RTW and a Birthday

I’m doing RTW on Thursday! Booyah! That’s how I roll!

But first, yesterday (Wednesday) was the birthday of my most favoritest person: Mr. Atkins. He even had a milestone birthday–the big Three Oh! So I just want to give a showt owt to my hubs, because frankly, he’s awesome.

Aww…

Snap!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic. This week’s question:How do you beat writer’s block?

I generally get writer’s block for two reasons: lack of motivation and lack of direction/ideas/where to go next. Let’s break this down shall we?

Lack of Motivation

Or LoM as I affectionately (or not-so-affectionately–damn you LoM!) call it is typically what I hit the most often. I’m scared to write because it’ll suck. I’m too tired. I’d rather watch Psych. Somehow cleaning sounds like a good idea right now (you know something’s wrong when I’d rather clean than write!).

How do I banish ye olde evil LoM? In two ways:

1. Read Back Chapters (or anything else I’ve written, though if it’s part of the story I’m currently working on that’s better.)

Why does this work for me? For two reasons: I remember how much I love my characters/the story/writing. And Dos: I might stumble upon something I wrote that I really, really like and I get excited.

It’s important to remember why I write and to be reminded that I can write (and that’s not a bad thing to tell yourself!).

2. Listen to my WiP playlist.

This conjures up the feelings I associate with my WiP. It gets my writing-mojo going and I’m like, “YEAH! Let’s do this!” I’ll hear a char’s personal anthem and be all, “I can’t wait to write about this char again!” Most of the time, listening to music makes me exclaim things.

Lack of Ideas

LaI, perhaps even more insidious than LoM. I want  to write, but I can’t think of what to write. Oh writing muses, how can you have forsaken me?!

I’ll usually sit down and try to pound something out on the keyboard. But it sucks, so I delete it. Then I get up and do some laundry. Come back to the laptop. Still nothing. Take the dogs for a walk. Return with a blank mind to a blank screen. If still nothing’s coming, I gotta take matters into my own hands. Literally. I get out a piece of paper and write notes down.

“Why the freaking hoohah can’t I think of anything? Audrey! You need to do something. What do teenagers do? Go to the mall? Write an emo poem? Go to the beach and learn to surf? PERFECT!”

Somehow, the switch from typing to writing also flips a switch in my brain. I prefer to type when I write because even though I type over 90 wpm, my fingers still can’t keep up with my brain. But whenever I take notes on my work, I much prefer to write. It causes me to slow down and think a little slower. (Not always an easy task for me!)

I’ve also taken to thinking about my chars at night as I try to fall asleep. It’s become something of a ritual for me–it actually helps me fall asleep faster. Weird, huh? (No one said I wasn’t weird…) Anyhow! I’ve discovered new ideas and also some solutions during this time. I don’t know why it works, but by golly, I’ll take it!

So! The next time I’ll listen to my music, read my own stories, and try to fall asleep simultaneously.

LIKE A BOSS!