Is Your Writing Practice Uninspiring? Try Nonsense Writing
I had an inspiring conversation with a writing community member the other week.
She kicked off our conversation by telling me how her business writing wasn’t inspiring her anymore. She can write blog posts, a sales page, social posts, and newsletters — and they all do their jobs — as in, they work. They generate thoughtful comments and replies, likes, hards, and applause.
She’s a great writer with a natural gift for storytelling and bringing her authentic voice to business writing, but she can start to feel bored at the page after a while.
Her business is full, and she's very much in demand in her industry — all great things.
Her goals are to work less and have more time for fun to live her life. To hop on the back of her husband’s motorcycle and go for relaxing rides through the countryside.
There was just one big problem with her writing — it was not lighting her up.
At one point during our conversation, I was probably several sticky notes into jotting down my own inspiration; we got to talking about how her father encouraged “nonsense time” — time to do nothing “productive” by society's standards.
I asked her, “Do you do any writing for fun?”
She paused for a moment and told me she was looking around her office and noticed the stacks of notebooks filled with yearnings sitting on her bookshelves.
She was doing some journaling, which is essential for creativity, but I had another idea for her.
“What do you think about making more time for nonsense writing?”
I continued, “You could share your nonsense writing projects with your audience in your blogs and newsletters if you like, but only if you want to.”
And, “Or you could keep your nonsense writing projects just for you. You could even keep them to yourself and share the joy you discover in the process with your readers and clients. It would likely inspire them.”
This made her think.
If you’re judging, “Must be nice to have time for nonsense writing, I’ve got a business to grow.”
I get it.
But consider this for a second.
What if, by engaging in “nonsense writing,” you find yourself in the writing flow? And by immersing yourself in that feel-good state over and over repeatedly, you become even more magnetic to your audience — being able to draw in even more amazing clients — creating an intimate, high-level mastermind or mentorship program — allowing you to increase your rates, take on fewer clients, effectively giving you the time freedom you so crave in your day?
Would you want to try nonsense writing, then?
While writing Unfussy Life, one could have called that book “nonsense writing” — it wasn’t going to lead to massive business growth. It was a memoir. I knew that the people most likely to buy it would be my family and friends and my current clients.
When I wasn’t working on it, I thought about it constantly. And when I recommitted to working on it again, put the time on the calendar, and made sure to invest at least three hours every week into it, something magical happened.
I felt unstoppable.
I became even more magnetic. It attracted more amazing clients to my courses, community, and copywriting projects. The year I focused on editing that book (2020) — was my best year in business to date.
We have to strike a balance, though — we can't take on nonsense writing with the goal of it doing something for us in the material sense — more money, clients, and fans
We have to write for the fun of it. Release all expectations. Do it because it’s fun. And by having more fun, we feel good. Those feel-good emotions spill over into all areas of our lives.
Here are 10 ways to play with nonsense writing:
Start writing a story about a neighbor you’ve never spoken with
Open up a children’s book (go to the library or bookstore if you need to), open up a page, and write a letter to the first character you see
Write a grocery list of all your favorite foods — perhaps ones that you wouldn’t buy all at once
Write about all the mundane things you think about when doing things around the house
Write a manifesto
Make a list of your favorite jokes — or do a web search to find some new ones
Create your own memes with this free meme generator
Plug your favorite word into this Power Thesaurus and find some new words
Write a poem about your favorite condiment
Compose a letter from your pet to a friend or family member
I hope this article inspired you to play a little today.
A big thanks to Ashleigh for the inspiring conversation and for sharing her sentiments about “nonsense time” with me.
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