use to base your writing on, it will be much easier to finish up and meet your deadline.
Videos
Home movies can help you remember the positivity that writing brought you and how you decided to become a food writer. They can bring up the same emotions as photos but in live action. That trip on the stage of your first ballet concert that made you so embarrassed as a kid but now allows you to laugh is a great example. You can use a lot of the scenes from the movies in your own writing. Describe them in detail and weave them into your characters.
Even YouTube videos can contain situations to describe in your writing or can help with inspiration. There are tons of emotional YouTube videos that make you giggle, tear up, or scoff that can be put into your writing. They also allow you a break from the stresses of writing and provide great inspiration to continue. Draw from real situations to help you get back on the ball.
Online Resources
When I feel frustrated about writing, I like to turn back to the basics. I like to dive deeper into grammar and punctuation to learn how to craft a better sentence. Grammarly is my favorite resource to help me learn more about grammar and style because it is a customized tool. After using Grammarly a few times, it learns your most common errors, teaches you how to avoid them, and can help you improve your style.
Also, when you’re looking through online material for inspiration, it can be easy to plagiarize when your brain doesn’t want to do the work. Grammarly can check you work against 8 billion web pages for plagiarism so you don’t get in trouble when trying to publish.
Your Favorite Places
The bakery and the farmer’s market are my favorite places to go when I’m feeling down or burnt out on writing. Looking at the cupcake masterpieces and enjoying the freshness of herbs is calming. Plus the farmer’s market has a great atmosphere that really takes your mind away from writing. If you like antique shops, go walk around and enjoy what they’re selling. If you like to look at food paintings for inspiration, check out your local art museum. It’s ok to take a break and enjoy the sites for a change. Your office can seem closed in and sometimes limiting and visiting inspirational places can help fill up your writing juice tank.
Whatever it is that inspires you, take it and run with it. Maybe you just need a nap to relax your brain and help you move beyond the burning out. Maybe you need a run or a trip to the mall. To produce your best writing you have to be at the top of your game. Use these inspirational techniques to help you relax and get back to writing quality content.
By Nikolas Baron
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Bio:
Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, traveling, and reading.
Here are the rules for participating: The giveaway is open to everyone around the world. The three winners will be chosen using Random.org and will be announced on Monday the 30th of June.
How to participate and multiple entries allowed.
* Leave a comment saying you’d like to enter the giveaway.
* Extra entry: Like Spicie Foodie on Facebook and come back to leave a new comment saying you do/or did so.
* Extra entry: Share the giveaway on Facebook ” @Spicie Foodie (FanPage) is giving away three 30-day premium memberships to @Grammarly “
* Extra entry: Follow Spicie Foodie on Google+ and come back to leave a new comment saying you do/or did so.
* Extra entry: Share the giveaway on Google+ ” @Nancy Lopez-McHugh is giving away three 30-day premium memberships to @Grammarly.com “
* Extra entry: Follow Spicie Foodie on Pinterest and come back to leave a new comment saying you do/or did so.
* Extra entry: Pin the giveaway Pinterest ” @SpicieFoodie is giving away three 30-day premium memberships to @grammarly “
* Extra entry: Follow Spicie Foodie on Twitter and come back to leave a new comment saying you do/or did so.
* Extra entry: Share the giveaway on Twitter ” @SpicieFoodie is giving away three 30-day premium memberships to @grammarly “
* Extra entry: Follow Spicie Foodie on Bloglovin and come back to leave a new comment saying you do/or did so.
Good luck everyone!!
Sounds like a great resource! And some great tips, although my biggest obstacle is usually laziness — once I apply seat of pants to seat of chair, the writing always comes. :-) This sounds like good stuff, though — thanks.
Love this post, Nancy. Always looking for ways to inspire myself. Also, glad to know about Grammarly.com. Definitely want to enter the giveaway. Thanks!
This is one great post! Wonderful tips on writing. I really liked the first photograph Nancy :)
This is very useful, thank you. I’d love to enter the giveaway!
A very helpful and inspiring post! Thank you Nancy for informing us about grammarly!
Great ideas and perfect timing! There has been so much going on with Bobby and I recently that I’ve had a hard time getting inspiration for my blog. Thanks!
I agree that our food photography does sometimes does break writing block. Thanks for introducing us to grammerly.com. Take Care, BAM
What a neat giveaway!!!! I’d love to enter!
I’d like to enter this giveaway.