Intrigued by the title of this post? So am I because I have no idea what it means. It came to me as I was thinking about what to write for my weekly blog. This post comes as a very busy semester is winding down for me, and still I have tasks to complete such as writing letters of recommendation or blurbs for other writers’ books or interviews in support of my new novel that’s coming out at the end of March. Add to that a bevy of committee meetings at school. As Calvin and Hobbes would have it—the days are just packed! I don’t mean to whine—after all this is the life I always wanted to have—but it is meant to say we all have times when we’re not able to devote much time to our own writing.

What can we do to keep our momentum flowing? Writing is a generative activity. The more we do it, the more we write, and the more we write, the better we write. This is particularly true for book-length projects such as novels or memoirs. It’s hard for that sort of writing to succeed in bits and pieces. It takes more of a steady pace, producing pages each day.

So, what to do when other things interrupt the writing process? Here are a few thoughts.

Take Notes: Surely, we can find a few minutes each day to jot down a few things in a journal. Maybe notes about interesting people or things we’ve seen. Maybe a mood or a frame of mind that’s with us at a particular time. Maybe a line or two that pops into our heads. Maybe a description or an image. Anything to keep us engaged with the world around us.

Read: Especially poetry. Read a poem each day just to remind us of the music language can make on the page. Or read a section from a favorite novel or memoir, one that touches us in some way and makes us want to respond with writing of our own.

Watch: Revisit the movies that have moved us, anything that keeps our emotional responses alive.

Listen: The same thing that happens when we re-watch movies that have moved us can happen when we listen to music that has a similar effect. For a while now, I’ve liked watching people’s reactions to hearing particular songs for the first time on YouTube. I like the feeling I get when I watch someone deeply immersed, as I’ve been, in a specific song. It reminds me of what art can do for people, and it makes me want to get back to my writing so I can, I hope, do the same for my readers.

The important thing is to stay alive, not only physically, of course, but emotionally as well. Writing must take place on the page, yes, but during those times when you can’t make it to the page, there are these other things you can do to keep your desire for expression alive. One day, you’ll get back to the page, and you’ll want to be ready when you do.