Writer's block. The word has always been a vague sort of problem for me. I've heard horror stories but have never really experienced anything like it until recently. Not that my tale is a horror story, it's been, in most part, a large amount of procrastination, pinterest and facebook games. Usually in that order.
I hit a bought of writer's block near the end of NaNoWriMo. I wasn't worried, I'd already surpassed my word goal and validated my novel, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what happened next. I had the ending of my novel outlined but how to get to where the heroine met up with our wicked sorceress was a mystery. There was a gap I couldn't cross. My Heroine was two kingdoms and at least twenty pages away from where she needed to be to reach her happily-ever-after. The ideas from the next leg of her journey kept falling through. The story I was going to use for inspiration in this area was nowhere to be found in my stacks of books. So I gave up and tried editing for a while until even that was going no where.
Today, almost two weeks later, I've not written a word more, not even opened my document and tried to type a short phrase, but I have the inspiration I needed. I was sitting proctoring a test, a very lucrative if boring job as a cheat deterrent, I watched the test takers for signs of foul-play and thought of my next plot point. Sure it's not all the way to my ending, but it's a step closer.
Somethings fell into place, some ideas bore fruit that just might be even better than what I was looking for. Thank You GOD! I am on my way. And so I must switch gears, and return to my writing.
Good luck to you who are powering on after finishing NaNoWriMo and moving toward the completion of your novel!
P.S. I thought I was good at this stuff, this being my second year and my third book but my sister, Melli, is blowing me out of the water. I am so proud and amazed by her talent. She is the best!!
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Christmas is Just Around the Corner
December all ready?!?! I can't believe it's a little more than a week away from Christmas! We have a fire in the fireplace, a Christmas tree bedecked in my favorite colors and a few dozen cookies to hand out to the neighbors. I hope we don't eat most of them before that can happen.
Presents are on their way to friends and family. I have a few cards to get out, but the first batch is away! One would think we are on the ball this year, but they would be wrong.
Speaking of presents, I thought I'd share my wishlist this year. I've come to realize that what I want really won't fit under my Christmas tree. My wishes are looking a lot like last year's resolutions, but this time I pray they will last longer than January 31st.
Wishlist
1. Health: For my grandmother most of all, but for myself and the rest of my family. We've had some big wake up calls this year, and yet things haven't changed much. I am constantly tired, stressed about finances, the future and wanting to curl up in a ball and sleep through the next ice age.
2. To be debt free. That would mean I have a steady income that is greater than the flow going out each month. Not just for the credit cards and bills, but to pay off my sister's and my student loans. I wonder if I will live to see them paid off, even if I live to be 100. I want to be financially solvent and saving for the future, but that is hard when you don't even have a part time job.
3. Time to finish what I started. Somewhere in this wish is the need for more motivation, energy and free time, not just for my writing but for the dozen or so projects I have around the house. From hanging the towel bar in my bathroom to putting up the shed in the side yard. I just can't seem to follow through. What was put on hold by a bought of procrastination has turned into a matter of me not having enough time or energy to complete.
A thought has just occurred to me, these very vague wished are connected. Health means energy, energy means getting stuff done, debit equal stress which means less energy and less health. It looks a lot lit a mathematical equation. I dislike math. I always make it harder than it needs to be. Does that apply to the answer to this equation, I wonder?
On another note, my sister has come up with a slogan of sorts for this new year, a new mind set if you will. She told me today, we will use what we have. No buying new, no putting it off, which has been out modus operandi. Do it as best you can with what you have, she says. We will be focusing on debit consolidation and elimination. Gifts will be hand made, projects will be completed with the items we've already bought that are scattered around the house.
Truthfully I have everything I need, and then some. What I really need is to do something with it.
Presents are on their way to friends and family. I have a few cards to get out, but the first batch is away! One would think we are on the ball this year, but they would be wrong.
Speaking of presents, I thought I'd share my wishlist this year. I've come to realize that what I want really won't fit under my Christmas tree. My wishes are looking a lot like last year's resolutions, but this time I pray they will last longer than January 31st.
Wishlist
1. Health: For my grandmother most of all, but for myself and the rest of my family. We've had some big wake up calls this year, and yet things haven't changed much. I am constantly tired, stressed about finances, the future and wanting to curl up in a ball and sleep through the next ice age.
2. To be debt free. That would mean I have a steady income that is greater than the flow going out each month. Not just for the credit cards and bills, but to pay off my sister's and my student loans. I wonder if I will live to see them paid off, even if I live to be 100. I want to be financially solvent and saving for the future, but that is hard when you don't even have a part time job.
3. Time to finish what I started. Somewhere in this wish is the need for more motivation, energy and free time, not just for my writing but for the dozen or so projects I have around the house. From hanging the towel bar in my bathroom to putting up the shed in the side yard. I just can't seem to follow through. What was put on hold by a bought of procrastination has turned into a matter of me not having enough time or energy to complete.
A thought has just occurred to me, these very vague wished are connected. Health means energy, energy means getting stuff done, debit equal stress which means less energy and less health. It looks a lot lit a mathematical equation. I dislike math. I always make it harder than it needs to be. Does that apply to the answer to this equation, I wonder?
On another note, my sister has come up with a slogan of sorts for this new year, a new mind set if you will. She told me today, we will use what we have. No buying new, no putting it off, which has been out modus operandi. Do it as best you can with what you have, she says. We will be focusing on debit consolidation and elimination. Gifts will be hand made, projects will be completed with the items we've already bought that are scattered around the house.
Truthfully I have everything I need, and then some. What I really need is to do something with it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)