I am going to keep it real with you; I have been struggling with my novel. My characters have been silent, and I have felt tangled in the plot. I have been staring at the blank screen, grasping my hair in my hands, and yelling my muse’s name (which is Frank) a la Marlo Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. Despite my theatrics, he still wouldn’t visit. Jerk.

But all of that has changed. 

As soon as I cleared time in my schedule and literally allowed myself to stare at a blank wall (I am not kidding, folks), I had ideas. TONS of them. The characters began chattering away at me. They told me about their hopes, their dreams, and their darkest secrets. You know, the stuff of sleepovers. I also got wonderful plot ideas. Ones that would make my readers gasp in surprise and keep turning the pages to find out what happens next.

It turns out my muse is kind of, well, human. He doesn’t like it when my schedule is so packed that I don’t have time to spend with him. It is kind of like ignoring your significant other and then suddenly expecting him or her to cook for you after you haven’t talked for weeks. Nobody is going to do that.

No, you need to leave some “white space” or “blank spaces” in your calendar to daydream. In our fast-paced world, it may seem like a waste of time, but it isn’t. You need to carve that time out of your calendar to allow yourself to daydream and be inspired. Otherwise, you will just stare at a blinking cursor, which still takes time and isn’t as much fun.

So my challenge to you is this: go into your calendar and mark some time to daydream. You won’t regret it, and your hair will certainly be thicker (it helps when you aren’t pulling at it as much).

How about you? Do you make time to daydream? Let me know in the comments below!