I had my first block this week. Something was off about what I was writing so I took an afternoon to try out a new method of unblocking.
What I did was write out on paper these questions:
1. What is not working? 2. Why isn’t it working? 3. What are ways that I can fix it?
I picked up this idea for watching and listening to interviews with Sarah J. Maas. The reason I am trying her way of getting through blocks is because she’s writing books that I enjoy and the kinds of stories I want to complete writing.
I have written 11K words so far and the method of writing it scene by scene instead of chapters is working really well for me.
I have written three novels so far that range in length and they taught me a lot about the process of writing. I have learned what works for me and what doesn’t work.
I have given myself the deadline of March 9, 2025 to get 90K words done. I am hoping to be done long before that but I like that I have given myself the last few months of my 41st year to do it.
This week I tried a new approach to writing a novel. Instead of trying to plot out the whole thing in advance and write chapter by chapter, I decided to aim for writing one scene at a time. I spent some time writing out on little cue cards the scenes I wanted to write this week and then wrote one or more a day. My goal was an average of 1000 words a day and so far I have been able to maintain that.
I do not want to burn myself out so I am taking time to check in with myself to see what I need. I do not want to overdue it like I have in the past. One of the reason I quit the whole NaNoWriMo scene is because at the end of those months I wouldn’t have any energy left to review what I wrote and then the manuscripts would sit dead on my hard drive.
Side note regarding a story uploaded to Wattpad – apparently one of them was too spicy for them to handle so they took it down. Was this censorship? It absolutely was but it’s their platform and they get to choose what content is allowed on there. Ah well, I will just have to consider this constructive criticism and do some re-writes.
I am going to be adding some of my older works to Wattpad. They will be things that I wrote in the past but didn’t feel were good enough to try and pitch to anyone. If you want to follow me on Wattpad – here’s the link:
There’s a lot of spice in my writing because I like spice. I think the genre that I lean towards is “Romantasy” because I read a lot of it and enjoy it. I try to create a sex positive vibe in my writing but try not to glorify it.
I have been in a rut since this summer. I had some time to be a mermaid swimming in the lake but after that was over I fell into limbo and I have been struggling to get out of it. Some of that was tided to some rapid changes in my life.
It all started when I choose to leave a toxic friendship. This person had been in and out of my life for the better part of the last 20 years and they repeatedly hurt me with their actions and words. I decided that enough was enough and stopped all contact. That left me with some grieving to do and some anger to process.
Then came a chaotic time at my job. Things were rapidly changing and even now I do not know where the other shoe will drop or when. The one good thing that came out of that was my job is now much simpler and a lot less stressful. This has given me time to think about the future.
That brings me to right now. I am in the process of laying the foundation for my future and what I want it to be. I am using my current living situation and circumstances to help me get to the place I want to be. In order to help me stay accountable for all this, I am going to start up this blog again. It will not just be my videos and photos anymore – part of my soul will be put on these pages.
I am at the start of something I am going to call “Project Fox Hunt”. This is a novel series that will be the culmination of the last 10 years of creative world building. This is the first year that I am not participating in NaNoWriMo because I don’t find it helpful. I need to create new habits to help me achieve my dream of being a published writer.
Once a week, I’ll post an update about my progress here. I am currently at the start of the rough draft. I am writing in bits and spurts as I carve out time to write in a focused way. When I am not working on that and am in need of a break – I will turn to my hobbies to allow my brain to process the story in the background.
Below is a video for a Night Court playlist to help me set the mood for writing and creating. ACOTAR is one of my all time favorite book series. It was one of the first fantasy series that I read that brought together romance and adventure in a way that I thought was lacking in other books. It also had a complex cast of characters that I fell in love with.
Clara D Munro 