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Be Smart, a solution to writer’s block and life
Tags: Planning, Goal Setting, Problem Solving, Goals, Writers Block

We’ve all been there. Staring at a blank screen, there’s so much to do but you can’t seem to figure out where to start, the infamous writer’s block.

One of the first steps to tackling this stalwart to creativity is by taking an introspective look at what motivates you and how you approach any task, project, or deadline.

I’m a serial procrastinator but knowing this about myself I take steps proactively instead of fighting against my nature. My first step in approaching a task at hand is typically a mental exercise, organizing the chaos that is my thoughts into what is to be accomplished. I have full faith that from my previous experiences I will find a way to get things done, the only thing stopping you more often than anything is yourself.

I try to organize my thoughts and goals into an acronym that I’ve learned from sales and apply to everyday life, if you plan and keep things S.M.A.R.T (Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time sensitive) you’d be amazed at how much can be accomplished.

Specific: the goals that you set need to be tangible and honing your focus will help make sense of where to start. Measurable: there needs to be some way to gauge your progress towards your goal and finding a way to quantify that is key. Attainable: if you set a goal that’s impossible to reach, you are setting yourself up for failure. Realistic: we can get caught up in what could or might happen, but at the end of the day, we can only control the controllable and our attitude is a major aspect of that. Time sensitive: if we establish milestones and create self-imposed deadlines we hold ourselves accountable.

An example of a common S.M.A.R.T. goal could be weight loss.

To be specific, let’s say I want to lose 15 lbs,

measurable, progress would be quantified by lbs lost,

attainable, 15 lbs seems more feasible and healthy as opposed to 50 for instance.

realistic, aiming for an attainable goal and having a plan that includes changes to diet and exercise can achieve this.

time sensitive, 3 months could be a potential time-frame if you lose on average 2 lbs per week.

What do you plan to accomplish with this framework of thinking? Let me know how you’ll be smart @themindofjalal
I don’t like blue pens
By: Julianne Ozor
Tags: Writers Life, Writers On Writing, Black, Writers Block

I am very particular about the colour of pen I write with. Since 100% of my work involves writing, I spent most of it jotting down my thought in an actual notebook or recycled paper from the office.

Some of my colleagues like to use their laptop for this, but I prefer the old fashioned way. My handwriting isn’t the prettiest, but I just like to see it, there’s a sentiment to it.

Maybe its because I feel like one day in the future when I’m rummaging through old stuff, I’ll see copy lines or stories that never got out, and I’ll be proud that I did some work in my youth. Maybe then I’d even be able to improve on some of them or even get some fresh ideas.

There’s something about ink on paper that just gets my thoughts flowing. I only use black pen to write. I find myself not belong able to connect to anything written in blue ink or any other colour that’s not black. It’s just so neat and captivating.

My obsession for black ink started when I was in the university. t grew stronger when I started working in the creative industry, and I started to discover the things that bring out the creative juices. I would scout for black pens before I would feel confident writing. Even till date. (Because I know that when I’m reading this 20 years later, I’ll still be head over heels in love with black ink). I literally cannot think if I have a different colour of pen in my hand.

But I’m trying to be more modern, so I’m trying out typing my thoughts in black ink, thanks to default computer settings. I wonder if you can change font colours on a computer.

I’m sure there’s that one thing that boosts your work mood and confidence. Please share, maybe I can adapt some of yours.
Live to Write
By: Roy Nickerson
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing Tips, Writers Life, Writing, Writers Block

Carry a Notebook: Once you make this turn and you become a witness to the world, you have to catch all of the material you’re gathering. Write down your observations in a notebook. Your notebook can either be an actual collection of paper, or a digital equivalent. I used to carry around a hardbound notebook that was a little larger than my hand, but I’ve transitioned to writing on my phone with its digital pen. It’s not unusual to see me stop in the middle of walking my dog and scribbling an idea or three.

Ask Questions: Some of the best conversationalists are identified as such primarily because they listen more than they talk as people discuss their favorite subject: themselves. You’d be amazed at what you can learn from someone — about herself or a subject she is interested in — just by asking open-ended questions. From there, listen closely to what he is saying and how he expresses associated emotions.

