I've been struggling these last few weeks to reconcile the two goals I have for my social media accounts, so I'm splitting them. On one hand, I want to express myself specifically to my friends and family members. I want to write about silly adventures and my publishing successes. I want to post anecdotes and philosophies and other things I find interesting. On the other hand, I also want to write for writers. I want to be able to contribute to writing communities by reviewing resources, offering writing advice (whatever good my advice would do), and encouragement. Instead of doing either of those things, I've been trying to write to some middle ground on this blog. As I've kicked up my social media habits in the last few weeks, my Instagram account has come to look positively schizophrenic. I'm alternating selfies with writing prompts, pictures of my dog with blog posts about writer's block. Who even is that person? So, to maintain my sanity (as much
It's that time of year again: NaNoWriMo season! I have a novel draft I needed to get out, and just in time, too! For the uninitiated. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is November of every year. People from all around the world set a goal to write a 50,000 word draft of a novel by the end of the month, which roughly translates to around 1,667 words a day. The idea is that finishing a first draft--finally getting that novel you've been dreaming of writing--out of your head and on paper is incredibly encouraging. It empowers writers to really believe they can do it--they can write a whole book! I totally get that NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone, but I've had repeated success getting out first drafts under the pressure of the daily writing goal. Some people work well with deadlines, and I happen to be one of them! I don't do NaNo every year, because I don't have an idea every year. Or an outline. Or a set amount of time I can
I've written on being blocked before , but coming fresh out of a bout of block makes me want to revisit the subject. Also, it's been a while. In the last four years, I've experienced a few bouts of writer's block and each time it's horrific. I've been depressed before, and for me writer's block doesn't feel far off. I can't focus on the story; everything I write seems bland, paltry, or cliche; and I'm obsessed with the likelihood of my own failure. I start to wonder what the point is on an existential scale. Like, why am I writing about space cowboys when it's unlikely I'll ever live to see Andromeda? The universe cares nothing for me, and less for the stories I haven't written. But, of course, eventually I work my way through it; usually, as I wrote way back in 2011, through conversation. Explaining the story to someone else gets me out of the trap of my own judgment. I no longer focus on what I hate about the story, but on
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