Dear O'Abby, Is Writer's Block Real?

Dear O'Abby,

I've been in such a writing funk for the last few months.  None of my projects really interests me, and I can't seem to figure out how to fix the plot and/or pacing problems in any of them.  I've never faced 'writer's block' before, never even believed it was a real thing, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm wrong.

Is 'writer's block' a real thing, or is it just an excuse writers use when they don't want to write?

Best wishes,

Blocked


Dear Blocked,

I don't really know if writer's block is a real thing or not.  I just know it feels real when you reach a point in your story where you realize you don't know what happens next and nothing you try seems to move the plot forward or toward the next piece of plot.

Generally speaking, when this happens to me, I leave the project alone for a few days.  I work on something else - a revision, a critique for another writer, a short story - and that usually unsticks me.

But it isn't always that simple.

Sometimes what we call 'writer's block' is your brain telling you there's something else wrong.  Maybe you've been working too hard and need a break.  Maybe your mental health is wavering a little.  Maybe you've just been writing too much and are burning out as a result.

It's important to listen to that voice, to pay attention to what your body might be trying to tell you.  Maybe it is just that you made a wrong turn somewhere around chapter 17 and if you go back and straighten that out, all your problems at the current point in the story will miraculously disappear, but maybe it's something more.

I know most of us write in our downtime.  We have day jobs and families and friends and responsibilities.  These things all take time and energy to maintain - and it's important to maintain them.  Sometimes writing and feeling the responsibility to write adds more pressure to an already pressured situation.

Maybe your hours have been cut at your day job and that means you're struggling to feed your family. Trying to write with that level of stress hanging over you might prove difficult.  Maybe you can't even do it, even though you now have all those extra hours to write available.

It's okay to take a break.  It's okay to stop writing, even if you're on a deadline (just make sure you get in touch with your agent and/or editor and explain the situation).  Sometimes we all need to take a break and do something different.  The writing will still be there and it will probably be better if you're not forcing it when you don't feel it.

It's okay to be kind to yourself.  A little time away from the page is sometimes exactly what you need to figure out what the problem was in the first place.

I still don't know if writer's block is real, I just know that if you are feeling it, it's something you should pay attention to.

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: Help! I Have Writer's Block

Dear O'Abby,

I've been working on a novel for a while now (not my first) and I've reached a point that I just don't seem to get past.  I'm an outliner, so the part of the story makes sense in my outline, but I just can't seem to write it.  I've never really believed in writer's block, but I feel like I do now.

Do you have any ideas what I could do to get over this?

Thanks,

Blocked

Dear Blocked,

I believe very strongly that writer's block is your brain's way of telling you you're going the wrong way or doing the wrong thing. So I tend to pay attention.  The team at the back of my brain is often way ahead of the guys up front.

In this case, where you've outlined the plot points but the writing still isn't coming, I think this is even more likely to be true.  Something in there is telling you this is the wrong direction for the story to take, or that the characters wouldn't be true to themselves if they did that particular thing or things.

My advice would be to step away from this story for a while and write something else.  I find I often figure out how to fix problems with one MS by moving on to work on another or by writing a short story that's totally unrelated.

But if you're on a deadline, you can just skip this part of the book and move ahead to a point in the story where you don't feel stuck.  Maybe through writing the rest of the book, you'll figure out what needs to happen in that particular sticky spot.

Good luck!

X O'Abby

Dear OAbby: How Do I Get Past Writer's Block?

Dear OAbby is a new feature on Operation Awesome where we answer your questions! It's an advice column by writers, for writers, chock-full of information about writing, querying, the publication process, etc. If you have a question you'd like answered, just send it to operationawesome6@gmail.com. All questions may be edited for clarity and/or space, and will be posted anonymously, with no identifying information.

Dear OAbby,

I am currently on submission with my first novel (yay!) and playing the waiting game is nerve-wracking (boo!). Everyone says I should be working on my next book to distract myself from being on sub, but I'm finding that impossible. Every time I sit down to write, all I can think about is my book on sub, whether it'll find a home, and what it'll mean if it doesn't. I stare at the blank page and wonder if I'm a 'one and done' author, since I can't seem to put words on the page anymore. Meanwhile, my agent wants to know what I'm working on, and I know if I'm lucky enough to get an editor call, he/she will want to know the same thing. Help!

