Happy Sunday!

Today comes the post that will make me sound hypocritical. Maybe I am hypocritical. Let me know in the comments. ;)

But today I’m discussing my gripe with inspirational content.

I don’t know if my post On Comparison “qualifies” as inspirational content, but if it does, I’m about to sound like an idiot. Here we go. XD


I have a love-hate relationship with “inspirational” content.

Now, there’s not really anything wrong with inspirational content, as far as I’m concerned. It’s not bad or immoral or whatnot - it’s just a way to get people hyped up and to encourage others to keep going. And I love that; it seems like pessimism dominates the Internet, and inspirational content is a nice break from that.


But.

This is how viewing this content goes for me.

1. I pull up a random inspirational video, probably while procrastinating, and I say, “This’ll give me the kick in the pants I need.”

2. I watch the motivational video and really enjoy it - I can feel the inspiration coming back!

3. I say, “Wow, that was incredible! Just one more, and I’ll be ready to start writing/doing homework/chores/that thing I need to do but haven’t yet.”

4. I search “motivational videos” or look for motivational blog posts.

5. Thirty minutes pass of me consuming inspirational content.

6. I look at the time and realize - what have I been doing for the last half-hour? The inspiration high  is beginning to fade, and now the stress kicks in. But I decide to make the most of it and pull up whatever I’m supposed to be doing.

7. I work for approximately thirty seconds.

8. I stare at whatever I’m doing in frustration and throw my pen down (okay, that’s an exaggeration) and think, “I can’t do this. I’m not those people in the videos who can get everything done perfectly. What am I even doing?”

9. I stress out and procrastinate even more. My mindset becomes way more negative, and I start beating myself up for not doing things. Which makes my stress levels go up more, which means I don’t do the things, etc. etc.

Obviously, this is a bad system. XD


As creators, as students, and as people in general, we all want that inspiration, that positive motivation to keep going. Homework is not the most enjoyable thing to do, and sometimes writing isn’t either. We’d rather do the fun and games before we sit down to work, and we think that inspiration will fix this.

But if you take on a mindset of needing inspiration, before long, you’ll stop wanting inspiration for getting things done and start wanting it because it feels good.

The fact is, creating isn’t about how much inspiration you have. It’s about how much perseverance and patience you have. It’s about if you’re willing to work even if you don’t feel like it or want to. Because that homework assignment isn’t going to finish itself, and that story isn’t going to write itself.

And honestly? I’ve found that the best inspiration comes from doing the thing. You can look back and say, “I wrote that book, and I think it was kind of decent. So I can definitely write this book.”


Please, don’t rely on inspiration. It can only take you so far, one step on that journey of a thousand. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll begin to enjoy inspirational content more than you enjoy acting on that inspiration.

And of course I’m not perfect at this either. 99% of this post is calling myself out for my mistakes. But I think we need to stop getting inspired and start doing the stuff we want/need to do.

And besides, if you spend all your time on consuming inspirational content, you won’t have any time to act on that inspiration, when you should REALLY be working on whatever you want to be doing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll stop procrastinating by writing this “anti-inspiration” post thing and start getting my ACTUAL homework done. XD

Whoops.

-Nicole <3

Stop comparing yourself to other people.

They're at a different stage of their art than you.

Don't worry - you'll get there eventually.

I hear this all the time from bloggers, YouTubers - you name it. It's posted all around the Internet and mentioned frequently in pep talks of all kinds.

It's so easy to hear and think, "Yeah, of course I won't do that. It's stupid."

But then you sit down at your desk and pull up your preferred word processor, and that blinking cursor stares you straight in the face.

And suddenly you begin thinking of all your favorite authors, and their lyrical prose, and their heartbreaking characters, and their intricate plots . . . the list goes on and on.

And your thoughts turn to your own story, and all the glaring typos and plot holes and characters with unclear motivations, and a sinking hole appears in your gut, the type that swallows every good thought you've ever had about your craft.

Replacing the good thoughts are thoughts like these:

I'll never be good enough.

So what if  I'm "not at their level of craft yet"? I never will be anyways.

What's the point? My writing will never be as good as hers is.

I'm just not good enough.

And you know what?


You're absolutely right. You're not them. God didn't create you to be them. He created you to be you. And trust me, you are good enough for Him. If you weren't good enough, if you weren't worth something to Him, He never would have created you.

He gave you your talent. And if writing (or whatever your passion is) is something that sets your heart on fire and makes you smile and feel closer to Him, then He will give you the means to do it well.

But there's also the saying of "The Lord helps those who help themselves."

If you want God to work with and through your writing to make it great and powerful, then you have to put in the work. 