When it comes to your own internal monologue, do the same. “What if…?” can be a powerful tool that takes your characters into uncharted territories, full of possibility. “Why…?” can start a backstory that creates depth in your characters. Once you start, though, make sure you’re ready to write it all down, because it can be a turbo-charged experience.

Journal/Freewrite: If you’re not the stop-during-the-day-and-catalog-what-you-see type, try journaling. You don’t even have to make it a thing that you Instagram or Twitter about. Just throw some notes about your day or week (whatever interval suits you) down on paper and let it flow. Don’t worry about writing a literary masterpiece every time you sit down either. But if the spirit takes you that direction, fly with it. The bottom line is if you make it a regular practice, some genius will occasionally squirt out.

So, live your life fully, observe constantly, then write about what you see. Best of luck. Please let me know if there is any way I can help.
I am not a writer.
Tags: Trauma, Writers Block, Creative Block, Writing

I am not a writer.

I used to be. I would like to be again. My brain just isn’t there anymore. I can’t form cohesive thoughts and sentences. I have trouble with getting the words out of my head; they get jumbled up and try to stay there.

I get stuck. I feel stuck.

I used to write. I was pretty good at it. I’m not sure if my block is related to neurodivergence, or trauma that needs to get out of my head, or something else altogether, but I just struggle so much now.

The words don’t flow. They are stilted, and in rereading them they seem forced (probably because they are). I don’t have beautiful words that invoke emotion in my head — I have infinite chaos. I have a person who is drowning and is trying to tread water. I have a mother who is constantly stuck between desperately needing time away and feeling guilt for feeling that way. I have a child who just wants to be accepted and cherished. I have so many pieces of myself at war and no focus to try to figure out how to fix it. I mean, I can’t afford to get help.

So instead, I try to distract myself. I make efforts to connect with people online. I get into a show, or a book. I do my makeup — a lot. I change my hair. I do all of these things, as internally I’m picking apart the things that I feel must be wrong with me.

And damn it, I just wish I could write. Or paint. Or draw. But the inspiration isn’t there. I don’t know if it ever will be again. Maybe next year.
How to write when you don’t feel like writing
By: Cynthia Marinakos
Tags: Inspiration, Writing Tips, Life Lessons, Self Improvement, Writers Block

How to write when you don’t feel like writing

Writing is damn tedious.

Each time, you spend hours on your post. Researching. Tweaking.

Choosing your words carefully. Showing your reader more of yourself than you’re comfortable with. But going for it anyway, because you have something to share. Someone to help.

Scaring the crap out of your partner when you sit up suddenly in the middle of the night — grab your phone — and make the edit you suddenly remember you have to make.

You glimpse at your inbox like a mad person every 2 minutes to see if your post has been accepted.

But all you see are emails like ‘Real writers don’t starve’ and ‘The formula for being a real paid book author’.

And all you hear is the neighbor’s side gate clanging in the wind. And the scraping of the dog’s bowl as he moves it around the backyard, bored and frustrated.

Photo by Kev Costello on Unsplash

Strangely, it’s not as if you haven’t been published before. In small and large publications. People may even pay for your writing.

What’s the universe telling you?

To give up writing and move on?

It’s all getting too hard now. Depressing. Embarrassing. Unmotivating.

Urgh!

I know I’m not alone. Most writers get into a rut at some point.

The truth is, I’m in a writing rut right now.

But I discovered a truth about being a writer that has made all the difference. Rejection is normal.

It’s part of a writer’s life.

Expect it. Accept it. Celebrate it (that there’s actually something to reject). And just keep writing.

Still, that truth itself may not be enough to get us out of a rut, does it?