Sincerely, 
Around the Block

Dear Around the Block,

Ah, writer's block. The bane of every writer's existence, at least from time to time. The first piece of advice I'll give you (in all caps, because it's an important one) is DON'T STRESS YOURSELF OUT FOR BEING BLOCKED! You're dealing with enough stress already, and adding this one is like having insomnia, then worrying so much about having insomnia that you keep yourself awake even longer. If you're blocked, accept it. Don't beat yourself up. Then, try some of these tactics to get past it.

Advice about writer's block is kind of like advice about getting rid of hiccups. Everyone has pointers, and virtually none of them work for anyone else. Still, they're worth a try. For example, Kara has blogged about #ahundredordie. I find that doing word sprints with other writers helps (I'm really competitive, so I can't fathom having others finish their words if I don't). Some people will set aside a short amount of time (maybe ten minutes) to free-write, even if those words are unrelated to your work-in-progress. It might be a good time to try outlining your project, if you're not feeling the drafting process at the moment.

And if none of that works, give yourself permission to NOT write for a while. Do a lot of reading instead. Critique manuscripts for other writers. Write in a totally different genre: if you're a novelist, try your hand at short stories or poetry.

Above all, DON'T STRESS YOURSELF OUT FOR BEING BLOCKED. The block will lift, eventually. And when it does, you can look back on this time not as The Writer's Block Era, but The Time I Spent Reading/Writing Poetry/Critiquing/Word Sprinting/etc. Change writer's block into something you enjoy, and it'll probably go away on its own!

Yours truly,
Dear OAbby

Preparing for NaNoWriMo: One Final Trick

November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. It's an entire month dedicated to writing, or, more specifically, to amassing fifty thousand words on an original novel. Last year, over 400,000 writers from around the world participated. The NaNo website helps you track your word count, provides regional support and chat boards, and allows you to "win" when you hit your 50,000-word goal. Every November, bookstores, coffee shops, and 24-hour diners fill up with writers - you can practically feel the creativity in the air! NaNo provides a great community, and it's a great motivation for starting or continuing a novel project. 2017 will be my seventh year tackling NaNo, and I can't wait to get started!

That said, there are a few ways to set yourself up in advance for NaNo success. We'll explore these each Thursday in October, so you'll be ready to hit the ground running on November 1st!

Writing every day for a month (or for long stretches of time over several days during the month) can be really tough. A lot of writers drop out of NaNo part-way through - the time commitment is nothing to sneeze at. And it can also feel disheartening when a project you started on November 1st begins getting bogged down around the middle. You might encounter writer's block, or just feel like your time could be better spent doing something else. You might open that Word doc, or your notebook, and get queasy at the idea of spending an hour or more working on your book.

But before you close that document or notebook, I want to give you one tip to help you keep writing when you really, really don't want to. It's a very simple tip, but it nearly always works.

End your day's writing in the middle of a sentence.

That's it. It doesn't even have to be an exciting, eventful sentence, though that never hurts. But it's so much easier to start writing each day when you know all you *have* to do is finish that darn sentence from the day before. Chances are, you'll do that, and then you'll keep going. Let's try it:

1) Katya couldn't believe her ears: had Emilio really professed his love for her? That's a complete thought. Where do you go from there? When you pick up the book the next day, you have to stay within the confines of Emilio's confession, whether you want to or not.

2) Katya couldn't believe That's an incomplete sentence and it can go a lot of different places. Maybe she couldn't believe her luck, or what had just happened, or in some aspect of her religion, or a million other things. The point is, when you're greeted with this sentence fragment on a new writing day, you have to get your creativity flowing right away to figure out what Katya couldn't believe. It's not hard to finish a sentence. And once you do, then you're already writing! You might as well keep going, right?

What do you do on days when you really just don't feel like writing?