And no, this isn't always easy. This is a constant struggle for me. Work is work, no matter if it's your passion or not. And work means bending over a desk for hours at a time, pondering word choice. Work means giving 110% of yourself for as long as you can.

Work isn't supposed to be easy. That's why it's called work.


You know what is easy?

Procrastination. Comparison. The thought of "I'll never be as good as any other successful writer, so I might as well watch YouTube for three hours."

This thinking is so dangerous. Not only is it impressing upon you that your skills are worthless, but it's also giving you permission to waste your time.

*slams hand on table* STOP THIS RIGHT NOW. Trust me. You don't want this to become your permanent thought process.

You're thinking this because you're comparing yourself to others and finding yourself and your craft inferior. And because of this, you're too scared to work on your craft because you fear it will never measure up. But in not working hard on your passion, you're also not improving at it. And that's worse than working hard on a project and thinking that it's a failure.

Because failed projects will eventually turn into projects done right. But a project never completed can't ever improve.


Stop comparing yourself to other people.

You're just as good as they are - don't put yourself down.

I see these messages all the time. And they're right, but only on one count.

You can't compare yourself to other people. God didn't create you to be them. God created you to do things only you can do.

But the only way to discover these things is if you put in the work.

So stop reading this post. Go pull up that word processor and stare that blinking cursor down.

And write.

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

Continuing with Tag July (not my best name ever, I know), I decided to do a tag that's been around for a while now - the Project Inspire Tag.

For those of you who don't know what this is, this is a tag created by Jenna that aims to encourage and show appreciation towards writers. It's a genius idea, in my opinion.

So let's do this.



1. Thank and link back to whose blog you first saw the tag on. That would be Jenna's, who is also the creator.

2. Answer the questions given. (When you mention a person in your answers, link to their blog/website if they have one.)

3. Include 5 of the biggest things you've learned about writing and how they've changed you.

4. Don't tag anybody. (Thank goodness, because I struggle with tagging people. XD)

And now for the questions!


Um. *racks brain*

Well, when I was younger, I used to just write for fun. I had a vague idea that I could write for a career, but I had never seriously written before.

Then, in sixth grade, I took a short creative writing course. The teacher (who was also my English teacher) was fine with me writing longer stories or putting different twists on things. And in that class, the prompt for my first "serious" story was given to me. So, if you're reading this, sixth-grade English teacher - thanks. :)


Honestly, the blogging community in general - mostly because I feel like you guys are holding me accountable. XD But also, your posts are super inspiring and give me lots of motivation. <3

But otherwise, I really don't talk about my writing at all outside of online. It still feels weird to me.


ALL THE TIME. Seriously, it's like you guys can read my mind. XD But most recently, Ash's post on not giving up on writing came on a particularly lazy day. *facepalm*


My mom. She's read a LOT of my writing (although most of the time I DID force her to read it). I've had weird book research conversations with her, and she's helped give suggestions for The Inhumans.

But sadly, a lot of writing buddies who started writing around the time that I did have since stopped, so I can't exactly say they've been through "thick and thin." I'm still sad about that.


My mom - again. XD Just recently I had her read the first 10 pages of The Inhumans (let me tell you, I have never been more scared to have people read my writing) and she gave me reassurance that it wasn't as slow and boring as I thought it would be.

But I'll also mention Abbie here, since her videos are so educational and have definitely helped my writing skills grow.


My best friend. I can rant to her about fandom stuff and she'll understand and probably start ranting along with me.

We also have the WEIRDEST text conversations. The other day, we started talking about the Flash, and the conversation ended with me promising to buy a violin. XD Friend, if you're reading this, you're awesome. <3

I don't why I love this quote so much. I've tried this before and it's REALLY hard. But this quote has just stuck in my head and I can't get it out.


Um. Well. Thanks, Mom, for putting up with your writer/fangirl daughter. We're a handful. Sorry about that. XD

And I know they won't read this, but thanks to the girls in my grade who got me into writing. I know you don't write anymore, but still, I appreciate your passion for writing during those couple months. (Your stories were amazing, by the way.)


Shannon Messenger has definitely inspired me to write better stories. The way she crafts her own is just amazing. And Jaye L. Knight has inspired me to write powerful themes.


