Fall Update
It’s my very favourite time of year! The colours of nature are changing and inspiring new ideas for more sexy romance reads. The weather is getting colder, making it the perfect time of year to snuggle up with a romance novel and a mug of hot chocolate.
Tasha and I are so thankful to everyone who downloaded our books on our freebie weekend-over 700 of you! We hope you love Blake & Greyson, our military heartthrobs, just as much as we do.
One of the questions I get asked most by new and aspiring authors is how do we overcome writer’s block. So, I’ve devised this easy use tool which we hope is useful.
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After a year of author life, I’ve learnt that writer’s block is a real and big, sucky problem that can completely take over your writing world and bring your dream manuscript to a standstill. If you’ve hit the wall of doom, panic not! I have devised this simple traffic light tool for assessing and overcoming writer’s block.
First of all, before you even try to use the tool, do not, and I repeat DO NOT put down your manuscript. Once you do, if your anything like me, it will probably take you a ridiculous amount of hours to come back to. Next, assess the problem using this easy traffic light system.
Mild: If you chose green, this is great news! You only need to make some tiny, minor changes and you will soon be smashing your word count goal again. Pick up your manuscript and move. Writing is an art form and you need to ensure the creative energy surrounding you is dynamic and fresh to breathe new life into your work. Re arrange your office, drive to the most remote (safe) place you can and write there for a change. Turn on some background music that is totally different from what you would usually listen to. Add a new room fragrance to your work space or wear an out of season item of clothing that you haven’t worn in ages. You get the drift. Sometime we need to change everything that surrounds our manuscript to gain a fresh outlook. If you try all of these ideas and are still at the wall, reassess to Amber and keep reading-remember still keep hold of your manuscript. Don’t put it down yet! There is still hope!
Medium: The best tip I have found to break through Amber level writer’s block is to stop the current scene your working in, visualise your favourite scene for the main characters and write that instead. If this doesn’t work, then you can finally step away from your work (temporarily) and read something else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a food blog, trashy magazine or a chapter from a classic novel as long as it’s not from the genre you are currently writing in. Again, it can help to move away from your usual workspace whilst you do this. Change is always a good thing when trying to get your creative juices flowing. Sometimes, you might need to take a day or two to read a couple of books before coming back to your novel. If you try this and are still stuck staring at a blank page, your in trouble, progress to red, you are officially in writer’s block hell, BUT there is still hope!
Severe: Step away from your manuscript. As in save and close it, put any print copies in a safe place, lock up your work space and no peeking for an ENTIRE day. A lot of writers freak out after all the advice telling them to write every day but honestly, after a year of working on my debut novel and making a ton of author friends, I would say that this doesn’t work for most people. It might for a while, but eventually you’ll be at risk of burning out. Quitting whilst you’re ahead could be the best thing you ever do for your manuscript. Spend the day doing something completely unrelated to writing. It doesn’t have to be creative, productive or remotely successful. It’s a break, remembering that is the most important part. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself forget about working on your book and put yourself first. I know it’s cliche but self love is super important as being an author is tough at times and often we are on this journey alone. Finally, if you hit severe and do decide to take a break for a minute, Make sure you have a full 24hours, but never leave it any longer that that before coming back to your work and trying again to work through the stages. If you put it off and procrastinate you will end up stuck in a rut and make things even more difficult for yourself. I really hope this helps and wish you all the luck in the world with your novel.
I am taking part in this years Nanowrimo after last years success so watch out for a few secret projects coming soon!
Lots of Love,
Clare Xx
