Somebody Thinks I’m Beautiful

I had a pleasant surprise waiting for my on Twitter on Monday morning. Sydney Aaliyah had nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award!

I am truly flattered.

So, now I shall go forth and attempt to bring no disappointment to my nominator.

This was really hard trying to narrow it down to only seven people to nominate this award to... but in the end, these are people who have really picked me up, encouraged me, and taught me how to expand on my craft through their own writing.

Writing is Easy... Right?

Terry Rossio, an American screen writer, is quoted saying, “It takes courage to be a writer. Courage to face yourself, work through your demons and make your art.”

But wait a minute. Being a writer is the easiest job in the world, isn’t it? I mean, all you have to do is:

1. Come up with an idea.
2. Write down the idea.
3. Get published.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the alternative end steps, like, become famous, retire early, and live luxuriously off the millions from book sales. Sound too good to be true? Probably because it is.

So Many Stories, So Little Time

The other day I had an entire afternoon to myself and got the chance to squeeze in some extra writing. This does not happen very often.

The only thing I had to do was about two weeks’ worth of laundry (yeah, I’d sort of let it stock pile). Anyway, I was elated at the idea of having a few hours to work on my manuscript, aiming to add at least a thousand words.

Which path shall I take?

Alright, so here’s the thing: I’ve got so many story ideas locked up inside my brain that it’s hard to concentrate on just one at a time. Some of the ideas have been floating around in my brain since I was a preteen, so many are pretty well developed – plot wise – and most feel like they’re all but written, pun intended.

5 Core Practices for Killing Writer’s Block

In last week’s post, I talked about a time when I had given up on writing. It was a dark time in my personal life when I lost all will to continue my craft. It was a sort of chronic Writer’s Block.

Learn how to drool words all over the page!

I’ve heard some writers talk about Writer’s Block like it’s some make-believe disorder of the brain. They say they don’t believe in it. I, on the hand, totally believe and know that it’s not some imaginary ailment.

However, I also believe that Writer’s Block is something that comes from within and only has power over you that you allow it to have.

I think that if you profess Writer’s Block too often, it’ll begin to feel more like the “dog ate my homework” excuse. You can’t just say you have Writer’s Block whenever you don’t feel like writing.

On the contrary, sometimes your puppy really does eat your homework. You can only bring your shredded pile of paper forward as proof. The key here is that you tried.