Whitney Cason's Blog

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Are you ready for NaNo?

As a writer, you always have that one niche’ that you are obsessed with; that one thing that shows up in some way, shape or form in your writing; do you know what yours is?

Mine is love.  I tend to center my writing around some form or concept of love.  But, because love can be so cliche’ and boring, I try to always have some type of spin on it; maybe the protagonist is having an affair (see my first published novel,  Playing with Fire), maybe there are long lost lovers who a re separated by some tragic incident in their childhood, or maybe the protagonist is dealing with a horrible break up and I am writing about the emotions that effect you when you are no longer in love.  I try to make the possibilities as endless as possible.[image error]

When I write poetry, I write love poems as  well, because they make me feel good,  and I feel l ike I have experienced different things around love and relationships.  When I first started  writing, all I would write about was love.

Now that I have taken more time to expand my tone of writing, I am able to develop stories and poems around more things aside from just love; however, it still remains to be one of the things I can find as a common theme in a lot of my writing.

What is one thing you have noticed as a  common theme in your writing?  What would you consider yourself “obsessed” with writing about?

Millionaire's Digest Magazine

Before you start, some quick rules:

The idea behind this exercise is quantity, not necessarily quality. You might come up with some junk ideas as you race to write them down, but at least you’ll come up with ideas. Those ideas can be massaged and coaxed into an awesome title or topic for a winning article. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Force yourself to write stuff down. When you actually begin to type words, you begin to come up with more ideas and to think in clearer ways. There are three major sections I’ve outlined in which you will be prompted not just to think of ideas but to write those ideas down. This exercise will be completely useless unless you actually write things down.

This is idea generation only. Now is not the time to assign article topics, craft the perfect headline, or create…

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Not all parts of the writing process are glamorous.  I’ve been recently feeling defeated by this process and it’s hard to overcome an emotion like that.

Sometimes, you may feel defeated.  I’m finding that to be a reality of being a writer.  It’s not always good times when you’re going through your process.  You may feel as if your wonderful goals are just entirely too outlandish to achieve and their are too many obstacles standing in your way.

Some days, I can experience an enormous amount of writers block, other times, life happens and causes major delays in my deadlines, or I could just be experiencing a lack of support.  No matter what the situation, these things and others can lead to you feeling major defeat; and make you want to completely give up your writing career altogether.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of ways to overcome this mindset and push through the defeated feeling, because I know deep down I am stronger than this emotion. If I can break through the mental battle and remind myself that the feeling is only temporary, I feel like I can conquer it. I know that several of us go through this constantly, so I’m here to offer a few pointers on how to overcome the feeling of defeat:

Stay confident and positive- don’t let the negatives overshadow the positive things you’ve accomplished. Even if it’s one thing you’ve done that day, learn to celebrate even the smallest writing milestones to get you through the rough patches.
Keep written affirmations near your writing space- I wrote down some of my favorite affirmations and have them pinned or posted around my writing space, just to give me that extra boost of inspiration when I need it.
Remember patience is key; never rush the process- no matter what, never rush your work. Quality is always better than quantity and I’d rather have quality work than a bunch or work that I’ll have to get rid of later. Sometimes a mental break is needed from your writing in order for you to come back even better than before.

These are just a few things I keep in perspective when faced with defeat. I hope if you are feeling the same these tips can help you as well.

Even the most famous of authors and writers need a day off at times.  As much as I love writing, sometimes I need to have a day off from it.  I've needed to take a day off completely from all things writing (blogging included), to give my mind a break.  I feel the intense pressures to get certain things completed or make it to a certain deadline, that oftentimes, I forget to add in days off in order to give my mind a break.  Just like your normal 9-5, you're entitled to give yourself off days in your writing journey.

For someone who enjoys writing so much, the struggle for me personally comes when I try to figure out what to do on my day off from writing!  Usually, writing or blogging is what I like to do to unwind from my regular job, so when I am taking a day off from both, I truly don't know what to do, lol!  I have found that reading, meditation, yoga, exercising, etc. are some of the thins I enjoy doing, so I try to do those things on my off days.  It also helps keep my creative juices flowing even when I'm not writing, so I don't lose any steam.

Let me hear from you; when you have an off day from all things writing, what do you like to do?

Sometimes I feel like I'm so far behind in my writing. I don't want anyone to lose faith in me getting these projects out, but when you want something to be the best it can, it takes some time. Also, when you're not a full-time writer, it takes a lot longer than you think (hard sigh).

I look at where I am, considering I have a full-time job and a full-time toddler (lol) and I feel like I'm still in a good place; however, there have been many deadlines missed because life threw me for a loop and I didn't have the time to devote to my writing like I wanted. I hated that I had to miss them, but other responsibilities took precedent and I had to put my writing on hold. There was also a nasty bout of writer's block there, but I've been doing pretty good lately.

I've been maintaining a pretty good pace and managed to write frequently during the week (I'm in the process of revamping my writing schedule), so the writers block has not been an issue.

I'm not sure how or where I should be, but I know I'm trying hard to get to my goal. I want to have made some substantial progress, but I also don't want to hinder myself with an actual deadline, because if I don't meet the deadline I will feel horrible again. All I know is I'm diligently working towards a great finished product for the public, and I hope that I can accomplish that soon. I know the world is waiting to see what happens with my crew next!

 

Have you read any of my books lately?  Did you like what you read?

Be sure to leave me a review on Amazon! I’d love to hear your feedback!!

 

Click the links below for each book to leave a review on my Amazon pages!

Playing with Fire

From a Lover’s Mouth

Everyone has a routine when they are getting into their creative groove. Mine just so happens to be music. When I’m getting ready to start my blogging or writing time, I have to make sure my music is right, or else the vibe is all wrong.

Sometimes, listening to just the right song or album, can create a scene, a couple chapters or even curate a blog post that had been stuck in my brain for days!  Music has always been something like a first love of mine when it comes to getting my creative juices flowing in the right direction, and because of that, I created my very own playlist on TIDAL, called The Writer’s Vibes.  This is the playlist I listen to, specifically on shuffle, whenever I begin to get into my creative mode.  I have a mixture of different songs on it, and it generally just gets me into a vibe that allows me to relax, unwind and get into a great headspace for writing.

Here are a few screenshots of my playlist..you may find a song or two that you like on it!  let me know what songs you enjoy listening to to get your creative vibes going!

So, after months of only using my lap desk, I finally got my writing desk and chair and rearranged my living room so I could have my own writing space!  I’m super excited (even though as I type this I am using my lap desk because I’m watching TV while I type LOL).

Right now, it’s still a little bare, but with a few more accessories, I hope to make it my own little safe haven for writing.  The hardest part will be trying to keep it clean, because I tend to make a mess when I’m in creative mode, lol.

It made me excited as soon as I was able to get everything set up and finished to know that I finally had my own little space to write and keep all of my writing notebooks, instead of having it scattered across my house.  It even gave me a little boost of motivation to get into writing mode.  Sometimes getting a new space and even some new décor is just what you need to get you right back in the swing of things.

Hopefully this will put me right where I need to be and back into a heavy routine of writing!

Use code FREESHIP17 to get free shipping on both my newest book From a Lover’s Mouth AND Playing with Fire when you shop in my store from now until 8/1!!! 

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