Writing your story

I love to write. It’s a nice way to just escape life and create your own characters and see how they do in certain situations. Sometimes what I write really surprises me. It really does. I’m always wondering how did I come up with this? Is anybody else surprised too with their writing?

When I write consistently I feel like my process goes smoothly, however what happens when you get stuck? I hate this part with a passion. I get frustrated, it’s like my mind is stuck in a rut at that point. And unfortunately, it can last a few days to a few weeks. And I sit there and try to write, but then I get angry because I know what I’m writing isn’t as good as what it could/can be. Sometimes the idea isn’t complete or I have this elaborate vision in my head, but I can’t describe what I want everyone to see. Has this happened to anyone?

So what do you do?

Well, for me I literally have to take a break for a few days or even maybe a week. I will pick up some books from my favorite authors- Jeaniene Frost or Patricia Briggs, and just read. Its amazing how that can really get your creative flow going. Or I’ll watch some action movies or television. When I say action movies, I’m talking about spy or paranormal type movies or television series- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv show), Salt, Into the Cold, Tomb Raider, and Underworld. All of that really helps my writing, because I like to wonder what my characters would do if they were put in a situation like that, how would they act?

I also have a few writing friends and we get together often. When we sit at a cafe we always discuss how our writing is going and if we are running into any issues. We also send each other our stories for feedback. This has helped me tremendously. I look forward to these meetings. We kind of got away from them due to what’s going on and all the restrictions, but we are back at it.

So if you want to be a writer and feel like you are struggling… know that you aren’t alone. Sometimes we get stuck in our head about how great our story or novel can be and get frustrated that we aren’t there with the polished finished version from the start. But know that in the journey of writing, you are going to get there. And along the way with the struggles and the persistent revisions it’s going to make you better in the long run. But in order to do that, KEEP WRITING!

I hope this helped. I have to get started on my second short story for my class, but I can’t wait! I really like where it’s going. And no, I really didn’t plan it out that much. Sometimes I let the characters lead.