Well, here are a few ways that have been working for me lately:

Find your why

Let go of judgment

Embrace fluidity

Connect

Nurture yourself

Write

Let’s explore these together, shall we? And somewhere along the way, I’m pretty sure the words will start flowing for us again.
Pen poised in the air.
By: Ekta Kapoor
Tags: Writers Life, Write, Writing, Stephen King, Writers Block

Pen poised in the air. Mildly anxious because this is new to her. She knows the fluidity of words, the spilling of ink on paper, even the mess of thoughts strewn across blank lines. Yet here she is. Sometimes when there’s too much to say, the transmission gets jammed, the pipes get choked, words fall all over the place and yet together they struggle to form coherence.

On such days, she doubts herself. Isn’t writing really the only thing I know. What if I don’t even know that. It’s easy being kind to others, it comes from a place of comradeship. But being kind to the person who lives inside you, the one you dislike the most. No one ever showed her how.

But if there’s one thing she’s learnt, through falling more times than she could get back up. It is that even when you have no one to turn to, you still have you. So she tries, finding the words that fit, that complete this dichotomy that she’s started. And even though she wrote pages and pages, each of them showing her why she shouldn’t continue to write, she wrote one line somewhere in the middle, that showed her exactly why she should !
Why Writer’s Block is a Lie
By: Nicholas Goudsmit
Tags: Inspiration, Writers Block, Writing, Beyourself

Delusional, maybe, controversial, sure, but sometimes I wish I had crossed the border. Sometimes I wish I had gotten in a back-alley altercation or been chased by wolves for the mere fact that I would have something to put on paper. Something intriguing to share.

Now, I understand how that may sound to the population of asylum seekers or the guy who barely escaped a confrontation with a hungry pack of wolves, especially coming from the middle-class white kid, but in my eyes, the only thing more discomforting than a life full of discomfort is a life without any at all. There are days when I curse the literature heavens, pen to the sky, begging for a gripping experience to compose. Instead, I find myself actively writing about the fact that I have nothing to write about. The irony.

Regarding my previous declaration, let me emphasize ‘sometimes.’ While there are seconds, minutes, and hours that I spend rueing my uneventful life, there are days, weeks, and months that I am grateful for a lack of noteworthy, perhaps traumatic, experiences. Through this dry-well of circumstance, hidden behind all of the frustration is a key discovery in my writing career: the best part about being an author is in knowing that I shouldn’t theoretically be one.

I have no right to be here. A doctor without equipment would be laughed at, a teacher without an education would be scorned, and a writer without stories in his/her back pocket is dull and witless. But I will gladly accept that ignorance, because writing, in itself, is a process of creating something from nothing. The beauty of literature resides in the reality that neither you nor I have to be Stephen King to be successful, we just have to want to be Stephen King, and then put that desire to practice. Because experience aside, this game isn’t survival of the fittest… it’s survival of the witless. Let your cluelessness carry you forward.

After all, you just read a story about nothing.

Happy writing,

Nicholas Goudsmit
40+ Motivational Quotes About Writing
By: Matt Lemanski
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing Tips, Writing, Writing Life, Writers Block

For a long time, my favorite quote came from Samuel Beckett, the Irish writer, who wrote:

“Keep going, going on, call that going, call that on.”

His words seemed to encapsulate the sense of frustration I would often feel as a writer. But I think they also capture the weird experience of writing more generally. Especially when read at greater length:

Where now? Who now? When now? Unquestioning. I, say I. Unbelieving. Questions, hypotheses, call them that. Keep going, going on, call that going, call that on. Can it be that one day, off it goes on, that one day I simply stayed in, in where, instead of going out, in the old way, out to spend day and night as far away as possible, it wasn’t far. Perhaps that is how it began. You think you are simply resting, the better to act when the time comes, or for no reason, and you soon find yourself powerless ever to do anything again. No matter how it happened. It, say it, not knowing what. Perhaps I simply assented at last to an old thing. But I did nothing. I seem to speak, it is not I, about me, it is not about me. These few general remarks to begin with.

Is there any greater manifesto for pessimistic perseverance? Beckett was writing amid the wreckage of global catastrophe, reflecting (so I imagine) on how strange it is to be a writer. How strange it is to be anything at all.

Soft and sweet…

Anyway, so much for general remarks.

