WEEK 4: Writing

Sorry, this is SO LATE, but it took a while for me to compose all my thoughts & get it all typed up. So, behold Week 4:

If I'm being honest I haven't been great at writing since my mom passed away. I make all sorts of excuses for why- It's grief. It's punishment. I shut down that part of my brain to deal. And there have been a couple spurts of writing energy- finishing my first novel, my fantastic writing class with Holly Black, & my "author" interview. But it's been slow & coming for a long time now.

GOAL: So, for my week 4 goal I decided to get my writing mojo back & make a plan/schedule for writing. Also it's a chance to reassess what does & doesn't work for me when it comes to writing.

1. TWITTER: What may seem like a "time-waster" is actually one of my most inspiring helpful parts of the internet. I follow all sorts of authors & something about reading about their writing struggles makes me feel better. Also, lots of authors start "word wars" or "2k a day" spurts of writing. This sums up why I love twitter:

2. REINFORCEMENT: I sure do well with positive reinforcement- Scott & chocolate- but maybe it's time to have some negative consequences. Maybe I'll just give Scott a little teaser to zap me with whenever I stop writing? Okay, maybe not. But I did make this handy reminder for my desktop:

3. WRITING GROUP: Ah me, I could write for miles & miles on how much I love my writer group girls. They are not only amazing writers (you guys, I am not even joking they are jaw-dropping great writers) but they are there for me (little ol' me- not jaw-dropping writer) at all hours day or night. If you want to write, get ye a writing group that rocks.

4. SCHEDULE TIME: Sometimes it doesn't work for me to schedule an exact time to write, in general I don't do great with schedules, but to have a general goal. This week, now that the kids aren't in school I don't have to get everyone going first thing in the morning, I've been trying to write in the morning. My brain is a whole lot less full in the AM.

5. MUSIC: Ah me, music, I could not write without you. Here's a mini playlist from the beginning of the story I'm working on right now- it will be added upon 100 fold so feel free to recommend other music too:

6. PINTEREST:
I have a writing inspiration board & it's been awesome to use to to help out with writing ideas- quotes, setting pictures, characters, etc. My writer group girls do this too & I love reading their work, then seeing their pinterest boards to see how the envision the characters or setting.

CONCLUSION: It hasn't been as instantaneous inspiration as I thought it would be. But it's slowly coming. I finally settled on what I want to work on right now- something new-ish, not revising my last novel. I really need to remember how much I love writing, not get bogged down just yet with revising.

I'd say wish me luck, but I'm trying to remember that I make my own darn luck- this is a lovely necklace from a friend that reminds me of exactly that:

P.S. My past weekly goals- Week 1, Week2, & Week 3