On Writing : Tricks of the trade? by Kat Spencer

A glass of red wine while sitting out on the porch, or a nice sunset ride on the boat:)

@Sonny - that's better than me... I like to go for a run and spend time with my kids. Wine on a boat?! I'm yet to try that. Sounds like the perfect way to re-centre!

Yoga and meditation.

It's very cold, comes in a glass and has bubbles in it - - at sundown.

Whatever you do, don't doom scroll.

always a walk outside!!

Walk my dog! There's nothing better than how watching her joy for a ball, smelling a flower, or running on the beach really makes you appreciate the little things when you're in the thick of it!

I;'m jealous that you need only 15 minutes to recharge! Lol

I walk 6km in the morning most days to clear my head. When work gets tough (or just because it's fun!) I like to go to the cinema on my own in the day and remember what this is all for!

It depends what kind of day and what kind of unwinding I need. If I only have a few mins I lie down and close my eyes and let everything go. Not to sleep, just to really let go. Or I go for a walk, or I eat or drink something or I watch or read something. Depends on my mood and what level of destressing is need. bubbly and cold, red and intense, trash story :)

These are all such great suggestions! When I'm actively writing, for every 3 hours I sit at my desk, I either walk 30 minutes on my walkpad (conveniently located under my desk, lol) when it's cold in NY, or I'll walk the perimeter of my local park when it's sunny. More than anything, it helps clear the mind.

Immediately after I finish the day's work, I'll hit some weights and core on my yoga mat, then throw on a vinyl for the night, pour a drink (sometimes bubbly, sometimes just a smoothie or protein shake) and lounge in my swivel chair until the record finishes spinning front to back. The little things!!

Perhaps most importantly, when I've completed a draft, I will literally tuck the script away in my drawer for 2-3 weeks. Out of sight, out of mind.

Typically I will listen to music as loud as my wife will tolerate haha! Everything from Madonna to Meshuggah and all points in between. Perhaps a beverage or similar type relaxer to go along with the jam fest.

My reset is a 15-minute power nap. Honestly, I'm often more rested coming out of one of those than after a full 8 hours of sleep. I think it's because we spend all day absorbing other people's stories, voices, and ideas, so the brain rarely gets to actually switch off. There's real neuroscience behind it too. The default mode network, where a lot of creative problem-solving happens, only kicks in when you stop feeding it input. Some of my best script and project ideas have shown up in that drowsy window right after waking.

Love that Lauren Simpson!

Michael David Don't be jelly! Haha. Try 15 minutes in the morning BEFORE looking at your phone. And 15 minutes in the afternoon. You'll be amazed at what that will do for your nervous system.

That's beautiful Christina Pickworth!

Spot on Joshua Young! That 15 minutes is often the strongest reset.

Nature trees the forest the coolness water wildlife all of it taken in by all of me

A walk outside, for sure.

I cover cotton balls in peanut butter and jam them between my toes. Nine minutes. Five and a half rotations. Really gets me right.

Busy myself with other projects, preferably things that involve using my hands to make or repair something. I tend to think of other things while my hands stay occupied.

You have to take a break after two-three hours. I have a watch that tells me it's time to take a walk, so a thirty minute walk in the afternoon really helps. I used to take music with me, but now I'll take an idea or two and think about it while walking. That always seems to help.

daily walking is an energy exchange of movement breath aligned posture for oxygen sunlight and natural healing with the elements, hugging a tree, and often times clearing and charging with Reiki self-healing.

I am guilty of doomscrolling lol but I also like to relax and watch YouTube. Trying to go outside more often, especially since it's getting nice and sunny.

Akshully - if I can be more serious about a great way to take a break but stay within writing - pick a subject and research it for an hour or more - when you go back to what you were writing it gives a fresh perspective. I have done that for a very long time and it informs future writings.

Bike, bicycle ride. : )

Great topic, Ashley.

For me, stepping away usually means disconnecting from the script completely for a while — no rewriting, no overthinking. I either watch something unrelated to my genre or just observe real life around me.

Interestingly, some of my best ideas come when I stop trying to “force” creativity. When I return, I often see the story more clearly — especially the emotional beats and character motivations.

Curious to hear how others reset as well.

Lately, I've been leaving my phone on silent and keeping it in my bag. I don't check it until the next morning. I've discovered that if I missed something, it's not the end of the world.

That’s actually a great habit.

I’ve noticed that constant notifications really break creative flow. Stepping away from the phone, even for a few hours, can make a big difference in focus and clarity.

And you’re right — most things can wait, but creative momentum can’t.