Tuesday Museday

Welcome back! Need a writing prompt today?
I find the sense I neglect the most in my writing is smell. I rarely remember to have my characters react to smells, or to set the scene with smell. But how a place, thing, or person smells can be important information! And how characters react to said smells is also important.
So your prompt today is the smell of rotted potatoes that got left in the back of the pantry and have now become goo that you're going to have to clean up because nobody else will touch it. Yes, that is a personal experience. Have fun!

If you are working on a query and you'd like fresh eyes on it, let me know in the comments! I'll pick someone for a query critique.

Tuesday Museday

Do you use the term "ear worm" to describe a song that just gets into your head and won't leave?
My husband plays this game with me: He'll hum a song and time how long it takes for me to start humming it after he's stopped. I get ear wormed fairly easily.
My current ear worm is your writing prompt for today. My kids are obsessed with Big Hero 6, and the Fall Out Boy song that plays while the heroes are practicing with their new suits. My three-year-old calls it the "Baymax song" and demands that we listen to it every time we get in the car. It's got some cool lyrics; hopefully some part of this song will inspire your writing. Or the concept of an ear worm will. Whatever it is, if you are feeling stuck today, check out Immortals, by Fall Out Boy by clicking here. You can listen to the song on the band's official Vevo channel, while watching the most boring video imaginable.

If you are working on a query and you'd like fresh eyes on it, let me know in the comments! I'll pick someone for a query critique.

Writer's Block Tutorial by Em Hacker

If you were intrigued by the Writer's Block I featured in my post two days ago, then you are lucky because Em wrote up a tutorial so you can make one for yourself! Check it out!
-Kara
************

Writer’s Block sounds like a disease.

“I’m sorry; I can’t go to work today. I have Writer’s Block.”

Writers would probably agree that it is a disease. A disease brought on when Creativity decides to disown you and you stare at blank pages with a blank mind and feel as blank as both.

So what does a writer do when Block knocks on the door and then smothers Creativity right there in front of your face? Convulse a little? Probably. Scream? Definitely. And then write!

“But my page, mind, and self are all blank right now,” you reply.

Well, of course they are. Creativity just died right in front of you. Blank is an appropriate response. But Creativity is a curious creature, and has more lives than a cat. Or a few hundred of them. So revive it. And get yourself a Writer’s Block. To fix . . . Writer’s Block.

Commence dazed expressions now.

A Writer’s Block is a life-saving device I use on a regular basis. The idea of it was first introduced to me by a teacher. I took said idea . . . and ran with it. Seriously, I had to make myself a new Block just for this tutorial because mine was so beat up. I had to. Yeah. We’ll go with that.

What I got from my teacher was an extremely tiny box that contained a few foil-wrapped items.

I nicknamed it Writer’s Block – because irony has a place in my life. But a few bouts of actual Writer’s Block later, and . . . the foil objects were gone!

Duh, duh, duh!!!

So I made myself a new, much more official Writer’s Block. And I decorated him with the desiccated remains of an old book.

Gasp!

What?!?!?

I guess I forgot to warn you that a book died in the making of this Writer’s Block. But calm down, I already own a fully-functional copy of said book. This one was rather haggard, a bit stained, and rescued from the free section at my local public library. Rescued, and then tortured at the hands of yours truly, true. But my Writer’s Block looks fabulous.

And while we’re at it, I craft with books frequently. You should see my book pumpkins. But not right now.

SOOOOOO, let’s get started.

(1) Go to the dollar store and buy one of these.

Lovely. And now that it’s yours, it is no longer a box. It is a Block. Guard it like a dragon hoarding treasure.

This is my Writer’s Block.

(2) Now you need to rescue a little victim to torture. Don’t worry, it will only hurt a little. On the inside. Way down deep. In your soul! Now, tear out some pages. Just close your eyes and do it. Do it! Don’t worry, you’ll feel okay again eventually. Maybe this will help: tear the pages into smaller pieces.

If you passed out, I’ll give you time to recover. Oh, who are we kidding? You’re reading. I don’t have to give you anything. Hey, you’re conscious again! Welcome back. I’m still here.

