Sometimes Brains Forget

Tags

fighting your nature, overthinking, pantsers, plotting, story, thoughts, writing

I am working on a horror short story…

Yes…another one…

I saw a call for submissions and I CAN’T RESIST. 1,000-8,000 words…pfft…I can do that.

Deadline is the end of the month…YES THIS MONTH I KNOW!

I had an idea…I let it simmer…I started writing because there’s not a whole lotta time left. SO IMMA JUST GONNA WRITE IT NO PROBLEM.

Or, yes, problems.

I thought I was just writing it. I thought I was going with the flow. But I couldn’t have been because I kept going back to the beginning…fussing and overthinking. I had a list of lines to include…of images…of stuff…

I kept trying to order them, to…

OMG I WAS TRYING TO PLOT!

Well, no wonder I was having so much trouble. My brain and plotting aren’t friends. They are mortal enemies!

So I set aside my list and went back to the story. I quit trying to shove all the ideas down my poor story’s little throat and let it decide where it needs to go. Pantsers gotta pants. That sentence makes so little sense…AND I DON’T CARE.

I don’t have a complete first draft…BUT I WILL BECAUSE I HAVE NOW RECOGNIZED, NAMED, AND DESTROYED THE PROBLEM.

But…I’m sure this isn’t the last time this happens. Sometimes brains forget. Sometimes brains fight their nature and overthink. Sometimes brains try to trick us.

Silly, evil brains…

So we learn and move on.

Magicday…JUST DO IT

Tags

being a writer, enjoy, just write, overthinking, writing

Happy Monday! Less than one week until Christmas!

Kids go to school today and tomorrow and then they’re home for two weeks. And since I’ve trained them to ignore me, it will be great!

That is magic in itself, but I am here to celebrate the mystical fantastical magic that can happen when one stops overthinking and JUST DOES THE THING! This works for all sorts of life moments, but especially for me and the writing.

If you know me, you know that I am an overthinker. I won’t get things done because I’m so wrapped up in the how and why and WHAT IF I MESS IT UP thoughts twirling in my head. So I get nothing done.

I have a writer friend, who has the same problem. She has words of wisdom, WISE WISE WORDS!

NO THINKIES, JUST ENJOYSIES. Just write. Don’t think. Don’t try to plan. Listen to the story, let it flow. ENJOY THE PROCESS!

Shovel sand in the sandbox so you can build your castle.

Sit. Power up the laptop. Resist Twitter. OPEN WORD DOC. Write words.

This is the magic.

When I don’t think about what I am going to do, what I might mess up, what I have left, what I don’t know, I can write the words. Without the words, I have nothing. So if I can work my magic and stop my brain from interfering, I’m golden…well, maybe not gold, but a shiny-ish silver.

Hear that, brain? Stop thinking. We can do that later in revisions.