[Spirit Deer]

Can you manually write the paper 'cards' to recipe cards till you can get the real thing? Or see if there is a business card size you could use to print them on cardstock? Sounds like a handy tool for you.

Could you store a big corkboard behind a couch or headboard and tack your info up to make a storyboard you can get out when you need it? Or hang a board over a door?

 

[renmerc446]

Right now I"m being a bit lazy, where the cards are concerned. I would have to go out to the local Staples to get them printed on cardstock or pick up recipe cards. I think the biggest issue is trying to find large enough space to lay them out properly, especially if I start doing interconnected landscape prompts.

 

[renmerc446]

Finally got "some" writing done. Again, mostly tweaking what I already have so far. I seem to be stuck at this point but I just need to keep at it. I have the feeling that once I get past this writer's block, it should start flowing a bit more easily. I think I need to get back out to the area I'm using as the basis for my setting more often, especially now that the weather's getting colder. On one hand, the colder weather might be helpful since I'm starting the story in the middle of winter. On the other, I don't really want to be walking or driving around in winter weather myself. :lol:

 

[Spirit Deer]

The best way to get past a block is to just continue with the story. You'll feel like it's the worst thing you've ever written, complete trash, nothing you ever want to see the light of day much less an editor, that you have no talent so who are you trying to kid, that little babies in the cradle could write a better novel than whatever crap you're keying in, pick whatever self-insult you prefer. But just write what comes to mind and tell the evil anti-Muse to go straight back to hell where she came from. You may feel discouraged during it but set your work aside for a day or two. DO NOT READ IT FIRST! You will be surprised when you reread it how good it is, and be able to carry on with your story. Tweaking is good sometimes, but if you're doing it because you're blocked, that's just procrastination.

Of course I wouldn't know anything about writer's block, since everything I write is gold and the words flow like water. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Seriously, you can get beyond it. Just remind your snotty little bratty block who's in charge and kick it to the curb.

 

[renmerc446]

Thanks for the confidence boost! Yeah, the writer's block is one of the reasons I continue to make time to write every Sunday, even if I just futz around a bit. It's my time to work on writing and I want to keep that mindset going. No excuses.

And yeah, I think part of the tweaking has been procrastination. (That's my biggest problem.) But I also had a couple of ideas that came to mind and I went back to weave them into what I already had. What I think I'm going to do now that the weather's getting colder and I'm likely going to stay inside more is carve out some time on Saturdays to write or do writing related work (worldbuilding, mess around with the Story Engine Deck/Deck of Worlds). More time spent on writing will lead to more work and (hopefully) more discipline, rather than procrastination.

 

[Spirit Deer]

It's good to maintain your Sunday writing habit. I used to write every weekday morning, back when I was getting paid. A potential paycheck was a great incentive! Sadly, I'm all out of the habit now.

I hope you can bust through your block. I know how hard that can be. But just remember, you can't edit a blank page, so don't wait too long to force yourself to move forward.

 

[renmerc446]

So true! I do have a couple of ideas I'm planning on getting down on the page. At this point, I just need to stop tweaking what I DO have and just put notes in the comments to remind myself to go back later to add things and just push forward with what I have. Actually, an idea just popped into my head (related to what I was tweaking before) that will likely help me move past the block. Just images of potential scenes or at least a few lines as a montage. Yay!! Getting my thoughts down on paper before I lose them while I'm at work.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I always loved the highlight feature in Word. I just wrote my notes right in the body of the ms. and highlighted them. Can't miss them on edit and doing it that way didn't interrupt my writing flow. It saved me from having to shuffle around looking for notes and connect where they go because a lot of my notes are very brief, like one word, just a reminder.

I should have worked harder to get ready for NaNo. My current WIP which I haven't worked on in yrs was a project I had been severely blocked on for several yrs. I had only a couple chaps done so went with it. I didn't win but got a lot done, most of which was usable. This yr I didn't even have the ghost of an idea. I guess that would be an extra challenge to go from nothing.

 

[renmerc446]

I've been using the highlight feature more on this WIP. I think you mentioned it before. Mostly if it's something I think my become relavent later. I tend to keep using the comments feature to make notes that are more questions to myself than anything else since that's what I'm used to.

 

[Spirit Deer]

I never got used to the comments. One of the other editors used it on the magazine. It was okay though. Word has so many nice features. Too bad they got rid of Clippie to help me learn about them. LOL

 

[renmerc446]

I started with using the comments, rather than the highlighting feature. To each, their own. Yeah, Chippie was useful.

I remembered to bring my notes home with me last night so I have them as a prompt this weekend. Yay!! I would've remembered on my own but this way I have what I was thinking down on paper.

 

[renmerc446]

Finally got some new material written in my WIP. I think the new macguffin will definitely make the story stronger, given what I already had. It ties things together a lot better and gives the MCs a reason to get out and do things, rather than wait around for people to come to them. Not to mention the potential road blocks some of the characters will likely throw in their way.

 

[Spirit Deer]

Excellent!

 

[renmerc446]

SD - yay! I even had a brief snippet of one of the mCs (minor main character) doing a bit of a freak-out in my head. "When were you going to tell me you were looking into X!!" sort of deal. That freak-out will take place later in the story than where I am now, after the MCs (main characters) have spent some time asking around for person X (who either is or knows person X).

 

[renmerc446]

Wheee! I was skimming through some folklore and got an idea for my 'backburner' WIP. I'm not currently working on that WIP because I didn't really have much of a focus for it. But I think I found something that can be used as a basis for a plot, which gives the MCs something to look into. Right now, they're just looking into some random street graffiti and a dropped necklace (the current macguffin). I can still use the necklace in the new plot idea and more neatly ties that to a death that literally happens just outside the MCs' workplace.

Right now, I'm just going to let this simmer a bit in the back of my mind and focus on the WIP I'm currently working on.

 

[Spirit Deer]

You're on a roll! Sounds like your characters are starting to take some control.

 

[renmerc446]

I sure hope so. I like having the two WIP so if I get truly stuck on one WIP, I can switch to the other and let the first one stew in the background.

Doing research on folklore, even at a really superficial level, is helpful. Besides giving me the ideas I just thought of, I can go back and skim through my notebooks, rather than having to go online and potentially go down the internet black hole.

 

[renmerc446]

This week's been both good and bad regarding my writing.

Bad news is I'm thinking of my backburner WIP more than the one I've been working on recently.

Good news is I'm coming up with better plot ideas than I had in the past. I think I'm getting closer to an actual plot on that WIP. Definitely coming up with better ideas for world-building, at the very least.

Don't know if I want to switch WIPs just yet or continue working on my current one while I do more world building on the backburner WIP.

 

[renmerc446]

Yay! Got some more writing done yesterday on my current WIP. Not as much as I would've liked but it was all new material. I'm feeling a lot better about this draft so far. The pieces I have so far feel a lot more connected than what I'd done in previous versions.

I also found the flash drive with the backburner WIP. I had moved it from where I usually kept it (pre-COVID) at some point so I put the flash drive with my other WIP flash drive.

 

[renmerc446]

Got some more writing done yesterday. Mostly new material, although it's a re-write of a scene that hasn't really been working in previous drafts. Now it's going in a slightly different direction where the mC is only getting partial information, rather than the full disclosure of everything that's been revealed before. Part of that is because the focus has shifted back to where it should've been in the first place, part of it because the MCs want to keep the information under wraps for as long as possible, and partly because this mC is sorta in the grey area of friend/enemy (he could go either way, or at least throw road blocks in their way).