Why I'm ditching my writing schedule--and battling writer's block.

Goooood afternoon/morning/evening/day/night/time of your choosing Ladies and Gentlemen!

Today we are going to be talking about some of (the writing) society's most discussed topics--and yet, somehow, some of our most despised.

First topic: A writing schedule.

Yes, the summer is here, but your life is also here, bringing with you some of our favorite discussions.

When everything is busy, how do you maintain a social life and a writing schedule all at once?

My solution is simple!

I don't.

Now, this idea may not be new to many of you (in fact, if you're reading this, it likely isn't) but I gave up on schedules a long time ago. And you know what? I've never been more satisfied.

Don't get me wrong, this solution won't for everyone, but for writers who can't seem to stick with a schedule they make, or constantly find themselves rewriting their schedule, it's a beautiful solution--or, at least, I like to think it is.

My idea is this: Throw away your writing schedule.

Days change pretty regularly. We have no idea what will happen the next day, even if we plan it out the previous night. So why waste the time?

Personally, I find it most helpful to say, "Okay Daisy, today, I will write one thousand words," and then work at that throughout the day.

This allows me to keep up with school, a social life, and daily chores all at once. When I wash dishes? I plan out what I'll write. When I'm done, I write. When I'm on break from school, I write. When I'm eating lunch? Yes, at times, even then.

--But only if I feel like it.

Something else that has helped me (I'm not telling you to do this, I'm just throwing it out here) is that I have distanced myself from Instagram. Like, I deleted my personal account, and my writer's account hasn't been touched in. . . . . . . . . . a while. Probably not the best decision as far as book marketing goes, but it has really been a huge breath of fresh air to not have the constant stress of interacting with people. (Sorry, I'm an introvert. Even my closest friends occasionally have to deal with my disappearing from existence for a while.)

So to sum it all up: I have no writing schedule. I write when I want, and just try to make sure I'm actually writing and not having one of those "go-a-week-without-a-word" moments.

Alright, case dismissed. Next topic: Battling writer's block.

So as I mentioned before, the summer brings up some of our favorite topics to discuss, whether we actually love the topic itself or not. This next one is battling writer's block.

My online inspiration-places are: Pinterest aesthetic images/artwork, Youtube playlists (For instance, right now as I write this, I'm listening to one called "you're the hero waltzing with the villain, realizing they were right all along". Seriously, how much more inspiration do you need to go write a story???), I also love old folklore/myths on Wikipedia, and poetry. You're welcome :)

Something else I tend to find helpful is writing short haikus or poetry before bed. It can be trashy, it can be bad, but writing poetry that sounds like it came from an 11-year-old school girl's diary is better than writing nothing. It keeps your brain fresh. Probably.

Another thing that I like doing is sketching a crazy, outlandish character, and matching a story to it. But that's for the doodlers among us, and I understand that not all of you enjoy spilling your imagination on a sheet of paper and charcoal--without using words, of course.

Plus, I still haven't answered the main question here: If you write yourself into a corner on your WIP, instead of writing a whole new story, how do you get past that block?

Here are some options that I've used/seen: Changing point of views to a different character; changing your timeline to an altogether different era; someone dies; someone made a mistake; the hero is wrong; the villain shows an interesting side of him/herself; the main character turns out to have had a secret that even the reader didn't know about (all of the sudden it turns out Robin, who was backed in a corner at the end of a sword, had secretly called his Merry Men into the situation back at the beginning of the novel without the author telling the reader, and they pour out of the walls/whatever-is-capable-of-hiding-a-human-or-otherwise-body); or whatever you can think of that might break down that wall of writer's block. You're smart, you can do it.

Aaalright, that's all I have to say!

So tell me, are there any books releasing this summer that you’re excited about?? Are you ready for summer, or ready for the heat to end? (*cough* all the sane people in the South said it needs to end *cough*)

Yay!! You made it through the whole post!

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Here are the basics for stop #5:

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