Writing Red-hot for Blue Monday

Warm yourself up with some fast and furious writing exercises

Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash

I’m pretty sure that Blue Monday spans more than a day. From what I’ve seen, it goes for about a week. Apparently, this ‘saddest day of the year’ is less than scientific (go figure) but there is an element of truth in it.

Here in Oxfordshire, we had beautiful blue skies on Monday and I can never be miserable with blue skies. But I have been doing a damp January (this is where you cut back rather than cut entirely), which has been a challenge considering I used to drink so consistently. My aim is to have this change my relationship with alcohol entirely, not just the month and the Reframe app has been helping a lot. It has been eye opening!

I’m not alone in these tough challenges (resets from the Christmas binge for a lot of us), and the low light, rain and floods, and lack of money, all starts to take its toll on people, which is why I’m recommending red writing this month!

Red-hot Writing

What is red writing you say? Well, I made it up. Sort of… But it’s a writing race, but with yourself. It’s a way of describing writing in limited time, with no preparation, and with fast fury to see how MUCH you can write! Maybe you’ll go so fast you will set your paper on fire! You are going purely on instinct and inspiration, racing to see how many words you can get down on the page before the whistle blows.

Why write red-hot?

It’s all about quantity producing quality, and getting you into a flow state. Studies show that better art is created when we focus on quantity, rather than quality (Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (And Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland).

Writing red-hot allows you to break the seal. It stops you from over-thinking and being over perfectionistic. And ultimately it’s a lot of fun!

How to write red-hot