Breaking my silence...

... on how to stay motivated and give unsolicited advice.

It's been months since I rambled here. I didn't mean to stay away this long. But I have been doing things behind the scenes. First of all, I have been writing, editing and taking care of myself. Adult lives are a scam, we get to not have enough time to do the things we want to. Or the energy.

I have kept myself busy, commissioned art for my book (highly recommend Andy (Andictions), traveled to Toronto to see Bad Omens live, edited my book, went to more concerts and I have more concerts lined up in Calgary.

I have been struggling with energy, after my toddler falls asleep I'm consumed by a strange tiredness and my bed calls. Went to the doctor and everything is okay, more than okay. My values are normal, so it must be a "I'm turning 40 this year".

But today I'm forced to slow down because I'm sick, with a cold—courtesy of daycare and my beloved son. So as I take a time to rest in bed, finding myself unable to code, write or edit, and waking up from my nap, I'm here to offer unsolicited advice.

Writing advice from an unpublished author

You are wondering, why would you listen to this woman with not a single book out. Fine, the only writing credits I have are two: A long 200,000+ words fanfic I wrote from 16 to when I was 20—I'd rather not be associated with that anymore because trans lives matter, iykyk. The most recent writing credit I have is writing an eulogy, for a car. A coworker's car died and there was so much lore about him and the car I had to write an eulogy. And the best part was seeing people at work laughing hard at my true and madeup adventures—I consulted with the car's owner to fact-check.

I love that feeling, telling stories and seeing people react to that. But unfortunately I can't paste that in here due to the personal information. Also writing life is kept apart from my life as a software developer. So I have some experience, not official but I know a thing or two (actually my mug at work says "I don't know what I'm doing"). So maybe you shouldn't follow my advice.

Tips to write better

1. Write, keep writing and write more. When I started drafting last year I was: I know what I'm going to tell. A year later, I still know what I'm telling but I keep finding ways to improve it. Be good with words, find words, scramble words. I'm no Gabriel Garcia Márquez, but I have improved a lot since last year. I still have room to improve even if I think I'm decent. Write, make mistakes, write, cut, extend, cut again.
2. Take care of yourself. Do whatever you need to do beyond writing. Taking care of your mental health, your physical health, get closer to your family/friends. It looks different depending who you are. It has helped me. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying my best.
3. Find dopamine in different ways. Small victories, feedback from a friend or reader. For now it's only been my husband. And I'm highly motivated to keep going because underneath it all I believe in what I'm writing.
4. Keep your eyes and ears open for inspiration. For me it's watching people interact, hear their stories, interact with people. Ideas are floating around. I grab those ideas and put them in a list, add to a scene or make a note to develop it later.
5. Don't interact with things that are detrimental for your muse, if you can. I'm not talking about avoiding your job or things beyond your control. I'm talking about things you have control over, for example, social media. It can kill the vibe, so I try to stay away to not interrupt my streak of writing. I'm always lurking (see above) but I try to surround myself with positive things or things that make me laugh. Don't participate in the drama, drama doesn't help to write or sell books.
6. Take a break. Seriously, take a break. At least it has helped me with my motivation. Come back fresh and be like: Oh, do I really need this scene? I think there's a better way to convey this. And the best ideas always come from when I'm taking a break.
7. Patience and grace with yourself. Writing takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. Patience, this is not a race.
8. Read, read, read. It's hard for me to read lately but I keep always an audiobook. I nurture myself with stories, listening to the words used, study them. Other writers can offer you things, their words can keep the flame going. At least it works for me.
9. Organize yourself. I'm not super organized. I'm a mess but I usually know where my writing is and the ideas. Find a system that works for you. For me, it was switching from Scrivener to Obsidian, have notes on timelines. Make sure I know what I'm trying to convey with each scene. Keep dates, a list of plot arc and sub-plots. It looks different on each writer. I use a combination of keeping a timeline and plotting the beats, having a summary for each scene and have like a map of what comes first and what follows.
10. Write that scene even if you think it's going to be bad. I have done that. Write and see where it takes me. I feel it oils my brain to start working again to where I know I need to go. Writing something experimental or just if it's going nowhere. It has taken me to: change from third-person to first-person, define plot points, understand better a character and question better ways to conduct a scene by moving elements to other scenes.

Not much, just some ramblings. Now, back to a nap while I recover.

Disclaimer: None of it was written with AI, it's everywhere and it has to be said, just in case. Yes, I wrote 1000 words in an hour. That's how my brain works. I'm struggling to cut my manuscript from 128k words to 99k words. I talk a lot.