Hello everyone and welcome back! I am significantly more coherent than I was yesterday. At least so far, which is good. I have a strong dislike for super migraines, but sadly are a part of my life that part of me is convinced I will need to live with forever. Like I said, mostly better though. Also, my fetch-playing kitten Osiris, has once again lost his collar. Last time he brought it back to me, so I'm hoping that happens again because I have no idea where it's at.
There's been a bunch going on in writing lately, and if you follow the NaNoWriMo people on Twitter at all you may have seen they're doing something called Camp NaNoWriMo. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I see them doing word sprints and such during the day, which are a great way to bust through writer's block. If you don't believe me because you think writing a whole bunch all at once seem to be the opposite, give me the chance to explain.
If you go to write-ins during NaNoWriMo in November then you've heard of these too. They can be fun, and are usually between large groups. How it works is you give yourself an amount of time, usually between 15 and sometimes 20 minutes, and then you just write as much as you possibly can. Generally if there are more people involved it's done up as a competition and there's some kind of "prize" involved, like candy. Competition even if it's just against yourself can be a startling motivator against writer's block because it causes your brain to basically say, "Screw this I'm not losing to Jim, he's writing a weird slash-fic!" This causes the wall to come crashing down by way of lots of words in a very short amount of time.
This is similar to the 'ripping off the Band-Aid' method of doing things. Writer's block is a terrible thing and if left to sit there with the hopes it'll just go away on its own or you'll just give it a bit more time and it'll fade, you run the risk of it never leaving. Doing something sudden, like a word sprint, is really helpful because it forces you to think differently and sometimes that's really what you need in order to get passed it. A lot of the time, writer's block isn't caused by a lack of ideas, but rather too much focus on the topic that you become overwhelmed, so looking from a different perspective, like say that of a competition, is a great way to kick-start your brain back into working. Also, a lot of the time you are able to work from the spot your sprint ended much easier to make progress on your story, not to mention since it's just a whole bunch of words falling into the page, sometimes things take a turn you weren't expecting, and that can be a lot of fun.
Remember, that's the key to writing this summer (aside from staying cool, because wow laptops heat up) have fun with whatever you're doing. If you don't enjoy it, the writer's block won't go away even if you try something from a different angle. Having the want to write a book because you think that it's something you should do and the will, and also the drive to do so are all part of it, but if you don't like the process, it's going to be a miserable experience and having writer's block is a sign that you need to take a look at what you're doing. These words sprints the NaNoWriMo guys are holding look like a lot of fun, and the ones I've done in the past at write-ins super were (and not just because I type super fast and got candy) so if you are having some trouble and just need to work from a different angle, try it out. Set a timer at time and see what happens, because sometimes just challenging yourself is a fun competition too.
Thanks everyone for stopping by today! Remember, you can get 'Rending the Seal' now for 50% off at the Smashwords Summer Sale, so please spread the word around. I would really appreciate it. The more people see the more word gets out about the book series and I'm sure you've all figured out how I feel about advertising by now. In the meantime, I hope you have a nice rest of your week, try to stay cool if where you live is stupid hot, and have fun!
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