Know What You're Writing

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

This month's optional question: Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

I can't remember where I first heard this "rule." It may not have even been in an English class and it's just one of those things that you always hear as a writer, but I've always hated it:

Write what you know. 

As a fiction writer, I've always found this advice incredibly stupid. If all I did was write what I know, it would be some pretty boring writing. While I've certainly written poetry from a personal perspective, most of my fictional characters have been nothing like me. Writers are always reaching outside of themselves to craft their stories, sometimes creating entire worlds that don't exist. If we only stuck to what we know, we wouldn't get very far. 

That being said, I think under the surface level, there is actually some good advice in this phrase. But to really understand it, I would want to rephrase it:

Know what you're writing.

This could cover so many different aspects that are important to writing a story. You want to know where your story is going (unless you're a pantser like me...), what you want it to be about, what kind of message you want to tell. You want to make sure you do your research for anything that you don't know when you start, whether that's a setting, the demographics for your characters, or really any topic that comes up in the story that you aren't already an expert on. 

It's important to at least have some idea about what you're writing when you start, even if you don't always know where it's going. But I think it's important to be aware of every aspect and be open to changing things when you know you got it wrong or it isn't working. 

So if you only wrote what you know, you're limiting yourself in what you can achieve. But if you don't know what you're writing, you may be stumbling blindly through that limitless space. 

Can AI Show Me the Way?

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

SO THIS POST WAS *SUPPOSED* TO GO UP AT 3 AM BUT MY BRAIN APPARENTLY MALFUNCTIONED AND I HAD IT SCHEDULED FOR THE TIME I WAS WORKING ON IT YESTERDAY AND I DIDN'T KNOW IT WASN'T UP UNTIL I GOT HOME FROM WORK. SO, YEAH....

Today I'm a co-host! And it's even more exciting because after 2:30 today I'm on vacation from work for my birthday (which is Friday). So after work I'm gonna cozy up with some coffee and get to visiting lots of blogs! The other fabulous co-hosts today are Feather Stone, Kim Lajevardi, Diedre Knight, and C. Lee McKenzie. Be sure to visit them and give them some love!

This month's optional question is: Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio?

I've never used AI before but I have thought about it. I would never want to use AI to replace any of my actual writing, but I've been wanting to try it out to help me brainstorm. It's just one of those things on the neverending list of things to try in order to help me figure out my book and get back into writing. 

I think I've actually blogged about this idea before, but I still haven't tried it. I've wondered if I could have AI read what I've written for my novel so far and then ask it to come up with an ending. I've been so stumped on how to write the last chapter of my book, and while that isn't the only reason I haven't been writing, it is a huge part of it. 

I figure this could have a couple different outcomes. Maybe something clicks for me with what the AI gives me and I'm able to figure out the end of my book. I would rewrite it myself, of course, since what I want out of this is ideas, not actual words. 

Or just reading what it gives me, even if it isn't any good, inspires me to get back into it myself. Maybe it will help me narrow down some possible endings by seeing that it doesn't work. Or maybe it'll be so bad that something will click in my brain and I'll finally come up with the answer on my own! 

Or maybe it'll be so bad that it'll just make for a really funny story that I can write a blog post or make a TikTok about. 

Worst case scenario, I'll get nothing from it and just be right where I started. And at least I'll have tried something that I've been meaning to try. I really have no idea how to go about doing this, but that's mostly because while I like to make lists, finishing them is another story. 

Would you use AI to help you when you're stuck? 

Down Bad

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

Have you ever related to a breakup song not because of a past romantic relationship, but because of the relationship that you had with one of your own fictional characters? No? Just me? Well, buckle up! 

Yes, I'm talking about a Taylor Swift song. Again. 

The song is called "Down Bad," and for the first few weeks of listening to it, I didn't think I related to it at all. Other than my husband, I only had one boyfriend for a couple months in high school, so I generally don't relate to breakup songs at all. I just don't have all that much experience. 

This song uses an alien abduction as a metaphor for being swept up in an intense romance that feels other-worldly, and then being left suddenly, stranded like none of it ever happened. 