Below are some quotes to help keep you going in the new year.
30 days writing challenge: A Rant on this ‘Writer’s’ Block
Tags: How To Beat Writers Block, Daily Writing Challenge, Self Doubt, New Beginnings, Writers Block

Funny that I don’t have anything to write at all. After months of not writing a word, after consuming all kinds of off-screen and on-screen drama in my life, I still can’t imagine to write anything. That’s annoying. Imagination was my pal. We used to write about such fancy dreams and weird stories. Where has my imagination gone? Well, that’s a question to wonder.

Was my imagination secretly in love with me? And now that I’m married, it decided to go away from me for the better?

Or is it just on a vacation? If so, I’m envious. I’ve not been on such a long vacation in my life. Can anyone tell me, what are the dates of arrival? I will be holding a placard at the Arrivals terminal, ‘My Imagination’ written over it. Do you think it would be enough for it to come to me or should I be more expressive?

Why do I find what I am writing very kiddish? I used to write well, didn’t I?

Oh god! Am I judging my writing too harshly here? What happened to me? I never discarded my humorous writing this way before.

Haw! Don’t tell me I have started taking lightly the art of writing itself. That shouldn’t be the case, no? I used to write because I considered it to my strength. It was my medium. So what happened now?

There could be number of reasons.

Like?

Umm…the social media. Today, the world is consuming mostly the medium of video, including myself. It’s much easier and popular to express your emotions through visuals and videos. In happiness, love, sadness and anger, it’s the visuals that people prefer. Written words are increasingly becoming old school.

Oh okay. What next?

Another reason could be my system. You know how eating too much food setbacks your digestive system? You either are almost leaking or end up just constipated. The same way, I think my writing system is constipated. Too many thoughts run in my mind, and when I don’t give it a healthy space to let them out, the result is this.

Another one again could be my confidence. When you add both of the above points, you are basically not writing, and so eventually your self-confidence goes down. In order to gain confidence, I need to find more rewarding opportunities, and to find such opportunities, I need to write more. So here comes the vicious cycle. Ugh!

Hmm…this makes sense, don’t you think too? So okay, in order to win my imagination back, I need to write regularly.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Yes, I am doing a challenge. A 30 days challenge. I will be writing here everyday, about anything that comes and goes in my mind. I didn’t plan this challenge. I kept writing, and here I came. What do you think this way will take me at the end of 30 days?

The world is watching this blog (or I like to believe that). But I’m doing this only and only for myself. The previous chapter of this blog had planned writings. But this chapter 2 is going to be more spontaneous.

Would I be able to keep up this commitment?

I have to.
The War against Creatives
By: Penmah Johnson
Tags: Creativity, Writing, Self Improvement, Writers Block, Self Love

Today I noticed that I am no longer the person I used to be. You wonder why?

The person who avoids conflict and makes peace, the first chance they get used to be me.

The person who remembers everyone’s birthdays used to be me.

The person who scrolls through their contact and makes that call use to be me.

The person who trusted too easily and believed the most in people used to be me.

The person who sort after people’s approval for everything used to be me.

Now standing in front of me, is someone different, someone I am trying for the love of me, to understand and live with. Indifferent might not be the exact word but it comes close. To love or hate this person?

This new person is vocal, won’t keep quiet sometimes and it bothers me. How did you go from quiet, shy and introverted to being the first person to initiate conversations and even talking in groups? Who are you?

How did all those birthday notifications beat you to it? Why is it so very tedious to put that call through?

New person, yes you. You surprise me. as much as I love the spontaneity, it scares the shit outta me. You just rear your head and do what you want not thinking how it will make you look. You don’t care so much for people’s opinions like before. Honestly, I like that, because it’s been a weight on my shoulders all those years.

New person, I want to like you so much, but I'm still struggling to come to terms with you being real and not a figment of my imagination or my day-dreams character.

I empathize with you, I know it must be hard making the journey all the way down here. I know, you face oppositions from the previous person. Although she gets her turn to strut and people-please, her tenure is gradually coming to an end, as you keep snatching the spotlight from her every now and then.

