#WriterWednesday - December 5th 2018

Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow.
~Margaret Atwood

I love that quote, and this one too:

Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.
~Ray Bradbury

Anyway...

If you participated in NaNoWriMo this year, how did you do?

I'm lucky I wasn't participating, since I maybe wrote 1000 words all month... If that. Well, there were blog posts too, but they don't count. That's better than I've done some months, but nowhere near what I'd have needed for NaNoWriMo... That's not even a daily word goal for NaNoWriMo. Still, any progress is good progress, and at least this time I know it was because I was putting other things higher on my priority list. But, the end of the year is approaching fast, so I know for sure I won't be finishing writing that adventure story this year. There have just been too many other things happening this year, and now I have a couple of things I want to get done before the end of the year, so am making those things my priority right now.

In many cases it's not a concious decission though. It is in my case right now, but it hasn't been most of the year. Mostly it's been because of other things going on, and because writing is tiring too sometimes, which is the hardest thing about writing a book. Then there's the whole shiny new ideas causing distractions thing, which is how I came to write "Where's Noodles?" when I was meant to have been working on the other story...

Sometimes I get frustrated when I'm trying to write and my mind keeps flying off on tangents. Then I realize if my mind didn't fly off on tangents, I probably wouldn't be a writer.
~Rick Riordan

Here are some of the top excuses for not writing, and how to get over them.

Of course, as I already hinted at, part of the battle is getting to have that writing time. So, here's how to guard your writing time. The tips are aimed at people who also have full time jobs, but can just as easily apply to full time writers (especially given the tendancy of most people to assume that home all day equals available all day, which it totally doesn't, and I wish people would learn that, since it would make things easier for all people who work from home, not just writers).

I don't know about you, but sometimes I wish I could go away somewhere and write without all those things that happen every day to worry about, distract me, etc. Doesn't it sound lovely? And it would be, I'm sure. But a writing retreat won't help you write better. Not in the long term anyhow. So I have to learn to write among all those other things that happen every day. So do you, if you want to get anywhere with your writing. Of course, a trip to a writing retreat, or somewhere I could have some quiet time where writing was the only thing on my to-do list, would be nice sometimes too.

By the way, speaking of lists... Is there a writer on your Christmas list? Do you need some inspiration for what to buy them? Then check out this holiday gift guide for writers. As it says in that article, books make great gifts. But books make great gifts for the non-writers on your list too. With that in mind, check out the 2018 Christmas promotions from Sally's cafe and bookstore, because there are some fantastic books being featured among those posts, so you may find the perfect bookish gift among them.

Speaking of which: I've got several titles available, which you might want to consider for the book-lovers on your list. Especially if those book lovers are children, or fans of poetry. Though my children's stories have been enjoyed by plenty of older readers too, judging by the reviews. Just saying. You can find my books on Amazon, as well as a variety of other retailers.