Funnily enough, the connection hit me while I was at the gym (the first line of the chorus is "Now I'm down bad crying at the gym"). I've been in a writing rut for several years, so I'm not surprised I didn't pick up on it right away. So long, in fact, that if you're new here or just stopping by from the IWSG list, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about. But I realized I felt exactly the same way about my relationship with Jordan, my main character/muse from my novel Uneven Lines (that I've been off and on working on since 2011). 

I remember those first days of writing this particular story. The idea hit me out of nowhere, and the need to work on it was so intense that I would forget to eat or be physically bothered by the fact that I wasn't writing. I was obsessed with this story, and continued to be obsessed with it for years. Life, time, and energy always kept me from finishing it as quickly as that first short story. Turning it into a novel was a daunting task, but it was still an obsession. 

I also truly felt like Jordan was practically a real person who I had this intense relationship with that can really only happen with your own characters. It's some weird combo of best friend, brother, son, and arch enemy. I would talk to him. I felt his presence. I wanted to finish this book so badly and get it out into the world. 

But then one day it all kind of went away. Maybe it wasn't all at once and was more gradual than just being dropped in the middle of a field from an alien ship. But it definitely felt like being stranded. I felt like Jordan had left me. I felt like this story had left me. I loved working on it so much and I still long for the days where everything was intense and the ideas and the words just flowed so easily. 

One of my favorite lines in the song is: "Like I lost my twin." That's what it feels like. 

I feel like this post is getting more depressing than I intended. I just miss that feeling of wanting to work on something every second I could, because it's been so long since I've wanted to really work on anything at all. I don't know how to get that feeling back.

I guess I'll just keep staring at the sky, hoping he'll come back and pick me up. 

**here's the song if you'd like a listen, but just a warning, there are many many many f-bombs**

Deep Cleaning

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

I've been on a cleaning kick lately. My apartment tends to get dusty very easily and I'm determined to do as much as I can to make everything cleaner and neater. I've been deep cleaning the bathroom currently. Yesterday I scrubbed all the rust and dust off of a light fixture that I'm not sure if I've ever really cleaned. I want to tear apart my closet and find different storage bins to put all of my junk in so it won't get covered in dust. Basically, it's been quite the deranged mission for me lately.

What does any of this have to do with writing? WELL...nothing, really. But I couldn't think of a single thing to blog about and it was on my mind so I thought...I will ramble about this until something makes sense. 

I suppose the simplest correlation is that if I'm happy with my living space (which would also be my writing space if any writing were to actually happen), maybe it'll make writing easier. Maybe I'll be more inclined to focus on my writing if there wasn't a layer of dust piling up around me, or something that desperately needed scrubbing. I'll usually find some excuse not to write, and something like cleaning or dishes is usually the culprit. 

I'm also thinking about how my mental/creative energy functions. I know cleaning isn't all that creative, but I feel like the way I'm approaching it takes some creative thought. I'm thinking about different ways I want to organize and change things around my apartment. 

But maybe the main takeaway is that I think I have a hard time juggling multiple projects at once. On top of a full time job and just general life taking up time, if I have something like this that I really want to get done, I'm probably not going to force myself to try writing unless the inspiration really strikes (can it?? Please??? No, really, I'll stop cleaning). 

I do tend to get overwhelmed when I have too many things lined up. Even with my cleaning, I was all over the place until I decided to just focus on the bathroom for now before moving on to some other part of the apartment. I guess this explains why it's hard for me to work on more than one writing project at once. I need all of my focus to be on one thing so I can get it done properly and not get distracted. 

Anyway, I've rambled enough. I have no idea what point I was trying to make, but hey, I wrote something! Maybe I need to deep clean my brain...

Ooooo Something Shiny!!

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

This month's optional question: How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?

I'm definitely someone who gets distracted easily when I'm writing. Do you know that feeling when you sit down to write but you're pretty much doing everything BUT writing? You're listening to music for inspiration, mapping character arcs, reading writing books or blogs, watching writing videos, tweeting about writing (when I used to do that...), but not, you know, actually writing the words? That's always been me (when I was actively writing, at least). It's almost like I was always getting ready to write, but had a hard time actually getting a word count on most days. 

There are also those times that I will avoid the dishes all day but once I sit down to write suddenly I feel like it needs to be done now! If writers love writing, why does it always seem like we're trying to avoid it? 

