Emily Dill

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Three Changes I Make When My Novel Writing Is Stuck (We Won’t Say Writer’s Block)

September 20, 2015 by Emily Dill Leave a Comment

If I’ve learned anything in my 30 years of life (besides the fact that baking soda can clean anything), it’s that people believe that giving something a name gives it power. Why else don’t we say Voldemort? (By the way, did you read that JK Rowling said that the ‘t’ is actually silent in his name? Blasphemy!) So I won’t say *whispers* writer’s block.

What I will say is that sometimes, things just aren’t working. And this period of things not working can seem to go on for days. Or, um, weeks. Or longer? Maybe.

I don’t have an official scientific remedy for you – you can find plenty of advice other places on the Internet or at the library. But I do have three tricks I’ve started using when I’m stuck with my novel, and honestly? They work for me like gangbusters. (Can anyone explain to me exactly what that phrase means?)

1) The first things I do when I’m stuck in my novel writing or revisions? Start writing anything that’s not part of a novel. You don’t have to stop writing just because your novel isn’t flowing. I would actually advise against that. So open the notebook where you keep that wonderful poetry of yours. Or open a new Word document and start a short story. I know you’ve got some killer ideas for a little flash fiction. Compose a haiku, especially if you’ve never tried it before. Trying new things is great for your mind. Not only will you end up with new writing projects to build your platform, put in a portfolio, or just share with your friends, but something about moving to a different writing method (or even genre) helps to slowly and quietly unlock that closed door you keep beating against in your novel.

2) The second thing I do when I’m stuck? Switch to a different physical writing method. And by that, I mean write on paper if you normally use your laptop. Or jump over to the laptop if you’re a longhander. Or you could move to Word if you use Scrivener, and vice versa. You may not think this will help, and maybe it won’t for you, but ooh boy, I tried this on a whim a few weeks ago, and I was very pleased. When I was in my teens, I did all my writing in notebooks. At some point in the past few years, I moved over to my laptop for writing. I found myself majorly stuck over the summer, so I pulled out one of my notebooks for the heck of it, and the poetry started flowing. So did the dialogue for my novel, as well as a lot of short story ideas. Plus, it felt really nice to see my words in my own handwriting again. 🙂

3) The last thing you can try? Move your writing location. And how far you move it is up to you. I wrote almost my entire novel in my kitchen at our bar, and lately that spot feels tired to me. So I’ve started writing in bed, in the tub, and outside, and it feels fresher and fun again. You could also move outside the home, if you don’t normally write on the run. Check out a coffee shop, write at a friend’s house, or jot down some ideas in the car before running in for groceries.

These are three ways I’ve tricked myself lately into upping my writing output, but by no means is this an exhaustive list of hacks. Do you have any ideas for getting out a writing rut? How do you deal with getting stuck? Let me know, and have a wonderful week!

Filed Under: Blog, Writing Tips Tagged With: blogging, novel, poetry, short stories, writing, writing tips

Five Tips to Jump Start Your Writing Session

August 17, 2015 by Emily Dill 2 Comments

[Me sitting in front of my laptop a few months ago and looking super writer-ly. I was probably actually on Facebook.]
[Me sitting in front of my laptop a few months ago and looking super writer-ly. I was probably actually on Facebook.]

Can we be real for a second?

Sometimes it’s more fun to talk about writing than to do the actual writing itself.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when the words are flowing and you feel like a genius and you think, “Look out, Hollywood, you have no idea what’s coming your way, this is sooo gonna lead to a seven-movie deal and a house on an island.” And then other times, you’d rather clean a 400-foot litter box than write one more word.

Oh, it’s fun to talk about the book you’ll write some day. It’s fun to call ourselves writers and talk about our story ideas, that’s for sure. But there are times when you sit down to write…and then jump up and do about 80 things besides putting words on the digital (or literal) page.

But here’s the secret: once you start the writing process, you’re almost guaranteed to keep writing until something decent appears. And even if the words don’t come out looking decent (even if they come out looking so ugly, you’re scared that looking at them will turn you to stone), hey, that’s where editing comes galloping in.

So the trick is to just do it to it, right? To just start the darn thing?

Correct.

But sometimes that’s the biggest hurdle. So I trick myself occasionally into starting. (I’m way too naive to realize I’m being tricked, even by myself.)

Here are five things I do to jump start my day’s writing process, and maybe one or two of them will work for you. Sometimes doing just one gets me going, and some days I’m a complete monster and have to try almost all five.

1) Make your bed. Look, I know there are some of you out there that have your bed made before your feet even hit the floor in the morning. (The Army called – they miss your work ethic.) And there are some of you who probably haven’t made your bed since you were 7. No judgments either way. But I’ve noticed something interesting: the second I get my bed made in the morning (or afternoon, sometimes coffee and Twitter come first), I feel different. Just looking at that newly-made bed gives me energy and I kind of want to do other productive things. Just try it.

2) Brew up your favorite drink. Or pop open a can, or open the bottle (again, no judgments on this blog). Whatever you love to drink, drink it while you work. For instance, before starting this blog post, I made a pourover cup of strong black coffee and brewed two mugs of hot tea. As soon as I sat all three of those delectable drinks beside my laptop, I was good to go.

3) Plan rewards for reaching certain goals. This may sound crazy, but sometimes I won’t let myself do certain fun things until I’ve accomplished at least something writing-related that day. Like right now, for instance. There’s an Xbox One game I’d really like to be playing – it’s poetry/fairytale-centered and I have a little tutorial pulled up on my phone to help me get all the achievements as I go along. I’d also like to put on Bob’s Burgers for a little while because something is wrong with me lately where I can’t stop watching that show. But, strict dictator that I am, I’m not going to do either of those things until I finish this blog post and then edit the first two chapters of my novel. Whatever works, right?

4) Look at fun ways to spend authorly riches. Hey, we can dream right? We all know that writing isn’t actually a get-rick-quick sort of deal, but the more books/stories you put out there, and the better they are, the better your chances of making a good living from this hobby/torture we all love. My personal favorite indulgence is travel, but you can pick anything you want, you grown-up person, you. There is nothing that makes me want money more than getting online and looking at beach condos, cabins in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Broadway shows in NYC, and so on. There are so many wonderful things out there that I want to see and do, but it’s up to me to go see/do them. And first, I have to make the money to go. Trust me, ten minutes on Priceline and I’m full of inspiration and energy to polish up my book and make it agent-ready.

5) Tell someone you’re working on your book/blog/whatever you’re writing. This is the meanest thing I do to myself, because I know that once I tell someone that I’m editing/writing, I’ll feel enormous amounts of self-hating guilt until I actually break down and, yep, edit and write. It’s the same trick people advise you to use when losing weight – if you tell your Facebook friends, co-workers, whoever that you’re planning to lose 20 pounds in 6 months, then you’d best get moving buddy, because they’re expecting you to be looking fine in half a year.

Those are just a few ways I motivate myself to start writing, but I’m sure there are hundreds more I’ve never even thought about. I’m always looking for new ways to force myself into being a functional human being, so I’d love for any of you to share any of your tricks with me. Do you try any of these things on yourself? Do you go gentler on yourself? Tougher? Let me know!

Filed Under: Writing Tips Tagged With: blog, novel, writing, writing tips

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