(3) For this next step, you will need Mod Podge. Mod Podge is awesome. Or, make your own DIY Mod Podge at home. Using a paint brush – that has never before befriended a jar of paint, nor has intentions of doing so in the future; aka, brand new – spread a thin layer of Mod Podge across a portion of your Block. Then place a few of your crying book page pieces on the Mod Podge.

This process is called decoupage. Keep going.

And going.

And going.

If you just pictured the Energizer Bunny, then you’re awesome. Keep going.

Hey, look, you’re done. I was totally done first, but no one’s keeping score. This is like Preschool Soccer. Just kick the ball.

Besides, you’re not actually done.

(4) Let your block dry. All the way. Don’t get antsy. Be patient. It doesn’t actually take very long. Oh, and rinse your brush, or the Mod Podge will dry on it, and it will be good for nothing . . . but the trash can.

(5) Spread a thin layer of Mod Podge over the entire Block, and let it dry again. If you do this step before Step 4, your Writer’s Block will suddenly look like an old man who loves the sun (wrinkled!) so don’t do it. Also, don’t set your wet Block down on anything, or it will be sad. And stuck. Do it in stages. Or do something like this:

This would also be the stage where you can personalize your Writer’s Block. You have to re-do Step 4 if you get fancy, though, so be warned! Add some of your favorite quotes. This one’s my favorite, and a must for me. It goes around the top of my Block. Because it’s funny. And oh, so true.

Okay, now let it dry.

Ta-da!

I’m messing with you, it still isn’t done.

(6) Fill the box. Only you can’t fill the box!

“Excuse me?” you say.

Sorry, but you can’t.

Recruit family and friends. Ask them to gather random things for you. They can be items from around the house, or lost things found on the road, or in the parking lot at work, or at the grocery store. Anything is game, so long as it fits inside. And is legal. And isn’t alive.

Sometimes I send my kiddos outside with small sheets of foil.

It’s not weird. Seriously, neighbors. Not. Weird!

Seeing an object through the eyes of a child is like being handed a freshly-baked character on a cookie sheet: deliciously perfect. The kind of character you can practically hear, smell, see, touch, and even taste . . . if you’re into that.

My husband has also been tasked with the lifelong thrill of sneaking random goodies into my Writer’s Block. And some of the best “objects” that have ever been wrapped for me are pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So write them down!

Look! My family and friends love me.

But . . . oh, dear. This won’t do at all. These things are naked. Don’t let your friends and family give them to you like this! That would be scandalous! Make sure they know to wrap each item in aluminum foil. You don’t want to see them before you need them, or the Writer’s Block will lose all magic.

Much better! These lovely, foil-wrapped mysteries may now be placed inside your Writer’s Block. And let everyone know that they can give you foil-wrapped offerings at any time, on any day . . . for the rest of your life!

And now you’re set! Forever. When Creativity is murdered at your feet and you find yourself Blocked, grab your Writer’s Block. Take a deep breath, reach inside, and pull out a foil of mystery. Open it up.

And then WRITE!

Write the first thing that comes to mind. And then keep writing! The surprises in your Writer’s Block are like tiny defibrillators for Creativity. They shock it to life again, and before you know it, your fingers will be flying across the paper. Or keyboard. Or phone, as is usually the case for me. Writer’s Block thusly banished . . . by a Writer’s Block!

Happy Writing! 
***********


This is me.

Em!


I have been writing since I could wield a pencil. The thrill and magic of that pencil is that it can be anything - a sword, a wand, or even a crutch. Stories skulk through my skull. They live in my veins. They permeate the air I breathe.


If I didn't let them out, I'd probably be strapped down in a mental institution. And not the kind we have today; the old ones, that have succumbed to time, and have seedy pasts. My bed would be the moldy one in the corner.


Except that I write! So I'm insane, but not clinical.


And I'm me! Mom to three. Wife. Quirky and proud of it.


Writer.


Me.

