Just like every other writer in the world, I burnout. Writing is not easy. It’s time extensive, even mentally draining. Half the time I feel overwhelmed with what I’m faced with despite it being one of my favorite things to do.
So, since writing is so hard to do, keeping a happy face and not feeling exhausted all the time, I’ve got some tips for you.
✦ KNOW WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING LOW ON…
NEW WIP-CHARACTER AESTHETIC (under construction)
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There’s a 10k writing challenge being hosted this Sunday, and I’m hoping to jump into this soft aesthetic idea I have. I’ve toned down the spy novel idea-it’s just not my thing. But this should be fun! I’ll try to keep y’all updated this weekend!
She stood before the bodies covered in blood.
Lace Stapleton couldn’t remember anything of how she came to be there, and she couldn’t remember anything from the past day or two. All she knew was she grew consciousness the minute after she unknowingly cut the last corpse’s throat.
Lace didn’t know the people she was beginning to believe she killed, and she wasn’t sure she wanted. After all, if she knew who they were, maybe there were connections, ways back to her. That couldn’t be.
A door in the distance of the school slammed shut shaking Lace from her daze. Someone else was in the building with her. She wasn’t alone. Looking about the room, she found she was in an art room. And many canvases, blank and painted, were destroyed by sprays of red blood, which was still slowly dripping, puddling on the linoleum floor.
Naturally another writing idea popped into my head and now I’m conflicted. I’m still in the really early stages of Saving the World, but this other idea sounds more appealing. Idk what to do!! Gah!
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The explosion behind her knocked the bike she had stolen into the air. The landing was bumpier than Lace had anticipated. Looking over her shoulder, Lace counted at least ten other bikes roaring at high speed after her own, chasing what she had “borrowed” from them. She groaned knowing she was in deep shit, deeper than any other mission she’d been on.
Lace Stapleton was used to situations like this, but this mission she’d been assigned by Director Spacer was unlike any other. When she first read the manila folder he’d handed her, she’d laughed. Lace had thought this would be the easiest one, but how wrong she had been.
A simple heist, quick in and out, all would be copacetic, Lace thought, remembering her first reaction.
Fuck me, Lace roared in fury realizing how wrong she had been. Of course my focus was on the one elitist group in the world who thought using magic, yes magic!, could help them dominate the world. Of course, the grimoire isn’t real, Lace continued her deep thinking, feeling with one hand the book shoved in a smelly bag on her lap. But for whatever reason, the Director wants me to stop them from having the stupid book. Lace grimaced, hating her job for the first time in the ten years she’d joined the CIA.
A shot flew by Lace’s head, too close for her liking. She needed to get out of her head, or she’d get herself killed.
Tapping her earpiece, Lace spoke to her team. “ODLA to ODMEAT. I’m on my way back, bogies on my tail!” Using the CIA cryptom was important, one of the first things she actually learned when joining the government agency. It was also one of the things she hated about the job; she found knowing and using cryptoms was too confusing, but at least she had the digraph down, the first two letters in cryptoms. OD was the easiest to remember seeing as it’s coded USA.
Silence and then a crackle came through the earpiece. “ODZAG over to ODLA, I hear you loud and clear. We have direct orders to do whatever necessary to keep you and the book safe. Be careful.” Silence filled Lace’s ears again and then a soft voice spoke again. “I mean it, Lace. We’ve got big news that we need you to see….” And then silence for good.
Chills ran down Lace’s spine, thoughts and words jumbled in her mind. She didn’t know what to say, and the final click on the comm system told her enough that her and her team were done talking for now. Whatever was about to happen and what they had to show her was clearly big if they weren’t keeping to protocol.
Traffic came into view, and Lace knew she had to be careful when weaving in and out between other vehicles. Her job wasn’t to harm civilians, or even the foreigners behind her, but to steal the book they were after, and keep it from them. Right as she merged with the traffic, a flash of bright light followed by warmth kicked her further into the traffic.
