When the Words Just... Blegh.

So what do you do when you're really motivated to write but when you sit down, your brain shuts down and refuses to cooperate? Turn on music? Drink some coffee? Yoga? Brain bribery? (Hey Brain, if you do this for me, I'll do the New York Times crossword alllll week.) Actually, I haven't tried that last one yet. But as I continue editing, I find that what I think I'm about to accomplish and what my actual creative output has in mind are in complete schizoid universes. So what does any average person sitting at the computer do when stumped? Why, we ask Google, of course!

"Dear Google, how do I get over writer's block?"

I like to show Google that I can be polite, so sometimes I ask it very nicely. First hit is a link to an

Entrepreneurial Ramblings

blog. That was a copy paste so that I didn't have to type out

Entrepreneurial

but I kind of like the effect. It does sound very important. However, the second link had six whole ideas for me to get my groove back. Courtesy of problogservice.com, the first point of advice was to carry a notebook with you at all times. I'd love to, but my job makes it rather difficult, so I skipped to number two: write something else. Okay, but while editing? Maybe not. Step three, then. Write it in an email instead. Yeah, still not for the editing, but clever! Number four? Pick a different environment. Now that was something I'd done before, and sure enough, I can usually crack down on at least a few more paragraphs. Step five was to write nonsense. Again, editing. And lucky you and lucky me, the last one on the list ended up being the most help out of all the other "feel good" solutions.

QUIT WAITING TO BE INSPIRED.

And yes, I was the one who put it in all caps. Because I'M YELLING AT MY BRAIN. Sometimes I think we let ourselves get suckered by all the creative writing classes we had to take in school or by the romantic ideas of having completed a piece of work. When it comes down to it, if I really want to polish that pile of crud I spewed out during NaNo, I can't just sit and mope about how that one sentence really just wasn't exactly how I wanted to express the cut of the character's jacket. I will never, ever finish editing if I treat my novel like a delicate little flower. No, this bitch is more like fresh bread dough. I'm going to stir it up, pound the shit out of it, leave it alone for a couple hours, then pound the shit out of it some more. Now if you'll excuse me..

I have a novel that needs edited. May you be as angrily inspired as I am.

New House

So last fall, I came back from vacation and some very dear friends of ours sent us a sheepish message informing us that they bought a house. Of course, I was pretty flabbergasted. We had only been gone about a week, and they went off and bought a house? But the more we talked to them about it, the more we came to realize, that especially in this economy....

we might be able to buy a house.

What.

I was torn between feeling extraordinarily grown up and responsible and also wanting to have a winning lottery ticket show up in my mailbox, because houses are lots and lots of dollars.

So we did the sensible thing and had a little chat with the realtor who had found our friends the cutest damn house. And guess what? Now we're buying a house.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a short sale with two loans involved, and our lovely, wonderful, saintly patient realtors warned us that it might take a few months if not longer for everything to go through the proper channels. Luckily, it hasn't. We got the call two days ago that our offer was approved, and now the inspection is scheduled for Friday. This Friday. For my pretty new house. (Assuming they don't find that the foundation was built over a volcanic slime pit of mold or something. But we're hoping for the best.) So what does this mean for me? And for NaNo?

Remodeling. And decorating. And lots and lots of painting. And one of the best parts of all is that it has a deck off the upper level. It's a split level, so the deck isn't quite as high as a second story would be, which is just awesome. This is especially relevant with warm weather creeping in through the weeks. I was thinking the other day while editing how fantastic it would be to set up the deck with pillows and cushions and blankets and a weather-proof outlet so that I could plug in my laptop and lounge about outside while writing? I then proceeded to give myself a high-five and create a Pinterest board for all the lovely ideas that I will try valiantly to recreate on my budget.

In celebration of this, I am going to pry myself off the internet and go pack so very many things.

Beer

Just so we're clear, I love beer.

Editing

Really? Editing? You might be thinking what I was thinking. NO FUCKING WAY. I don't edit my stories. I do, in fact, abhor my previous writing attempts. But it just happened that way. It was a crummy day, I was pissed off, drank a few beers, and then *BAM*, out comes the laptop and I'm clacking away on a first edit of His Boys, my first completed NaNo. In this process, I have realised one very, very important thing.