Tuesday = Museday

I have a really crafty writer friend named Em. She used to live around the corner from me, and when she moved she gave me an awesome present: a writer's block! No, no, hear me out. It's a good thing. She took a box and modge-podged pages of an old book (sacrilege, but we'll make an exception because it looks cool) all over it. Then she wrapped little things in tin foil to go inside the box. The idea is that whenever I am not feeling creative, or need a writing prompt, I can take something at random out of the box and work with it. What a cool gift for a writer!

So this is my virtual writer's block. Take the prompt below, and incorporate it into your WIP (work in progress). Or write a flash fiction story about it. Or think about something completely unrelated and use that to fuel your writing.
For fun, put an excerpt from whatever you do with the prompt on your blog, and link to it in the comments. One random person will win a query critique from me! If you want the critique, include your Twitter handle so I can contact you easily (and so I know you are interested in the critique).

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Story Cubes for Writer's Block?

Perhaps this would work best for picture book authors, but I think it'd be fun to try for plain old novel-length writer's block, don't you?

Rory's Story Cubes are a game of dice that you can play alone or with friends. It's pretty hilarious with a group of adults, and equally funny with little kids because of the completely unique ways they interpret the images on the dice.

It's even better if you have a time limit or someone you must pitch your story idea to immediately after rolling. But if you're alone, you can still have fun filling the blanks in your novel with flying sheep with golden keys, pyramids that were used anciently as washing boards, and mobile phones from the 1980s. *wink, wink* There are several sets of dice, and I admit to only having one set myself (the Action cubes). You can also get the Voyages, Original, and special dice for space, medicine, and sports. I'm still waiting for the Adverbs dice set to be invented. Until then, I'll roll with the punches, or other Action cubes.

How do you get yourself out of a writing funk?

Happy writing this weekend!

The Marriage of Exercise and Creative Thought

Did you know that exercising actually increases blood flow to the brain and helps a person to focus?

It's true. 

Brain research shows a correlation between physical activity and the development of brain connections. In 2010, the journal Pediatrics released a study showing that children with as little as 15 minutes of recess each day exhibited better behavior and attention spans than their peers who did not have recess. The Journal of Attention Disorders even states that walks outdoors that normally are associated with recess appear to improve attention and concentration scores of students with ADHD. -The Effect of Recess on Academics

 Not only does physical activity spur the development of brain connections, but it may result in clearer thinking and organizational ability, as research has shown an improvement in recall:

Recess provides a break that allows the brain to "regroup," and research has shown that recall is improved when learning is spaced out rather than condensed. After recess, children are more likely to learn because they are less tense and more invigorated. Even adults are given breaks during their work day, which allows for better production and clearer thinking.

Maybe you don't have time for "recess" in your busy day. Whether you're surrounded by kids or surrounded by other adults, it can be difficult to step out and get some physical exercise without somebody needing you. Yet we know that a break to watch TV and eat chocolate isn't going to have the same brain-clearing effects as physical exercise. It's worthwhile to carve out time in your day to exercise.

Personally, I get a lot of story ideas while running.

One of the scenic places I run by when I'm brainstorming

But I know some people prefer Zumba or UFC, or even Spartan obstacle course racing. I have a crazy brother who does the latter and is a certified Spartan trainer. Someday I'll be that awesome. They jump over freakin' FIRE at the finish line!

Anyway, back to how exercise improves clarity of thought. How are you doing on your plotting? Characterization? Ever get stuck? A quick rise in blood flow to your brain might be just the thing...

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy your plotting, on and off the treadmill. 

Calling the Muse

I used to believe that writing took inspiration, that there were only specific circumstances under which great words might come through me. I don't remember what exactly the circumstances were... but they were complicated enough that it didn't happen often. Thus, I didn't often have to write. Because, you know, I couldn't. Right?

More recently, I've had a realization. This realization was potentially driven by the fact that in the past two years I've been writing under much different conditions than I ever had before. I have publishing contracts, and therefore, I have deadlines. And it turns out that when you have a deadline, it doesn't pay to sit around waiting for the stars to align and for the fourth of the month to fall on a Tuesday, or for your coffee grounds to form a small bird when dumped on a plate. It really doesn't pay to wait for anything, because waiting is no way to get a book written, is it?