Oh, new person you are petty😉. It’s not so hard being alone with you, like it was with her. With you there’s so much to laugh about, cry and goof about. everyday there’s something new about you.

I really don’t know how you handle all that pressure, society keeps throwing at us. I must say I am happy to have you visit but I'll like for you to have the keys, stay, you live here now. Own this space and mark it as yours.

P:S

Girl I must say that you rock these curves well, better than she ever did😉.

I am standing facing this mirror, like I always do, but today I noticed….
Writer’s Block — one practical solution
By: Isobel Cunningham
Tags: Break Writers Block, Writers Block, Writing, Ninja Prompt

Writer’s Block — one practical solution

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You’re stuck! Can’t find the ending? Your villain is too horrid and your heroine too angelic? Here’s one technique to dislodge the dreaded block.

Honor the work you have already done. Spread out your drafts on your bed. The bed has power. The bed is the place where dreams, love, babies, plots, are conceived.The bed is an altar upon which much has been sacrificed, for good and for evil. Bring your work to this altar and lay it out. Handwritten notes, first drafts, charts. Bring them to the bed and lay them out so you can see what your fruits really are. Run your hands over what you have already created. Know that you have to feed what is before you. This is a living organism that you and only you could possibly create. Are you really going to abandon it, neglect it?

No! Love it, be proud of it, know that only your unique voice is in all these pages, all these notes. I’m not a religious person, but there is a line in the psalms that comes to mind when I perform this exercise. “Do not despise the work of thy hands.” All the inspiration, craft, imagination, re-reading and correction that has already gone into this work deserves attention and effort.

Take your favorite pen or pencil and your notebook, perhaps open your word processer to a new page and begin. Let your “writer’s block” be a building block for the wonder you are creating.
There is a Time for Ideas!
By: Fiza Ameen
Tags: Writing, Writing Life, Ideas, Lack Of Ideas, Writers Block

There is a Time for Ideas!

The image by Junior Ferreira on Unsplash

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

From my over 60 articles on Medium, I’ve come to know you can never have enough ideas. You need to stock them for the next day, and the days after that.

But that is the problem, ideas are not like words, which come one after the other. They don’t come on their own. You have to work to get them out.

But till when? No one knows!

I don’t suppose that is a part of writer’s block. Here we even don’t know what to write. It’s easier to write an article when you get an idea. But if you don’t know what to write about, your commitment, your work doesn’t matter.

The other day, in my time spared for jotting down the next draft ideas, I was miserable. Try as I might, nothing came out. Ideas didn’t bother to give me a glimpse. I thought it was time to give up that stuff and run some other errands.

The image by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

Truth be told, I was worried. I thought about what would happen if ideas wouldn’t come, how I’m going to write more and more on Medium. Because my present ideas storage would be used up in a matter of few weeks. How things would work out for me?

I thought this would happen often. I would strive for ideas and end up with a blank page.

Later that day, I sat down to finish the pending drafts. The commonplace book was with me (as always! I had no intention to look for ideas but they came!

Yes, they came of their own accord!

I even didn’t have to look for them. They were like the rhyming words, one after the other.

That was a product of my concentrated thoughts, but why wouldn’t ideas come at the right time? That happens often with me. Like everything, ideas must be following some schedule.

There is a time for everything and ideas are a part of everything. Sometimes you long for them and they don’t bother to give you a hint. At other times, they are coming from the unconscious. They must follow a time frame.

The good news is, ideas will come at last. Maybe not now, but soon enough! That is all that matters.

So I believe if you are facing from lack of article ideas, your time for ideas hasn’t come. And when it will, all the things would be settled. Give it a rest, and all the best!
Social Media — The New Pressure Cooker In Town?
By: Vipasha Khurana
Tags: Habits, Writers Life, Social Media, Societal Pressures, Writers Block

Facebook, instagram, twitter, our constant companions around to let us know who is doing what, wearing what, going where and everything about them that is technically none of our business.