My creative reset is basically drinking peach/Mango or green tea and listening to ADHD focus music from YouTube.

That actually sounds like a solid combo.

Music can really help lock in focus, especially when you find the right rhythm for it. And tea + a calm setup definitely makes it easier to reset and get back into the flow.

Mine is a mix of music and imagination.

I usually step away for a bit, put on a song that matches my mood, and either sing along or just let it play while I drift into my own thoughts. It’s not exactly “quieting” the mind instead, it feels like giving my thoughts a softer place to land. Somehow, that’s when things start making sense.

Other days, I’ll just sit near a window, watch the sky, and let my thoughts wander without trying to control them. It’s a bit like pressing “pause” on everything, without actually stopping life.

Funny enough, the best ideas don’t come when I’m trying to think... they show up when I stop trying.

That’s a beautiful way to look at it.

I like the idea of not forcing the mind to be quiet, but giving it space to settle on its own. Music really does create that kind of flow where thoughts start aligning naturally.

And it’s true — the best ideas often show up when we stop chasing them.

My partner Leya, who's also a cinematographer and I usually go salsa dancing, but since sometimes we take things too far and even that becomes too much. So then we have to find something else.

Right now we've been doing post-production on our feature film for half a year and what do we do to unwind watch a movie. Thankfully she's also a very good sculptor and works on her sculptures, while I take time out to write. So it's always something different or a different part of production that we're dealing with and it never gets boring.

Last year we went on vacation to Croatia and what did I do when I was sitting by the beach, write a new screenplay, even when all I wanted to do was maybe write an outline.

Really relate to this — especially the part where even “unwinding” turns into creating something new.

I’ve noticed the same with writing — even during breaks, ideas keep pushing through. It’s interesting how the creative mind never really switches off.

Also love the balance you mentioned between different forms of creativity — it keeps things fresh.

Wishing you the best with your feature film post-production!

Thanks Sachin Yadav. Yeah it does keep things fresh. The thing I've always loved about filmmaking is that I can always do many different things within it and there's always space to learn something new or try something new. Which at some point I'll probably use on a project.

Absolutely, that’s one of the best parts of filmmaking — there’s always something new to explore and apply later.

I feel like even small experiments or learning moments end up shaping bigger projects over time.

Looking forward to seeing how your current film turns out!

I wish I could answer this. I have been mentally clogged for the last year, but lately i have been able to overcome procrastination and starting to get things down on paper again. I think that its the fact that I am sick and tired of everyone else making moves and I'm being left behind

I get that — that feeling of being stuck while others are moving can be really frustrating.

But the fact that you’ve started getting things down on paper again is a big step. Momentum builds from that. Everyone’s timeline is different, and sometimes those slower phases end up shaping stronger work.

Glad to hear you’re pushing through it again.

I go out for a drive (generally not rush hour). Since I'm not in California, gas prices aren't a barrier!

That’s a great reset — driving really does clear the mind.

Sometimes just changing the environment without distractions helps ideas flow naturally.

I take a break and go out with my sisters, cook a meal, or watch a movie. There's always something to take my mind off things. until I feel recharged.

That’s a great balance.

Sometimes stepping away and doing simple things like cooking or spending time with family really helps reset the mind and come back fresh.

The best for me is having a book, going on a 15-minute walk, sitting and reading for 15 mins and walking back.

Well, besides the 3-letter word that is on every man's mind, perhaps my greatest and most reliable reset since all I need are my legs (so I can give my fingers a break) is a nice long walk. Of course, I'm listening to my script while I'm walking but I'm listening as a consumer so it's as if I'm listening to an audio book or to music. Sometimes, I get ideas to reset my script while I'm listening to it or just out of the blue, and I gotta go chasing the idea, but most of the time, I'm sitting before the computer and waiting for the delayed tap to produce the juice (or water) of inspiration. Once I get going, I'm carried away. Then I have to face what everyone sees as a problem in my work--my overstating things (look how much longer my message is here compared to all the others) and overexplaining. So I'm usually reviewing my work visually because whereas most of time, I get what's right or wrong by listening, not looking, it is clearer that I've overwritten when one character has a long run-on paragraph bordering on a thesis. So I'm learning to reset my weak points by focusing on them as I write and review. It's a long journey as I tell everyone but I'm so charged that no problem. "I'm in it for the long haul", as one of my characters tells another one of my characters.