And so I was forced to write, muse or no muse. And it turns out that the muse is really just an excuse to NOT write. It's nice to feel inspired and feel like the words are meant to be, that you're writing something cosmically correct and preordained. But the truth is that if you have any talent for writing and storytelling, that talent should be there regardless of the conditions under which you call upon it.

I don't write well when children are standing at my shoulder whining about apple juice and snacks and brothers hitting them. But that circumstance aside, I've found that I can write at practically any other time when I really have to. That said, I've also learned that I write best early in the morning when there are no distractions at all.

So my advice? Ditch the muse. Tell her to take a flying leap. You don't need her anyway. And that writer's block you hear people moaning about? It's a fallacy. It's no more real than the sneaky little muse who makes herself so scarce.

You've heard it before, but it's the truth. The only way to accomplish writing goals is to write. Sit down and start, plain and simple.

I've still got two deadlines ahead. I need to finish a book by October 1st. I've got 6000 words so far. Think I can do it? The simple truth is that I must. So I will. But not if I sit around waiting for the muse or allowing procrastination to circle my desk wearing a shirt that says "writer's block"... Starting Monday morning, I'll be at my desk for an hour each morning before work, pounding out the words that will get me closer to meeting that deadline. Will you be writing, too?

What are your strategies for getting words on paper? Do you need a certain coffee mug, or a specific kind of music playing? How do you make it all happen?

Why I Don’t Believe in Writer’s Block and What I Do When My Writing Gets Stuck

I don’t believe in a mystical state of unwriterliness, some incomprehensible force blocking my words. In my experience, Writer’s Block is just the name we use for being stuck. And getting stuck has causes we can understand and overcome. Sure, you can call that Writer’s Block. But to me, Writer's Block was a mysterious and inevitable thing, something I just had to wait out. One day I said, “I’m stuck. I just don’t want to write this scene. Why?” And my whole approach to writing changed.

I figured out that I get stuck when I don’t know what should happen next, I can’t decide between a few different things that could happen next, or I’m dreading writing what I know (or think I know) needs to happen next. Here’s how I deal with these different forms of stuckness:

1) What happens next? What do I write? Aargh!

I’m not an outliner. I don’t like to plan the whole story ahead of time because I like to be in suspense just like my characters—and my readers. But I avoid the problem of not knowing what to write next by thinking about my story while I’m doing chores, riding in the car, in the shower, whatever. When I sit down to write I almost always have an idea how to begin the next scene, or finish the one I left off on.

Another helpful trick is rereading some of what I’ve already written. Often by the time I get to where I left off writing, the words just flow.

I’m also not afraid to write out of order. If I get a great idea about something that’s going to happen later on in the story, I’ll skip ahead and write it. I write whatever I’m most passionate about at the moment. It keeps writing fun for me, and I enjoy going back later and filling in the blanks, rearranging the pieces. It’s like a puzzle. It’s almost complete, and then—there’s that piece I’ve been hunting for all along! I stick it in that gap in the middle and the whole thing is complete!

Reading what I’ve previously written and writing out of order also help me with the dilemma of deciding between different ideas of what could happen next. As I read or write other scenes, the answer becomes obvious to me.

2) I know what I’m going to write, but I’m dreaaaading it. And you can’t make me write it! So there!

If I’m dreading writing a scene, I try to figure out why. Is it boring to me? If so, it will probably be boring to the reader. What else could happen that would be more compelling? Is the scene really necessary? Maybe I can just get rid of it. Writing out of order is helpful here too. Sometimes I avoid a dreaded scene only to discover the story’s better without it. What a relief!

What if the scene isn’t just boring? What if I’m actually afraid to write this scene? Is it emotionally difficult? Do I feel like I’m not good enough to pull it off? This is a tough one. I say a little prayer, grab some M&M’s, and plunge in. I tell myself to just get it down, and I can take a fresh look at it tomorrow and fix it. Now that I have some experience tackling dreaded scenes, I can also tell myself that I’ve done this before, and that these scenes usually turn out to be the best scenes. The scenes with heart.

