Sophie Whittemore's Blog

TW: mention of ED recovery and disability I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking this. That I am my own worst critic. My own worst doubter. My own worst bully. When someone tells me something positive about my work. My stories or my books or my short films or my art. I smile and I…

I did it. I wrapped up the sequel to Catch Lili Too. And I’ve spent so long on it, years even, because of a tough senior year with some academic teachers who, honestly, grated me down to nothing. I went through a program in undergrad where some teachers were kind and uplifting, and there were…

There’s this little magical moment when you find a character’s voice. There’s no easy way to find it. No magical formula that works every time. Sometimes, characters come peacefully. Other times, characters gnash and rage until you discover they’ve had a life of their own all along. And, once upon a midnight dreary, a bleary-eyed…

Yes, Halloween movies can absolutely teach you about writing. Originally posted by lucifers-queen I remember first seeing Hocus Pocus in my friend’s basement during the time where I had barely achieved sentience. The first thing I missed about Halloween when I was away from home was the memory of eating too much candy, dressing up…

I haven’t written for myself in weeks. Sometimes, life got in the way. Sometimes, a few hours escaping into an unfinished TV series or a video game seemed more promising. Most of the time, I’d get excited about writing and then just get so exhausted that writing a page didn’t seem likely. I’d scroll through my…

Collaboration is terrifying… Originally posted by knivesonstatic And I’m an indie author saying this, so I can already feel the chill running down my spine from admitting it. Reaching out takes a ton of mental energy. Staring at a screen and trying to make words make sense takes a ton of mental energy. Attempting to…

Sometimes, I forget how writing heals me. I get so caught up in the drudgery of the day to day, when the clock ticks down the impossibly long seconds. I count and count like counting chairs lined up at the front of a stone-cold classroom. I forget how nice it feels to just write something…

Video games are art in that they stay with you. They’re a full-bodied, visceral experience. The death of a major character might even feel like the loss of a loved one to you, that’s how close they become.   Without further ado, here are six storytelling techniques video games can teach you… 1. Branching Now,…

  GIF by handeleugene Founder Brianna Franklin shared with me this amazing project about uplifting Black women and empowering them to reach a greater economic equity. I urge you to follow the organization’s IG and Twitter handles below, alongside helping donate to their campaign link on the bottom of this article. Please signal boost this…

Say it with me now:

We are not worth X amount of hours.

We are not worth X amount of hours.

WE ARE NOT WORTH THE HOURS WE WORK. WE ARE THE LIVES WE LIVE. THE EXPERIENCES WE HAVE.

We are that which we cherish and hold dear.

Originally posted by kaenith

Cue the Rent song about 525,600 minutes because it’s stuck in my head, and Rent has a fire soundtrack. BUT my good writing family, there is procrastination (which, honestly, we all should forgive ourselves more when we do procrastinate. Because it means we’re probably dealing with stress that builds up to the point that it makes life hard to function) THEN there is taking breaks.

Originally posted by thetheatrekiddestination

And it is BAD if someone starts to believe that “taking breaks” is the same thing as taking care of basic human decency. I’m talking about feeling guilty for stepping outside to take a breath of air. I’m talking about feeling guilty for leaving a workspace to eat. I’m talking about feeling guilty to GET SLEEP or go to the bathroom or just LIVE.

Too often, I have friends tell me how unproductive they were. And you know the words I hear next to their confessions about watching too many Netflix shows, or eating a bag of chips, or sitting on the couch and “doing nothing” after a 5-minute nap?

Stress. Pressure. Overwhelmed. Just couldn’t handle it anymore.

The words are common to our unhealthy work habits. Those words are the words of those who have been told every lie in the book about how living is just coping and holding on is just an everyday fact of life.

But you do not deserve that. You do not deserve to be told that you are only worth a certain amount of hours. We are people, not numbers. We are living beings, not nameless. We are not to be erased, forgotten. We are to be heard, we are to be held. We are to be cherished.

Originally posted by siriusserenade-moved

Easier said than done, right? “Oh that’s just the way the world is.” Or “hard work means sacrifice” or, the classic “stop complaining”.

It’s not complaining to say that sacrifice isn’t meaningless. Sacrifice is in the belief of a greater cause, a value based system not on numbers, but on something we love and hold dear. Sacrifice means protecting something sacred.

Am I equating getting up to go to the bathroom with sacrifice? No, but hear me out.

Originally posted by throughthick-and-thin

You are valuable. Not a number, nor a price. You are valued as a person who is here to be and exist as nobody else in this world can. You have gifts that people see, no matter if you think your audience is big enough or not.

If we are valuable, then why should we believe we aren’t worthy of being cherished and taken care of? Why do we believe that we are worth less than getting up to take a walk. To breathe fresh air. To live happily and healthily with a break to get food. Drink water. To use the darn bathroom.

Originally posted by kittenwitchandthebadvibes

We are not X amount of hours. We are not quantities. We are not to be measured for the measured system is broken.

We are worth it.

You, my friend, are worth it.

The post Taking Breaks Isn’t Procrastination appeared first on Sophia Whittemore.