It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

Mind you, I may still never see it as publishable material, but I think I'm growing rather fond of a world where my detective has a chance to at least see the light of day once in a while. This of course leads to other dark and twisted thoughts. Thoughts like actually finishing and polishing up my most recent NaNo accomplishment, Angel Tears. If Alex gets a chance, why not the rest of my characters?

Who knows, I may turn into a writer yet. Or an alcoholic. They're certainly not mutually exclusive.

It's Really Over

Well, NaNoWriMo is done again for the year. For the last week and a half, I've been wandering around the house, dazed at how much time I have when I'm not glued to the monitor. The house is once again clean, the Christmas tree is up and decorated, and I've been working on purging the not-so-good food out of my system.

So now what?

Many of my Wrimo friends are still writing, and I say, "Kudos to them!" I, however, do not ever want to look at my novel again, just like last year. After so much anger at the word count, I do believe that I've transferred that anger to the entirety of the work. Oops. I've read a couple books, The Hunger Games and The Other Boleyn Girl. That seems to have satisfied my literary cravings for the time being.

Guess it'll be Christmas knitting right up to the end of the line. I can live with that!

Pass Not Judgment

So I've been thinking a lot about how readily our culture makes sport of judging other people. With all the reality shows and websites that have cropped up, it's really become second nature to ridicule those around us. Peopleofwalmart.com is a prime example, because it is so damn easy to laugh. SO DAMN EASY. And here's where the challenge comes in, especially for all you people doing NaNoWriMo this year. Every time you're out in public or watching tv or surfing the internet, become aware of how you judge people based on their looks or actions. Is it a super skinny girl in revealing clothing? A large family of non-white origin speaking in their native tongue? An old woman with her lipstick astray and her pants hiked up to her navel? A guy with a muscle tee in a jacked-up truck? Become aware. Why do you look down on them? What right have you to assume they are ignorant or crazy or a redneck? As you create characters for NaNo, think of how their childhoods and life experiences shaped them, and then turn around and apply that in reverse to the world around you. That overweight woman in the lime green leopard spandex was once a little girl with dreams. Maybe she wanted to be an astronaut, but her family and her teachers and her classmates told her she was too fat and too dumb, and eventually, she believed it. As the Doctor once put it, "Be the best of humanity." I challenge you not to pity, but to try and understand. The more you can show compassion without bias, the happier you will be, and the more beautiful the world will become.

APiaDaMo

While pinning around on pinterest, I came across an interesting concept that I'd seen before, but never connected to NaNoWriMo (which we all know is National Novel Writing Month and occurs in November.) Basically, the idea is to draw a picture every day for a month. So I thought to myself, "why not make this a precursor to NaNo?" And then we did. For every day in October, a few of us have decided to draw every day based off a list that we've created. Feel free to tag along as we scribble our way toward inspiration.

Day 1: a plant

Day 2: a main character

Day 3: some weather

Day 4: a room

Day 5: something beautiful

Day 6: something ugly

Day 7: a weapon

Day 8: a constellation

Day 9: an npc (non-main character) or a vendor

Day 10: an animal

Day 11: a piece of technology

Day 12: a piece of furniture

Day 13: a gift

Day 14: a map

Day 15: the contents of a bag or pocket

Day 16: an accessory

Day 17: a villain

Day 18: a mode of transport

Day 19: something of monetary value

Day 20: a piece of clothing or an outfit

Day 21: a tool

Day 22: a sidekick

Day 23: a meal

Day 24: a toy

Day 25: a religious item or relic

Day 26: a temporary shelter

Day 27: a trap

Day 28: the view out a window

Day 29: a tattoo or a scar

Day 30: a building

Day 31: the front cover!

Remember that this is intended to inspire your upcoming story, and that we simply tried to think of things that would fit many stories, but not all. If you really want to draw something that's not on this list, go for it! You may not even end up using a single picture out of this project either, but if you do, just think about how many words you can use by describing any one of your pieces. I for one could probably fill up at least a chapter describing just one villain.

A sketchbook is one of the most obvious portable ideas for this draw-a-thon, but creativity knows no bounds. A pad of jumbo sticky notes, a keyring of flash cards, a collage out of magazines, anything goes. 

Lastly, I will be posting these a day in advance with a daily reminder of the current topic on twitter. Click here to follow me. 

P.S. APiaDaMo stands for A Picture a Day Month. Aren't I just clever.