Our life today is so driven by the constant pressure of competing in the social media space that it is nothing less than a rat race. Something that was invested in to revive and retain association with friends has eventually repositioned itself as a medium to contest, both personally and professionally. Before we realised, the game suddenly was majorly about who does it the best!

Most times, when I’m scrawling through instagram, it is fascinating to see all the glam and glitter, holidaying, party hopping, happy pictures around but also, it makes me think, think about how my life is nowhere close. In fact, on the contrary, it is quite miserable! It makes me compare things in head and question the universe, “why me?” Am I not normal? Did I miss on something big that these guys managed? If yes, what was it? Where did I go wrong?

Maybe it’s just me thinking this way, maybe it’s just my head doing these random mad calculations, but it was all still cropping up there. Before I realised, I had started succumbing to the pressure to be the best! Next, how do I define “best” but? Am I not good enough to be my best?

It made me question the “normal” I was aware of. A constant thinking and probably a comparison running in my head most times. I don’t know if anyone relates to my experience here but honestly, the continual comparisons had really taken a toll on my mental health, become a cause of worry, made me go quite & gloomy, with a perpetual feeling of not being good enough.

Looking at the kind of effect it had on me, I then decided to go off these mediums. I put myself through hard times where the morning ritual of tea and insta/facebook scrolling had to be pushed out and replaced with some real knowledge sharing ones like NDTV & Times. I installed as many of these as I could to keep app hopping and reading more to stay posted on real happenings around. Two, I mindfully started meeting friends, both old and new, creating a real social circle and not circling around social media.

I’ve fought my way through this for good and my experience has eventually made me realise that less indulgence is always better, in every aspect of life. Well, that’s my learning out of my situation, created inside my head.

Today, I’m off social media and the urge to delve and dig and sulk is no more around. I am aware of the effect it has had on me, thrusting & making vigilant efforts to never compare and just be.
4 Great Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block
By: Todd Pajonas
Tags: Todd Pajonas, Writers Block, Writing, Writing Tips

For authors of all levels and backgrounds, the experience of writer’s block is an unpleasant but normal facet of the writing life. Fortunately, there are great ways to move past even the worst cases of writer’s block; here are just a few tried-and-true methods for getting your writing back on track, and why using them can be a great way to take your writing to the next level.

1. Criticize Negative Thinking Patterns

When writer’s block arises, it usually revolves around a particular fear or sense of anxiety. Perhaps we’re afraid that we will no longer be able to write; perhaps we fear that our writing won’t be any good. As soon as we can criticize the irrational beliefs behind our fears around writing, however, we’ll often find that our case of writer’s block will lessen or even disappear altogether.

2. Trust Your Abilities

Indeed, writing is much like riding a bicycle: Just as we’re unlikely to lose our ability to balance on a bike simply because we’re feeling anxious, we probably won’t forget how to write anytime soon. Indeed, once we have our anxiety around writing under control, we’ll quickly find that we’re just as capable of writing as we’ve ever been. After all, we’ve been able to write in the past; there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to write in the future.

3. Try Free Writing

If you’re really stuck for ideas while writing, try free writing for a short period of time to really get the creative juices flowing. Free writing involves jotting down any thoughts or ideas that come into our mind for a short period of time. Sometimes, just filling up the blank space on a page can do wonders for taking away the anxiety that accompanies many writing projects.

4. Take a Walk and Clear Your Mind

For many writers and artists throughout history, a walk in the outdoors has traditionally been seen as a great way to generate ideas and overcome writer’s block. No less a composer than Ludwig van Beethoven kept a notebook with him on his daily walks through nature, and William Wordsworth was famous in his day for generating poetic ideas while strolling through the English countryside.

For these reasons, overcoming writer’s block doesn’t have to be a difficult process. With the right mindset and a few free writing exercises under your belt, you’ll be back on the writing track in no time. Every writer goes through spells of writer’s block at some stage in their career, so if you find yourself staring down a blank page from time to time, know that you’re in great company!
The Battle of Writer’s Block
By: Alex Cory Dikowski
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writers Life, Writing, Fiction, Writers Block

Some days, the words come like bullets from a hot machine gun barrel. They wage war on a blank page and are well suited for victory. A relentless barrage of nouns and verbs and adjectives explode into sentences and paragraphs and pages, crippling the enemy’s defenses. General Blank Page mounts a last-ditch air offensive but his planes are brought down by well placed shots of metaphor-tipped shells. Incendiary bombs unleash flames of simile that produce a thick smoke of imagery and witty comparison. Some days, the words obey your orders.

