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"Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe" ~ Neil Gaiman (A Game of You)

1.19.2013

25 Words

25 Words

2013: The Year of the Writer has officially hit its first bump in the road.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't let writer's block get the best of me.  I put my butt in the chair and added to my story every day.  But some days, it sure felt like work.

Then, I heard about this great technique that I think will help me be more successful.  Perhaps, ahem, 1000 words a day was a bit, shall we say, ambitious.  Some parts of my story just aren't ready for 1000 words.  Sometimes I need to take a step back and get a little more research done before I can make a scene work.

Like yesterday, for example.  I needed to craft a knife fight.  But, you see, I've never been in a knife fight.  The closest I've been is watching my sons whittle with their pocket knives, or chiffonading spinach for an omelette with my chef's knife.  I needed to learn a thing or two if I wanted to make it authentic.

Needless to say, it took me awhile to eke out my 500-word scene.

I decided I needed a more manageable goal. And a friend of mine came up with the perfect solution:

25 words.

Now there's a daily goal I can manage!

It makes perfect sense.  Twenty-five words is just enough to get your creative juices flowing.  It's like a piece of chocolate or Lay's potato chips: you can't eat just one, you can't stop there, you have to keep going.  And if not?  Well, it's still an accomplishment.

So what tricks do you use to jump-start your muse?

2 comments:

DolceVita said...

Hello! "burita" from the Fitbit community, just wanted to say hi!

Good luck getting out of your writer's block, it can be so frustrating and I'm only trying to take on a measly health blog :)

Shelli said...

Hi, Burita! Thanks so much for stopping by. I've already noticed an improvement, in spite of some yucky days. I appreciate the support! And "measly" health blogs are quite demanding, too.!