It is NOT procrastinating. Cross my heart and swear. All of the following steps are acts of harvesting material to inspire your brain. You can’t circle the same ideas in your head all the time. Your writing will start looking like dirty dish water. Or laundry water. So go experience something different to help your writing!
1. Read:
There was an excellent article over at Let the Words Flow about macro showing, micro showing, and telling in your writing.
The Intern posted a really beautiful metaphor about whoopie-pies and elephants and becoming the whoopie-pie queen while leaving other fun opportunities behind (I want to be the Queen of Whoopie pies, officially!) Would you rather be the Royal of Delicious Baked Goods or the Royal of Nothing in particular? It kind of reminds me of a Would You Rather question I got asked earlier this week: would you rather be a published author who everyone in the world hated (except your blood-relatives) or would you rather be unsuccessful, not a very talented writer, and loved by everyone? What’s your personal choice?
2. Follow New Blogs (or Tumblrs):
If you’re 20 something and not following the new and hilarious “FUCK! i’m in my twenties” tumblr, you should be ashamed of yourself and trot over there immediately. As my friend says, (check out her hilarious tumblr “Snark Attack” too!) the blog is a constant doodle of our lives. Also, I recommend distracting yourself from writing by reading Louisa May Today because it kind of makes my life. Fair warning, she’s not currently accepting interns.
3. Watch TV:
I am really enjoying the new Franklin & Bash television show. I don’t have a TV in the dorm so I’m watching all the episodes online. Lemmy just tell you, I must really like the show because every 25 minutes or so NYU kicks me off the wireless, I have to re-sign-in, and then wait through all the commercials again. It takes commitment to deal with that pain in the butt process.
4. Research New Places to Submit Your Writing To:
Being my silly self, I completely forgot about New Pages the other day, the one-stop-shop for discovering new literary journals. Go discover!
Hannah Karena Jones 