I don't really have an answer. I don't think distractions are my biggest enemy. I struggle with time, energy, and inspiration. I also have a hard time forcing myself to write unless the sentence seems perfect in my head first. I spend a lot of time staring at the blank screen instead of just putting something there and getting on with it. I guess that means I'm distracted by my own perfectionism? I need to learn to just get the words down and fix it later. Writing some crappy words is better than writing no words. 

So, about the whole "actively writing" thing...I kinda...sorta...am?? I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but for some reason lately I couldn't stop thinking about a particular story idea I came up with a few years ago. And by a few, I mean seven. I initially called it Shiny New Story, since it was a brand new idea distracting me from what I was supposed to be working on. And, well...I still call it that, even though it's definitely not new anymore. But I do think I could once again classify it as Shiny!

I started reading what I had written for it, and well...I started writing it again. I had a lot of little snippets scattered throughout the book, so I just started a new document and I'm working on Chapter One right now. It's a little slow going (because of the aforementioned perfectionism...) but I want to keep pushing myself to work on it as much as I can so I don't lose that inspiration.

Hopefully I can stay on the shiny path for the foreseeable future. 

Everything Has Changed

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

This month's optional question is: How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

I had to actually look back through my blog archive to remember how long it's been since my very first blog post. I started this blog on May 26, 2011. So, we're creeping up on 13 years, which many people may see as unlucky (unless you're a Taylor Swift fan). My very first post was not only about starting the blog, but also the decision I'd made to develop a short story I'd written into a novel. Well, 13 years later and said novel still isn't done. So, yeah, not feeling the luck. 

But I digress. 

I've always liked blogging because I can talk about the writing process, whether that process is actually happening or not. We can share our frustrations and successes, and interact with other writers. Finding a community of writers to connect with has definitely been the best part of blogging, and the IWSG is a huge part of that. Without these monthly posts, I probably wouldn't be blogging at all. Maybe if I was actually writing I would have more things to blog about, but it's nice to have this monthly staple to keep me going. 

For me, blogging used to be way more involved. I remember a time where I was blogging three times a week, taking part in numerous blog hops (and even creating my own!) and book tours for other authors. Like I said above, now I only post once a month. I think a lot of bloggers aren't as active as they used to be. I couldn't really say why because I have my own personal reasons for not doing it as much, mainly creative burnout and lack of time/energy. I don't keep up with others' blogs as much as I'd like, either. 

It does make me a bit sad to think of how fun and involved blogging used to be, but I know at least for now that I don't want to give up on it completely. So I guess I'll see you next month! 

Lists Upon Lists Upon Lists

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

How is it March already? How am I so behind on my goals for the year?? I got a fancy new planner for Christmas and I've barely used it, even though I swore this would be the year that I stuck with it (who was I kidding?). Well, I'm determined not to give up, even if I hit a few setbacks. 

This week I dove right back into the planner. I really have to focus on losing weight, so that's the majority of what I'm doing, but I'm also writing down goals for the week, whether that's errands or cleaning or doing my taxes (I've never been this late doing them...I usually get them done the second we get our W-2s), and making sure I read at least 30 minutes and floss my teeth every day. So, it's a start!

Of course, I'd like to add writing (or at least writing related activities) to my planner, but where to start? I've had so many different ideas and goals that I don't even know what to focus on first. 

Well, since I could easily work this into my planner, I think I need to make some lists! Making lists is easy! It's doing them that gets trickier. But the first step is to make them! 

I know I want to go through my past blog posts and make a list of all of the ideas I've had to get myself back into writing. That's probably where I need to start. But then all of those ideas could probably spawn lists of their own! Soon I'll have lists of lists of lists! 

But seriously, I think if I actually write down my goals, it will help me to be able to accomplish them. Instead of just having all of these ideas and this pressure floating around in my head, I can actually have something in front of me that I can look at and choose what to do next. I think part of the reason why I haven't been doing anything creative is that I feel overwhelmed. If I can focus on just one tiny task at a time, it might actually lead to some productivity. 

Now the next step is to actually do it! Instead of just saying that I'm going to do it...I should probably write it in my planner. 

Do you make lists to help you with your writing goals?