ganbatte NaNo!

A magician pulling a rabbit, cards, flowers, fish and pigeons out of a top hat.

How do you get in the mood to pull a story out of your hat? (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Recently I stumbled upon an article about writing blocks that made perfect sense: the reason why we put off writing and other things is because we aren’t in the mood for them. (It’s in the Atlantic online, and called “The Procrastination Doom Loop — and How to Break It”. Link below.)

Now, I’ve read a lot of articles and books about procrastination that try to dig out the underlying reasons. They say we fear failure. Or we fear success. Or maybe we fear something else.

But being a shallow person, none of that deep stuff resonated. No, what really hit me in the gut was the shallow reason: I put things off because “I don’t wanna.” I’m waiting until I’m in the mood.

And I have to admit, when I’m in the mood for writing and it’s going well, it’s better than anything. I really love it.

But writing when I’m not in the mood? Everything drags, and I feel like I’d be better off doing almost anything else.

So, this is all fine and good, but the problem is, the article didn’t mention a thing about how to get into a good mood for writing. Continue reading →

A hallway of a building that is being torn down. There is a circular light at the end of the dark hall.

Story under construction! There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. (Photo by Nelson Alexandre Rocha via Wikimedia Commons)

I haven’t been reading much lately. It’s been busy at work, and I’ve allowed the computer to take over my free time, and then there’s this National Novel Writing Month thing, which I have been neglecting. Neglecting, but still allowing it to take over a lot of my brain space and nervous energy. Seriously, it would be simpler and quicker if I’d stop worrying and just sit down and get a word count in, but for some reason, I think I’m too tired for it. And instead of going to bed like a reasonable adult, I watch just one little short YouTube, and wind up turning the light off far later than I’d planned. It’s a vicious cycle.

A simple piece of advice: don’t search Tim Minchin on YouTube this month, if you want to stick to “just one little short one.” Just don’t. He’s long, and funny, and filthy and you’ll either be flipping through his whole catalogue, or you’ll be too angry to sleep.

I think one of the reasons week two is traditionally the toughest week of NaNo is the same reason I hate Tuesday. You know, the first part was fun. Getting to know the characters, adding new writing buddies, being freshly passionate and promising to write the hell out of this month . . . . . Now that I think about it, February has the same problem. After the resolutions and the mad dash of the first week of January, we’re just blah and tired and not quite sure if it was all a good idea or not.

Well, Chris Baty tells us in his book, No Plot? No Problem that week three will be better, if Continue reading →