Things writers do:
~While writing a scene, listen to the same song for hours, trying to get the mood just right.
~Spend entire days finding and editing photos and videos for promotion.
~Search pictures of “light on stone” on Pinterest, trying to describe the light on the stone in the scene. Other searches may include “Tudor necklace” “illuminated manuscript” and “Glastonbury Tor.” Somewhere along that line of thought, you’ll come across a picture of a random cave in France. That will give you and idea for something having to do with Templars. Spend three hours researching Templars and then decide that idea won’t work after all.
~Go back to searching Pinterest. Decide that you need more pictures of the actors who are the inspiration for your characters. Find the perfect picture of them, reflecting the mood that you need for a scene. Go write the scene. The scene is garbage because it is a first draft. This does not deter you as you know the drill. You’ll come back to the scene again. And again. And again. And . . . Laugh/cry
~Realize you’ve been sitting at your desk all day and the only thing you’ve eaten is walnuts.
~Look at your Yoga pants and realize that you have been wearing the same Yoga pants since 2012. They have holes and you resemble a beggar. You should really do normal things like shop.
~Guzzle tea/ coffee. You may have a problem with this.
~Obsess about ________________. Use your imagination and Google. Find a random website or fact that solves that one fact you’ve been needing for weeks/ months. Insert the fact into your work in progress. This adds one sentence.
~Force yourself to edit X number of pages. It feels like trying to wrestle an octopus into a Mason jar.
~Message bestie writers, telling them you don’t know how to write, your book is stupid, etc. They talk you off the ledge because you’re tight like that, and you’ve done the same for them. Gifs are used in the conversation. Mystic goat challenges are issued. Plots are contrived to rule the world.
~Write some more. Bleed on the page. Have an epic idea. This one works. Your book might work. You smile.
~Get up the next day. Sit at the computer. Embrace the madness. Repeat. You’re thankful. You get to tell stories! And that is one of the best jobs in the world.