Office Hours: Spring Haze

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What’s New

courtyardgarden.jpg

  • End of the school year

  • Spring fever/cabin fever

  • ennui

Weekly Topic: Redirection and Revision

  • Writer’s block?

    • Take a shower/drive

    • Do something else. Distract yourself from whatever you’re dwelling on

    • Write something else

    • Try working in a different place

    • If you listen to music while writing change the music. The Dark Side of Chopin

  • Not so much block as lack of focus. It’s not like I’m not thinking about what I’m writing. I think about it all the time. But all that thinking is high level, “How do I bring this thing home” thinking rather than what words do I write next thinking. I sit down to write a scene and I immediately project 3-4 scenes ahead to where this scene might lead, or I think 2 – 3 scenes back to revisions that I’ll need to do to shore up the ending that I want. And did I stick with this theme, and what about my B-story? Can I put that one thing off to the next book or does it need to happen before the end of this book. All that big picture thinking obscures the scene that I need to write. So how do I get back on track?

    • Revision notes: Keep a notebook, virtual or otherwise handy for jotting down notes on revisions that are needed.

    • Plot break – If you can’t get your mind off the big picture, then step back and look at it. What is it about the big picture that you think is incomplete and how can you fix that?

    • Writing prompt: Same characters, different situation. It helps to have someone else give you the situation.

    • Take a REAL break. Most writers that I know are struggling to write just now. Early in this I was trying to stay productive in those non-writing times by working on marketing, YouTube videos, taxes, and other things related to the business of writing. But sometimes, you just have to step away. For me that was last weekend. It was all garden all the time. For the first time in months, I didn’t even think about the book and it was so refreshing not to wake up anxious about the time it’s taking to finish this, or whether you all are going to like it or hate it. I have to remind myself sometimes that it’s okay to do that. Sometimes, my work ethic verges on pathological and I get very cranky and down on myself when I don’t see myself being productive.

 

What I’m Writing

  • Still Book4 because the last week was SO unproductive

What I’m Reading

 What I’m Watching

  • Schitt’s Creek - Don’t get me started on how much I love this show and its characters. I just hope that one day I can meet Dan Levy and thank him for the gift that is this show

What I’m Crafting

  • My garden. Not much else

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