How to Make Your Characters Behave.

So I went to the Query Tracker forum yesterday. FYI, I was one of the first members of that forum in its baby stage. I used to spend loads of time posting on that forum, as you can tell since I still am one of the record holders to most time online. (Yes yes, I was on there a LOT back then.)

One of the topics was about how you get past the sludgy bits in a manuscript, especially when you have exciting scenes a few chapters ahead. We've all been there, when the writing feels like you are walking through curdled chocolate pudding. It feels like it takes forever!

A few suggestions I thought were very interesting. One person said that when their characters aren't cooperating, she tells them they are going to Disneyworld. And when the charters say, WTF, they end up taking her by the hand and leading her where they need to go.

Another person said that she writes a "shower scene". Can you all imagine what would happen if BAM, all of sudden your characters are in a shower? I"m sure interesting conversation would develop for sure.

I thought that they were both creative and fun suggestions to a problem we all face in the slow, transitional bits of our writing. It got me thinking: Wouldn't it be fun to have a topic that you went to in those situations? A topic that you pull out of your bag of tricks to make your characters get their butts moving? My current project is a MG fantasy, so I don't think a shower would be quite appropriate for them. Disneyland might be good, but I think I'd like to come up with something completely different.

So I thought I'd ask you all, my wonderful blogging buddies, for brainstorming ideas. Lets figure out some fun ways to force our characters into submission, by manipulation and humiliation. If they aren't going to corporate, lets share some ideas to MAKE them behave.


Oh, and by the way, more than likely, these scenes will not stay in a manuscript. I though it was a great strategy to get past writer's block. Computers are great. You can always delete it later once you've moved on.

Writers Block - by Jackson Pearce :)

A lot of you have probably seen this before, but I LOVE it LOL And it pretty much sums up my life at the moment so....enjoy :D

Getting Out of the Pool of Writing Funk

Have you ever been stuck in a pool of writing funk? You know the feeling...where the universe seems to be conspiring against you and you just get a little down in the dumps when it comes to writing?

I am currently trying to hose off the gunk of the funk as we speak. Now, first of all, I need to point out that it is not my writing that gets me funky. I love writing and most of the time, I really WANT to do it. Only sometimes the funk mires me down so much I just can't.

And sure, when I’m querying and the rejections pour in, it dampens my mood a bit. And mostly because I tend to get those “good” rejections; the ones that say “you are a great writer and this is a great story, it’s just not quite right for us right now.” It’s harder to be that close and not quite make it. My favorite was when one of my dream agents told me “it’s not you, it’s me.” Had me rolling on the ground. Just too funny/depressing. If I ever need to query again, I hope I have a project she loves, because she is just too awesome.

Anyhow, my writing funks tend to happen as a side effect to what is going on in my Real Life. Writer’s block never lasts for long. I just work on something else, or go do a load of dishes. I always get GREAT ideas when I’m doing dishes (which sucks because I HATE doing the dishes) :D But if I’ve been cooped in the house with the kids for months on end with no break, or if I’m stressed over anything else going on in my life, or just not feeling well…..my Real Life funk spills over into writing territory and becomes (dunh dunh duuuunh) WRITING FUNK.

How do I get out of it? I take a writing break. I read…a LOT. I also load up on romantic and British comedies. Two of my favorite British comedies are the shows Vicar of Dibley and Absolutely Fabulous. I love watching movies like Fools Gold and The Holiday and Pure Luck. When I get in a funk, I want to laugh.

And of course, my wonderful friends are great at pulling me out when I’m about to go under. I start sending out hoards of desperate emails and IM’s. And when things are really bad, I tend to shut down a bit, stay away from everything and everyone, and that is when the hoards of emails and IM’s start coming my way. I don’t know how I ever got through the day without my writing family. They are a true God-send.

I always reach a point where I just tell myself to snap out of it. The break has gone on long enough...time to suck it up and push through :) Time to write :)

How do you get out of the pool of writing funk?