So How's It Going? 3 Quick Tips for Getting UnStuck.

Here we are, freezing to death in the U.S. and we've got a week of editing under our belts. How many of you are flagging in your attention? How many of you are wishing you'd decided to write something instead? Yeah, I thought so... thought I detected a bit of unrest out there in the Twitterverse.

 

What to do when your editing muse deserts you? Ugh, the dreadful editing muse. I don't even know if muse is the right word here. Troll maybe? Sheesh. It seems the inner editor once let loose just can't stop. Ah, all that "it's not good enough'; 'you're writing is crap'; 'this story would be so much better if'--was easier to ignore when you were blazing through that first draft just trying to get something, anything on to the page. The self doubt comes roaring back and worse when you find a plot hole your muse seems to fail you. Here are three things I do to get the story back on track.

 

One: I reread the scene and then go for a walk. This helps immensely. It is a tried and true tactic that many famous writers have used throughout the millennia to get their work back together. There's something about physical exercise that increases blood flow to all the right areas. That is unless you've got someone smoking hot at your gym and then you're as powerless as I am in the face of the pheromones your body is dumping out. Who can think about work when you've got so many more deviant things to think about? Yummy. #reasonstobeagymrat Anyway, that's why I said walk folks. As in outdoors, smell the air. Walk past the hotties, try not to get distracted. You just Googled pics of abs, didn't you? I can't keep your attention at all...Sigh, this one's one me.

Two: Complain loudly on Twitter. There's a group of us there who do nothing but instigate things on Twitter all day long. If you have a writer problem, we're there to pick it apart and reset your muse. Get friends and get going.

 

Three: Make a list of everything you hate about where the story is going and why you hate it. Sometimes during the list an idea pops free, but sometimes I just hate what I made my characters do. That's right, sometimes there's nothing wrong with the scene as written, what's wrong is my appropriate emotional reaction to my own work and my Doubt Monster is all over me.

 

If all of that fails, hail me on Twitter and I will hunt down your Doubt Monster and punish it in some totally creative way

 

Love,

 

Melanie