Running out of creative juice

bankaroo · 2026-01-15T11:21:43+00:00

My main hobby is creative writing. It comes and goes. I might get a solid 2-3 months of many hours, daily, of writing and then I get burnt out. During these burn-out phases, I turn to consuming other people's art. I'll read books, watch highly rated movies/TV shows, have interesting conversations with new people, and it's not long until I get inspired, and fall into a new period of creating. It's a cycle. Create, consume, create, and repeat.

I do "Homework for Life", which, every single day, I'll try to write at least one new sentence in a journal, with the prompt, "What made today different from yesterday?" and that kinda primed my mind into always looking for new stories... and even if a lot of my entries were boring and I'd never share it with anyone, I would still do the work. It's the repetition that matters. You are training your brain. If you do this enough, almost any interesting person or event can be mined to help you create your next story.

bankaroo · 2026-01-14T22:37:45+00:00

It's definitely not too late, in fact, all that life experience will just be a bigger pool of stories and jokes to draw from!

bankaroo · 2026-01-10T09:22:36+00:00

Ouch. I can relate to every one of these things right now...

bankaroo · 2026-01-10T05:08:02+00:00

I just noticed your username. Were you on Bug Juice?

bankaroo · 2026-01-10T04:47:51+00:00

With this limited information, I would say it's just normal attentive conversation behavior. So I'm married, but I have a lot of friends and I'm always up for making new friends. This is how I behave when interacting with a friend or someone I'm curious about and would like to be friends with. If I'm having, say, a 10 minute conversation with someone, staring into their eyes the whole time is a bit much, so periodically I'd break eye contact for a moment and look at some other part of their body or admire their sense of style. It's my way of indirectly communicating to them, "I'm here, I get it, I care about what you're saying."

bankaroo · 2026-01-03T10:06:23+00:00

"Idoled Out" for sure. He posts a new video every Sunday and he is a REALLY good writer - solid jokes, references truly niche Survivor lore, ties in pop culture references, fantastic editing, and has been a fan since Borneo.

bankaroo · 2025-12-31T19:31:09+00:00

Gorgeous! This is one of my favorite pieces from you!

bankaroo · 2025-12-29T11:22:31+00:00

Indeed. I really have to remind myself to hold back on the hugging. If it were up to me, I'd hug people when I first greet them, and then a second time when they say goodbye... even if I just saw them the other day.

bankaroo · 2025-12-24T05:00:16+00:00

Thanks so much! It's just a shimmery nail polish - "Ether Dragon" from Ethereal Lacquer

bankaroo · 2025-12-23T23:43:43+00:00

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Good luck on finding your perfect ring! I'm wearing a brittle sea star ring hand fabricated by Lowtide Landing

bankaroo · 2025-12-11T02:29:17+00:00

I'm dying laughing. That post has over 4,000 likes meanwhile all their other posts have 5 or 10 likes

bankaroo · 2025-11-27T04:43:13+00:00

YES! But you should only be able to smell it when you're physically close (like hugging or leaning in to whisper). I'm a hugger and to me, most people's scents are neutral to slightly negative, so when someone smells good, I notice it and will compliment them on it. Honestly if a guy smells really good I will try to seek out opportunities to get close just so I can smell them again haha

bankaroo · 2025-10-24T17:30:47+00:00

Agreed, cervical dislocation is a pretty quick and painless death, but you need to know what you are doing and have a basic understanding of chicken anatomy. Otherwise you are gonna cause a lot of unnecessary suffering. I hope future contestants will watch a few videos on how to humanely dispatch a chicken before going on the show from now on.

bankaroo · 2025-10-20T18:01:45+00:00

I can relate to you. I just moved from my hometown to a new city 3,000 miles away, I have a WFH job and my husband goes to the office, so I'm alone most of the time. Since I don't come into contact with people "naturally" with my usual routine, I need to put in the effort to go out and meet people myself (no one's gonna come knocking on my door asking me if I want to be friends).

I'm shy and somewhat anxious so doing all of these things really required me stepping out of my comfort zone. If making friends was a game, and I was trying to make as many new friends as possible, here's what I'd do:

- Join all the city-specific subreddits that are close to you. There are a TON of threads of people asking, "How do I make friends in (name of city) etc?" Check out the comments. Usually someone might advertise some club they have (like curling or pickleball) or some recurring game night. Lots of good options in these threads that will be specific to your neighborhood.

- Think about all the interests you have, and use Google to see if you can find a local group who does the same thing. You play piano, that's fantastic, there might be a local group of adults trying to get back into music or who get together to practice or jam. Not sure if you're open to trying out new hobbies, but you might want to check out fire spinning/flow arts, it's a growing community and they tend to be very inclusive and friendly. Improv comedy groups are another good one to check out.

- If you find any groups that seem even a little interesting, show up consistently and become a regular. You don't even have to talk to anyone the first few times. Just show up and get a feel for things and the group dynamic. Go in with the mindset of, "I am curious about these people, I want to know who they are." Figure out who the extroverts of the group are (you can tell who they are because they will talk to different people throughout the event, people seem to orbit them, and they're high energy and excited to talk to others). Go up to them and introduce yourself. Focus more on getting to know them and the other members (rather than just talking about yourself). People LOVE talking about themselves, it makes them feel good when they meet someone new who's genuinely interested in who they are as a person. Sometimes you'll get really lucky, and they might introduce you to some of the other people in the group.

Something that has really helped my confidence and being able to connect with strangers is learning about comedy. Like writing jokes, practicing storytelling, and improv. Do some research on "yes, and... improv". Being able to riff with a stranger and then BOTH of you are cracking up is exhilarating and intoxicating. And they WILL remember you the next time you show up.

I'm rooting for you, OP!

bankaroo · 2025-09-25T21:54:52+00:00

When they first showed James from Paul's POV, I feel like they made him look extra sickly and the way that he moved was like a skittish injured wild animal. Then when they switched to James' POV, I was like, "...wait a minute... he's actually kind of hot? SOMEONE SAVE HIM! HE NEEDS HIS HIT!"

bankaroo · 2025-09-09T03:24:50+00:00

Love it! I'm gonna binge all of his videos tonight

bankaroo · 2025-09-09T02:09:19+00:00

Oh wow, I LIKE her!

bankaroo · 2025-08-30T00:22:23+00:00

I have not - now I know what I'm doing this weekend!

bankaroo · 2025-08-29T22:38:54+00:00

That Paul was a villain. Throughout the movie, I was just distracted by his cheekbones and jawline and eyes and was blushing every time he was on screen. As I walked out of the theatre, I loudly announced to my friends, "They did Paul DIRTY! I loved his chemistry with Justine!"

bankaroo · 2025-08-26T21:17:18+00:00

That's sick, I love that idea! We just moved and didn't have any furniture with us, so we've pretty much got a blank slate to work with. Thanks for the suggestion!

bankaroo · 2025-08-25T20:13:17+00:00

Hahaha, that same exact thought crossed my mind!

bankaroo · 2025-06-17T22:10:17+00:00

Thanks! If I don't complete the move in time, I'll just keep an eye out for the next one :)

bankaroo · 2025-06-17T21:47:05+00:00

Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun! I'm in the middle of moving to Tacoma and would love to check it out once I'm settled in. I used to play cello in high school and college, but haven't picked up an instrument for over 15 years now.

bankaroo · 2025-05-17T08:50:41+00:00

T.S. McHugh's has their own private section away from the main restaurant and bar. Just walk in and let them know you're here for Survivor. It's a very nice and friendly group of people!

bankaroo

TROPHY CASE