Looking over her shoulder, Lace both saw and heard the boom, an explosion, most likely a bomb, set off by her team hidden among the buildings of New York up above. She slid the bike to a halt. Traffic wasn’t moving, and she needed a moment. Lace could hear cries of pain, and see parts of the motorcycles they were riding roll into the flow of traffic. Her team had killed her pursuers. Lace swallowed the shock and set the bike back into motion.
new wip in motion! Still untitled but for now the tag is going under “spynovellc” (lc for my username initials lol) until I come up with a title! So excited to dive more into this work and world! But as of right now, my mc’s profile is complete!
Hey y’all, obviously I’ve been nonexistent, and that happens from time to time when I get a month long surge of wanting to write. I recently got a full time job, and have been on twitter a lot, which made me want to get back into writing-the community on that platform is amazing! Anyways, in some news, I’ve put Legend on the backburner before finishing draft 3 because it feels too much like a Cassie Clare book, and I need something new. The new project as of right now is currently unknown, but I’ll keep y’all updated!
Check out my main character montage on my bookstagram! Show it some love and maybe give me a follow! I’m curious to see how many writers are on ig!
So, obviously something that should be the basis of this trope is that
they need a r…
Hey guys, unrelated to writing, I was hoping some of you who’ve read these books could perhaps roast them? I’m on booktube and would LOVE to read your roasts of my favorite books 😂
I’m finally back to working on Legend! This was rather time consuming but all my scene cards are written out. I cannot wait to expand on this! And I cannot wait to see where this takes me for the third draft!
Part of the reason why I haven’t touched Legend in a while is because I don’t know what it’s like to be queer, and I don’t know what it like to be other than white. This is a learning process for me, and I’m hoping I can learn something while I’m at it!
I’ve also asked on twitter as you can see, and am about to head over to IG to see if I can get any advice from there as well!
Thanks @mischiefiswritten for tagging me!!
To play: Answer the 11 questions asked by the person who tagged you, then ask 11 more for the people you tag.
1. Who has been the biggest supporter(s) of your writing? How have they supported you? My boyfriend has been supporting me since we’ve started dating. He’s always asking how my book is, and if I’m not writing why not. He’s told his friends about it, and I guessed he’s hyped me and the book so much, his own friends want to read it. Which is cool, yet totally nerve-wracking.
2. If you’ve written multiple pieces or worked on multiple projects, what are some common elements you find in several of them? N/A
3. What are your go-to sources for writing advice/references/tips? I typically google that stuff, but lately I’ve been going to @adeleiswriting authortube because she gives great advice and references.
4. What are your favorite tropes to read and write? Enemies to lovers. Sometimes best friends to lovers. I’m currently in the middle of those two tropes for my main female and male lead, and it’s a struggle to better the situation, to get it from point a to point b.
5. If you were going to be known of a single great book, in what genre would you most want it to be in? Fantasy of course!
6. Fans of what currently published books (or other works of fiction) would most enjoy your WIP? Definitely the Shadowhunter books by Cassie Clare. Legend is loosely based off City of Bones. It has its similarities that I struggle to defuse.
7. Honesty hour: Have you given pretend interviews in your head about your widely successful novels? What topics did you talk about most in your “interview”? Actually I have not done this, but I saw @adeleiswriting write a fan letter to herself, and that’s actually pretty cool. I lowkey want to do that myself.
8. If your WIP were going to be adapted into another form of media (TV, film, audio drama, comic, video game, stage play, etc.) which do you think would fit it best? Which would you most like to see happen? Personally, where I currently am with Legend, movie would be best. Personally, TV shows are better for books, but I don’t think Legend is at the point to be good enough for a show contract.
9. How well do your tastes in reading align with your tastes in writing? Spot on. I mostly read fantasy, and I mostly write fantasy. I’ve dabbled in historical fiction before, and I don’t mind reading historical fiction either. But fantasy is where it is for me on both platforms.