Twofold:
- Write. Seriously. If you don't write, you won't get better. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
- No writer is perfect, so there's no pressure for you to be. :)

1. Writing is harder than most people would have you believe. You always hear everyone saying, "And the words just fly off my fingertips." Um. Sorry. Can't relate. Writing - at least, writing well - is a CONSTANT STRUGGLE. But it's also awesome.
2. Everyone's writing voice and style are different. That doesn't make them better than you, it just makes them different. I still struggle with this one - my confidence in my writing voice is very, very low. But I'm still working on developing it.
3. The comparison game is a dangerous game. Don't play it. Trust me, you will regret it.
4. Don't be afraid to try new things in your writing. You might discover something incredible. Hey, I mean, a fanfiction of The Inhumans eventually turned into a subplot for The Silver Sword, so you never know. XD (This is actually true. #noregrets)
5. Conflicted characters can make even the worst writing days worth it. I'm actually not even kidding. Conflicted characters give me motivation to write. (They're my favorite character archetype.) Find yours and employ them where you see fit. Just don't make EVERY character a Damsel In Distress, please.

Well, that's the end of this tag! According to the rules, I'm not supposed to tag anybody. So I leave it open for you guys to take and recognize the people in your life who have inspired you!

-Nicole <3

I’m not exactly sure what this post is going to be. I’m literally typing it on a bus, so that’s why it’s so unformatted. Sorry about that.

Also, I may have already posted something similar to this. I don’t remember. But if I did: shhhh.

But anyways. I have a lot of rambly thoughts about this.

So, I’ve been trying to write a story for the past . . . oh gosh, I think I started it back in June for the 100-4-100 challenge. :1 Great. It took me just over seven months to write a 55k first draft.

It wasn’t necessarily because I write really slow. After all, I wrote 50k in less than a month in NaNoWriMo.

The thing was, I just didn’t care that much about the story I was writing. I had to force myself to write it, and although I assigned myself multiple due dates, I didn’t really finish it before any of them.  I finally told myself, "Okay, I’m going to finish it in the next week."

And then I wrote around 10k in three days. (And to the people who can write that in one day: HOW DO YOU DO IT. TEACH ME.)

All this to say: of course, you shouldn’t work on a story that you don’t love, that you’re not passionate about. (That should probably be common sense.)

But what if you have to? What if you don’t have a choice but to write this story? (Please, don’t ever put yourself in this scenario.) Or what if you’ve just lost interest in your story? What if you used to love your story, but just . . . got bored?

Here are a couple ideas that might reinvigorate your love:

(and no, this is not because Valentine's Day was Thursday. It's coincidence, I promise.)

Switch POVs. In my story (we'll just call it Story for the sake of this post), the POV switches four times. During two of those POVs, I could barely bring myself to write it. So whenever I finally got to the end of a POV, it was like a breath of fresh air.

If your story needs something different, maybe switch things up. Is there a side character who could have an interesting perspective on the scene? Or maybe your villain might have something to say. . . .

Add a new character. I reached a point in Story when I just didn’t care about what happened to my main character, so I added a mysterious, conflicted character in. BOOM. Instant interest.

Now, obviously, you shouldn’t do this EVERY time you get bored. But if you’re not sure where the plot should go, maybe a character can help you get somewhere interesting.

Add a plot twist. After all, if you’re surprised, the reader will be too! Granted, this may mean that you have to go back and edit your novel. But! If you really want to make your story cohesive, you’re going to have to eventually.

Take a short break. If your unmotivation is because you’re burning yourself out, stop. Step away from the project. When you feel refueled, come back. I promise, it’ll still be there.

If you have a time limit in which you have to do your project - don’t take too long of a break. But don’t stress out during your break either. You’ll do better work with a clear head.

Go back to the beginning. Why did you begin this in the first place? (If you had no choice, just pretend that you did.) Rediscover why you began doing it in the first place. Was it a plot line? A character? Everything?

Don’t go through the same scene multiple times in your head. I do this all the time. Whenever I get a new scene idea, I literally go through it so many times that I get sick of it. Not a recommended method. If you’ve come up with a scene that makes you squeal and fan girl endlessly . . . don’t think about it endlessly. (If you’re a plotter, this advice may not work for you. But for pantsers or plantsers, we don’t like to know everything, so keep some loose ends in your scene, just in case.)

————

Yeah, sorry, this is a very disjointed post. I’m currently running on five hours of sleep and don’t have time for a creative topic or pictures. I do promise that next week WILL be back to normal. Don’t worry. :)

But in the meantime, have a great week! (AND WHO’S EXCITED FOR HTTYD 3 HITTING THEATERS??)

-Nicole

Happy Sunday!

I don’t know why, but these last couple weeks have been really hard for me, concerning the writing spectrum. I’ve been having to force myself to sit down and type just 100 words for me to meet my word count goal for the day. I have to be honest: it’s been a rough few weeks.

How? How are we, as writers, supposed to write when it seems like we have literally no motivation for doing so?

