Nothing.
Well, sort-of nothing. I have found that being lazy is the most amazing thing in the world. I have shut out everything, spent time reading a six book series, watched my kids play video games or tackle each other, taken two hour naps (shocked, I know) and slowly worked on my book.
The funny thing about being lazy though, is that motivation tends to go out the window. I am barely motivated to do anything at all. This includes think. Which is needed when writing a book. Or three.
I actually have not been working on Sanctuary this week like I had planned. I have been working on this other YA novel that I LOVE but the writers block caused by lazy brain has been a difficult hurdle to overcome. I am finding my imagination is working overtime, but it is just not connecting to write it down.
I think writers block is something every writer comes across at some point or another. And every writer has a different way of dealing with it. I have two ways.
My first way...I write something else. Sometimes it is a poem or a short story. Other times it is a scene that pops into my head. And then there are the moments I just write about character background. I look at it like exercising. Sometimes you just are not feeling it, but if you force yourself enough, eventually it will click.
My second way (what I have been doing this time around) is to disconnect. Now, the hard part about this way is that the laziness issue can work against you. BUT, if done right, it actually can work and in disconnecting, my imagination has soaked in some great things.
For example, a few days ago we headed to my husbands home town, Whittier. After visiting with family, we decided to tour some old places he remembered and show the kids. Well, one of those old places just happened to be this warehouse type store that was for baseball card venders. The place was tucked back by some old factory places. The warehouse had once been a place where they boxed and loaded oranges. Anyways, after we made it up to the place (it was on the top floor and my daughter hates heights) we entered and asked the guy guarding the door if they were open. He said yes.
Only the place was eerily closed down. A few handfuls of kids sat in the back playing some card games, but all the vending stations were covered from floor to ceiling with tarps. We wove in and out of the isles, looking for any sign of human life. But there was none.
Creepy.
But, my imagination kicked in and I was suddenly imagining horrors behind those tarps and freaked myself pretty good. Good enough that I plan on using that experience in Sanctuary. My disconnecting allowed my brain to stop thinking of my to-do lists and my responsibilities for a while so that the younger, kid part of my brain could have some fun.
And so, here I sit on the last day of my lazy spring break planning out which hours of my afternoon (and night) I get to spend working on my stories.
Writer block take that. Now only to get motivated to find an agent....
oh, and not that many pictures were taken of the surprise book party my husband threw together, but I found a couple I thought I would share:
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