10. Do you read or write fanfiction? If so, for what fandoms, and how do you think this has influenced your writing? I did have a wattpad back in high school that I revived for a minute this past year. But I quickly shut that down. I wrote about Niall Horan from One Direction, Andy Biersack from Black Veil Brides, and Bucky Barnes from the Marvel Universe. I don’t think it influenced my writing in anyway though.
11. Asking who your favorite OC is like asking about someone’s favorite child. But come on, you know you have favorites. Who are they? Well, you’d think it’d be my main lead, but I think it’s actually a toss up between a secondary character, and a tertiary character. Secondary being Akemi O’Rourke, an introverted female werewolf. Tertiary being Arizona Brandi, an introverted who no one shows appreciation to (she has my appreciation.) I can’t even decide between the two of them which is my ultimate favorite!
I’ll tag: @adeleiswriting @dove-actually @aquiniawrites
Questions for my fellow tagged writers!
1. At what age were you when you realized writing was your passion?
2. How do you get past writer’s block?
3. What influenced your current WIP?
4. What’s been the easiest and hardest thing you’ve come across when writing your current WIP?
5. Besides reading and writing, what are other hobbies you participate in?
6. Favorite place to write in/at, and why?
7. Do you have a specific aesthetic for your current WIP? What is it?
8. If you could travel anywhere in the world for the sake of you WIP, where would you go?
9. What does success look like for you as a writer?
10. What’s your least favorite/ favorite scene in your current WIP?
11. When you grew, was being a writer ever a career choice for you? If not, what did you want to be growing up?
I realize it's been a while since I've physically been active on writeblr, and not just from having queued posts go live. I mean by actually scrolling through my dashboard and interacting with everyone.
I'm still fairly new to this, and I thought I'd be more active on here because I love tumblr, but it's become just like twitter for me. I hope on like once a month. I'm hoping to rectify this situation, and get on starting once a week. I'm just much more active on instagram. And I think I'm not as active because I've been having problems with my own book, Legend.
I was reading through it on my Kindle, and got about halfway, and then just stopped. There's just so many problems I need to address, especially regarding diversity; it's a struggle. And now I'm thinking of just tearing it apart once again, like I've done for the past 7 years. I really thought I had it this time.
So, in regards to this update, I am alive and well. I'm currently in the process of moving at the end of September, so I'll probaby put hiatus in my bio. Hopefully it'll just be for the month of October though.
In regards to my writing, I hope it goes well for me. I'm also toying with another idea, but I just don't know which I should work on. Take more time with Legend? Or take more time away from Legend and work on something new? Utter frustration for me.
Alright, you all have been updated. Here's to me trying to be more active on here....
I was tagged by @dove-actually
Rules: sum up your WIP(s) in three themes, two nouns, one adjective, and an image.
THEMES: female empowerment, follow your heart, being with others is better than being alone
NOUNS: supernatural, revenge
ADJECTIVE: bewildering
Image:
I’m so f*cking late to this but I was tagged by @aquiniawrites
nicknames: sam
gender: female
astrological sign: scorpio
height: 5′2″
sexuality: straight
hogwarts house: slytherin
favorite animal: in general i guess? dogs?
number of blankets: depending on thickness, most of the time 2
where I am from: born in Arizona, currently live in Ohio
dream trip: greece
when I created this account: sometime this year, hell if i remember
why I created this account: so I can share my love of writing. sometime the writing community and the general atmosphere of twitter is too much
Tagging @adeleiswriting @quilloftheclouds @therainsoakedwriter
Nickname: Sam
Gender: female (she/her)
Astrological sign: Scorpio
Height: 5'2"
Sexuality: straight
Hogwarts House: Slytherin
Favorite animals: dogs, specifially great danes
Where I'm From: born in Arizona, live in the northeast now hoping to live on the beach this fall
Dream Trip: Greece!
When I Made This Account: sometime this year, I honestly cannot remember
Why I Created This Account: to talk about writing, my writing, and possibly get to know some fellow writers
Followers: 9
Tagged by: @elliswriting
