I WRITE MY NOVELS out in public, by the pool at our country club, a good portion of the time. That’s the way it’s been for the past four years. I can’t count the number of times that people had come over to me to tell me they have an idea but don’t know what to do with it. Or, they started a novel ten years ago and don’t have the energy to complete it. Or, they have six unedited novels under their bed. Or they got three rejections and gave up. And the biggie is that they don’t have time. Basically, what they’re telling me is that they lost the passion for their work or their story. They hit a wall, also known as writer’s block. That definitely can knock the spirit out of you.

I must tell you that in all my years of writing, from the late ’70’s to mid ’90’s in film and TV, and through 2010 when I wrote non-fiction articles in alternative healing and holistic health, to the present, now writing novels, I have never once hit writer’s block. Why? I can honestly say it’s because I had never lost the passion for the project on which I was working.

I’ve heard people say, “take a break,” “start something new.” To me that’s not the answer. The longer the break, the more time away from the project, the less enthusiasm builds and the passion you once had, decreases. I’d advise writing in a different environment. If your creativity gets stumped cooped up in your office, breathing stale or recirculated air, go out into nature. Sit on your front porch. In the city, we’d call it a stoop.

Remember those days? Go to the beach. I’ve written screenplays and TV scripts as well as non-fiction works sitting on the beach at Silver Gull Beach Club in Queens, New York. No beach? Write by a pool with the sun shining. Get out into the fresh air. Yes, even with the snow. Being in the open air is very cleansing on every level: spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional.

Why do I mention cleansing? Writer’s block, losing passion for a project is an indication of blocked energy, a clogged system. When energy isn’t flowing properly through our bodies we feel stuck. Stuck in moving forward. Stuck in tackling the day’s chores. And stuck in writing. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions that we want to get onto the paper are just not there. They can’t come through to our consciousness. Picture a jeep getting stuck in mud and it can’t move unless pulled or pushed. Their wheels spin. Same thing with us, but it’s our brain that is stuck.

In my alternative healing practice, I teach people how to make the mind-body connection. So I’m going to ask you some questions so you can make your own connection. Focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply as you sit comfortably in a chair and relax. What part of your body is feeling tight, in pain? Can you connect to what is causing you pain in your life? Practicing breathing techniques could be very cleansing. That’s why we call it “cleansing breaths.”

Our solar plexus, which is underneath our bra line and above the belly, is our emotions center. Very often our writing is very emotional. Not feeling the emotions? Try eating a healthier diet. Losing fat in that area allows energy to flow more freely.

You can also detox from debris that is surrounding you in your aura. When we have debris, new thoughts, creative thoughts can’t penetrate our energy fields. You know the expression, “I walked into a room and you could cut the air with a knife.” Well that air can glue to you. I use aromatherapy to cleanse my aura. Gardenia is perfect. You can get it in a shower gel. In the shower, meditate to remove the debris from your aura. Gardenia removes the toxic energy around you so that you don’t get sick from someone else’s energy. Carnation oil has the same effect.

I also use crystals and gemstones to keep the thoughts for my writing, coming. No, it’s not cheating. Sodalite is also known as the students’ stone and is wonderful for writers. Keep it near you on your desk. If you want to know about healing stones, and how you can use them in your writer’s life, feel free to ask me questions in the comments.

Those are some of my recommendations to keep the passion high for your project. The key is to make the emotional connection. I hope you find them helpful.

How do you keep your passion high through your project and avoid writer’s block?

About Ronnie Allen:

Ronnie Allen is a New York City native, born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, where she was a teacher in the New York City Department of Education for 33 years including the obtaining of a New York State license as School Psychologist. Her various roles included classroom teacher, staff developer, crisis intervention specialist, and mentor for teachers who were struggling. Always an advocate for the child, Allen carries this through as a theme in her novel Gemini, with the reader seeing the horrors of child abuse through the eyes of three characters.

In the early 1990s she began a journey into holistic healing and alternative therapies and completed her PhD in Parapsychic Sciences in 2001.

Along the way, Allen has picked up many certifications. She is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner as well as a crystal therapist, Reiki practitioner, metaphysician, dream analyst, and Tarot Master Instructor. She has taught workshops in New York City and in Central Florida where she now lives.

Combining a love of the crime genre and her psychology background, with her alternative therapies experiences, writing psychological thrillers is the perfect venue for her.

The above article was reprinted with permission by Writers Who Kill Blog Spot, where it was posted on Sat. Aug. 29th. Please visit their site. The authors who participate in their blogs and interviews are a wealth of information.

Here is an excerpt from Gemini, where forensic psychiatrist, Dr. John Trenton, uses crystals to distress him.

He exhaled in exhaustion, exiting the room, relieved that it was over, but knowing he hadn’t scratched the surface with her. He exhaled several times to expel her negative energy and leaned against the wall, trying to regain his composure, while he contemplated the seriousness of what had just transpired. He could just imagine what she was holding onto and how much pain she’d endured. He put his hands into his lab coat pockets. His left hand wrapped around a black tourmaline log he used to deflect negativity. It had worked overtime the last hour. In his right pocket, he felt the malachite tumbled stone broken in two with parts crumbled into the lining of his pocket.

Oh, man. She really is dangerous.

He had heard of malachite breaking when the wearer was in a dangerous situation, but this was the first time it had actually happened to him. He glanced up at the ceiling.