A common desire of writers is to write more and to write faster. I call this expanding your writing capacity. This can also include writing better work, which requires fewer revisions, which allows you to complete a full project in less time overall.

Sometimes writers get stuck at the beginning of a project, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes it’s on the third book even though you’ve written previous books quite swiftly.

One reason this happens that a lot of writers aren’t aware of is due to a lack of grounding.

If you feel buzzy or drained after a writing session, you need to do some grounding so you’ll have the energy to write again the next day.

When I first heard about grounding, I thought it sounded super “granola”, but as I’ve studied mysticism, I found it’s actually way more literal than it seemed!

What Is Grounding?

Briefly, let’s explore why your body is like an electrical circuit

In Western culture, we’re well aware of our physical body and anatomy, and know that when you exercise, you need time for your body to recover before you do another workout.

When you can’t write, it’s because you lack energy or ideas, and you think the problem is coming from your brain, right? Not so fast.

In other parts of the world, especially Eastern and Indigenous cultures, there is more comprehension of energy. Energy is invisible, but it’s very real. Energy is electromagnetic. It’s made of light waves which are outside the human visible spectrum. And, this electromagnetic energy carries information, much like the way radio waves carry information.

This energy is continually moving through your body and around you. Ideas and inspiration are energy. If the energy is stuck, you feel tired, and the ideas don’t flow.

Just like an electrical circuit needs to be grounded to have a place to dump excess energy, you need to release the extra voltage that comes from creative writing.

Creative Writing and Energy

As mentioned, ideas and inspiration travel in the form of electromagnetic energy. When you write, you open to inspiration, and essentially create a channel for inspiration to come through you, as if you’re a radio tower receiving an outside signal.

Once you complete your writing session, you need to close the connection—just like you close your laptop when you’re done working! Otherwise this energy continues to zap through you, draining the energy you need for the body’s usual functions like digestion, immunity, and lower levels of thinking.

If you feel absent-minded on days you write, you know what I’m talking about.

If you’re working consistently on a big project and don’t build in a grounding practice, you can start to experience physical symptoms.

Grounding Exercises for Fiction Writers

The grounding exercises that will work best for you are whatever makes you feel most physically in your body. Here are some ideas. Experiment, see what you like, and what you can commit to including in your writing routine!

• Go for a walk in nature

• Stand with your bare feet on ground

• Play with a pet

• Sit by a tree, placing your hand on it or leaning up against it

• Eat

• Cook or bake, especially using your hands to chop or knead

• Dance

• Yoga

• Exercise

• Take a bath

• Swim in an ocean or lake

• Give yourself a body scrub, either with a scrub product or with a dry brush

• Self-massage with a Gua Sha tool

• Get a massage

Get More Support

• Writing Coaching

• Take my course, Time To Write