I don’t claim to be an expert on giving advice. I’m not an expert on much, period. But here are some things that I’ve learned during these past few weeks that have helped me just sit down and spew out sentences.



But first off, maybe I should define what I mean by “no motivation.”

This week, I haven’t been motivated. I sit down at my keyboard and iPad screen, ready to write, and . . . then I do absolutely nothing. I don’t feel like writing, and I wonder why I’m even trying to write.

This is what I mean by being unmotivated. You don’t feel like writing, and you may not even want to write.

So what should you do if you have no motivation?

Turn off Wi-Fi

You probably knew I would say that, didn’t you? :) But the past couple weeks, after staring at my cursor blink in my document, I would go straight to the Internet and google, for instance, “TED talk about introverts” and start watching a 19-minute video that has nothing to do with my story.

(And yes, that actually happened a couple days ago XD)

So click that button and turn off your Internet. If you’re not motivated, you’ll use any excuse to stop writing. At least give yourself another chance to write a couple more words.

Skip to the Exciting Stuff

Sometimes, the reason I have no motivation is that I’m trudging though scene after scene of my characters walking to their destination. Absolutely nothing happens, except maybe to introduce a plot device.

There’s an easy fix for this.

If nothing really happens during this time, make something happen. Are your characters fugitives? Maybe have assasssins find them. Maybe make up an entirely new character and place him near your characters.

Or, if you want, skip ahead a week, reference what happened in the parts that you skipped over, and go straight to the action.

(Just so you know, I don’t really take my own advice on this. I struggle through. And let me tell you, it is NOT FUN. But all of the points on here are just advice. You don’t have to listen to any of this.)

Remember Why You Do It

Why do you write? Why do you sit down at your computer screen every day? Why do you choose to pour your heart out onto a page?

Remember your reason for doing it, and maybe reconnect with that reason. Prayer is always a good activity. Read an inspiring book. Watch an inspiring movie. Or . . .

Listen to Motivating Music

This actually does help. Right now I’m listening to my Motivational playlist, which features a lot of intense soundtrack music. Sometimes music can just put you in the right mood to do things. You can use this to your advantage.

You can also pretend that what you’re trying to do is something extremely important and the world will end if you don’t do it. Role-playing can be extremely motivating.

Hey, if you have to pretend that you’re in an epic movie, go for it! I do it all the time at work.

Take a Break

Nadine Brandes recently made a YouTube video debunking the writing advice “write every day.” I won’t tell you what she says, exactly - you guys should watch it for yourselves. But I CAN’T write every single day. I just can’t. I need more refuel time or I get so sick of writing. I don’t know why.

This is from personal experience, but if I have no motivation, I’ve probably been writing too much with no refuel time. If this is the case for you, take a break. You will write more and better when you have refuel time. I guarantee it.

————————————————————————————————-

This was a short and sweet post - I’m busy trying to do EVERYTHING before school starts. *insert ominous music* There’s just TOO LITTLE TIME! But I’ll still have a post next Sunday. (Just in case you thought you could get rid of me. :) *cackles*)

See you guys around the blogosphere! And if your school is starting up this week, tell me in the comments and we can suffer together!

-Nicole

Hey, you.
You
With the terrible day job
And the bossy supervisors
And the worry of
“What if I never do anything else
For the rest of my life?”

You
With the self-doubt
That just keeps
Nagging
Nagging
Nagging
Until you feel like
“There’s no good left in me.”

You
With the friends
That aren’t really your friends
But they’re better than
No one
Or so you think.

You
Were
Made
For
More.

You weren’t created
To cry yourself to sleep every night
To wish that you were someone else
To feel like you’re nothing.

You were made in
God’s
Image,
And that means that
You.
Are.
Amazing.

You were created
To love.
To shine.
To be joyful.
To be you.

Don’t listen to anything
That says you’re worth nothing.
Because it’s
Just
Not
True.
I promise.

God knows what he’s doing.
He knew what he was doing
When He created you.
And He still does.

You
Were
Made
For
More
Than this world.

You were made to spread
God’s light
And hope
And joy.

He has a plan for you.

Just trust it.

Because you were created not for this world,
But for the next.


——————————————————————————————————
Today, I was going to publish my sequel to the redemption arc post that went up two weeks ago. But one day this week I came home crying and asking God for help. I wasn’t sure if I would make it as a writer, and I was absolutely terrified that I would never make it past a bagger in a grocery store. And as I was in my room pouring my heart out I heard five words. You were made for more.

This is a little different from what I usually post, I know, but I feel like I needed to write this. I just hope that someone reads this who needs it.

-Nicole