I’m inspired by everything in nature—the sound of the ocean, the rustling of trees, the whoosh of wind, the quiet movement of critters, even the brightness of a full moon. But it doesn’t necessarily push me to write. If anything, it makes me a little sad—melancholy. Memories flicker in and out, and nothing quite makes sense. It’s that need to understand why those feelings surface that eventually pulls me into a completely different environment—one where my stories finally burst onto the page.

I need noise—music playing, a podcast in the background, a TV on, a busy café, the streets of Times Square. Noise is where I find my story. It’s like zoning in on that one “thing” that clenches the story’s life, purpose, problem, and outcome. I don’t fully know why. Maybe it’s just another layer of something I haven’t uncovered yet. But I’ve learned how to use it to my advantage.

I water plants, clean out a drawer, or anything mindless that allows my brain to catch up & hopefully find an ingenious thought to propel me forward.

A nice walk, grounding outside or listening to music in the shower or pool. Anything to do with being in or near water seems to revive me creatively!

This is very relatable. Listening like a consumer is a powerful way to catch what doesn’t land naturally. I’ve also noticed that overwriting often comes from trying to control how the audience feels, instead of trusting the moment. Still learning that balance.

I relate to this a lot.

For me, silence gives birth to emotion… but noise gives it direction.

In quiet moments, ideas feel raw, almost abstract — like fragments of something bigger. But when there’s noise around me — music, people, movement — it’s like those fragments suddenly find structure. The chaos outside somehow organizes the chaos inside.

I think storytelling lives exactly in that space — between emotion and clarity.

That “one thing” you mentioned — the core that holds the story together — I feel that too. It’s almost like tuning into a frequency that was always there, just waiting to be heard.

Maybe we don’t fully understand it… but that mystery is probably what keeps us writing.

I like this approach a lot.

Sometimes stepping away from the work is actually part of the work. Those small, mindless tasks create just enough space for the subconscious to process things we can’t force at the desk.

I’ve noticed that some of the best ideas don’t come when I’m trying to write — they show up when I’m doing something completely unrelated.

It’s almost like the story finds you when you stop chasing it.

There’s something about water that resets everything.

I’ve felt that too — it quiets the noise in your head without shutting it down completely. Almost like it creates just enough space for ideas to rise to the surface naturally.

A walk or being near water doesn’t force creativity… it invites it.

Maybe that’s why some of the clearest thoughts come when we’re not trying to think at all.

Nature.

Interesting point — nature often brings a kind of raw authenticity into storytelling.

I’ve noticed that even in psychological or crime narratives, grounding moments in something natural can make the emotional impact feel more real and human.

Tai Chi and ambient music

That’s a great combination, Pat. I think practices like Tai Chi and ambient music can really help create mental clarity, especially during long creative processes where focus and balance matter.

I like to go on a long walk with my dog. It makes me think a little deeper on my story and it helps.

That actually makes a lot of sense, John. Sometimes stepping away from the screen helps the story breathe a little. Walking has a way of clearing mental noise, and ideas often connect more naturally when you’re not forcing them. Plus, dogs are probably better writing companions than most people anyway.

I relate to this a lot, Kat.

Interestingly, I’ve found that some of the best creative breakthroughs happen precisely when the mind stops trying to “force” solutions consciously.

Especially in screenwriting.

Because storytelling problems are rarely only logical problems.

They are often subconscious alignment problems.

Sometimes a scene is not working because:

* the emotional objective is unclear

* the character psychology is resisting the action

* the thematic layer is disconnected

* or the narrative rhythm is internally out of balance

And the conscious mind can keep rewriting dialogue endlessly without identifying the real issue underneath.

That’s why stepping away becomes so valuable.

For me, long walks help enormously — especially without music or distractions.

I’ve noticed the brain continues processing narrative tension in the background.

Almost like the subconscious keeps restructuring the story while the conscious mind finally becomes quiet enough to listen.

Ironically, many solutions arrive not as dialogue ideas, but as:

* emotional realizations

* structural simplifications

* character contradictions

* tonal corrections

* or sudden clarity about what the scene is actually about

From a script development perspective, I think creative resets are underrated because writing is mentally expensive in ways people often underestimate.

A writer is simultaneously managing:

* causality

* emotion

* pacing

* subtext

* audience perception

* thematic continuity

* psychological realism

for hundreds of pages over long periods of time.

That cognitive load is enormous.

Sometimes the most productive thing a writer can do is temporarily stop “writing” and allow deeper narrative processing to occur underneath conscious thought.

Ironically, silence is often part of the writing process too.

Take a nap, read a novel, sit on my patio and listen to the birdsong.

I like that — sometimes stepping away is the only way to reset the mind and let ideas breathe.