Other days, the words are frightened new recruits; hunkered down and shell shocked in a trench. They refuse to fight and wish to be home with their mothers. Victory is impossible like breaking boulders with bare hands. The blank page advances its line deep into your creative territory, fighting ferociously against the ideas in your head. A bayonet forged from writer’s block lunges toward your belly; you squeeze the trigger and the weapon jams. The poisonous metal slides into your abdomen and you wave a white flag at the white page — and for today, it’s over. Some days, the words refuse to fight.
NaNo Day 19 — Project Life: Quest System… and my confusion implementing it
Tags: Blog, Gdevelop, Games Development, Writers Block, NaNoWriMo

Really struggling today… I can’t seem to focus on anything and when I do it’s just confusing me. I think writing it all out will help so…

I’m trying to wrap my head around quest systems (in GDevelop). Essentially, (and this can be said to my whole approach to games design so far), I’m trying to break down what I need to accomplish.

In order to have a quest system, I need something to store my quests in. If I was writing Javascript, I’d create an Array, or an Object and I’d set up some names and ID for each quest available to the player. Unfortunately, as far as I’m aware, there is no form of Array in GDevelop.

So, following that logic, and working with what GDevelop does have, I’ve created a couple of global variables (_activeQuest & _questID). Next, I created a questLogItem Text Object and within this, I’ve added a few Object Variables (_questName, _questID and _questGiver).

Now, logically I can craft some form of event or function in order to populate these objects and variables in order to track and manage the player's quest. Unfortunately, I have the Game Developers equivalent to Writer’s Block. I’m staring at the GDevelop function pages and nothing is coming to me.

I need to research more about Extension as I think this is how I’ll need to build it. I’ll also check some youtube tutorials on other Game engines and how the logic is handle in there (unfortunately, I’ve not had much luck finding any such tutorials in GDevelop). But for now, I need a break…
Bird (Watcher)
By: Millie Hernandez
Tags: Poetry Writing, Dancing The Dream, Writing, Creative Writing, Writers Block

Spin me a little more

& let me fall into your arms

Because I’m clumsy & stumble on air

Decode me, decode these words

You know, you’ve known.

We’re miles away

& maybe I should apologize for this time

This time, that feels like a lifetime.

Oh, how things have changed.

How they’ve grown.

Come away, come away with me

We’ll make ends meet

In a place, to a place we can be real

A place we can be real in.

A world we’re both enough in.

You’re enough.

Dance with me, to this instrumental.

That plays in this spooky place( spooky couch?)

Decode me, decode me.

Decode you.

Bird watcher, that’s what you call yourself?

Watch me, watch me and my ways

& how I’ll walk ever-so in smithereens

To you

How I talk, how i laugh like I’m the only one

Only one for you.

I may have everything i want

But, you’re everything i need

In whole & want in this lifetime

Sway with me, sway a little more.

Where I teach you, show you.

Trust yourself, trust yourself this time.

& dance with me.

This is nothing more than me & you

(Imagination?) no.

Bird watcher, watch me.

For I’m rosy from your eyes

& yes, I know I’m heavenly

But, will you ever take me home?

Home to your arms to your eyes

To your world (our?) will I?

Will you ever?

Bird watcher, let me watch you

As you sway with me

Spin me around & decode this words.

-.-. — - — . / …. — - — . — .. — / .- .-. . / -. — — - ..- / .-. . .- -.. -. — .. — .. / -.-. — - — . / …. — - — . .-.-.-

M.j.h.

(Morse code.)

Medium Staff Medium Writer’s Relief
Where are the words? Have you seen them?
By: Mj Santos
Tags: Writers Block, Despair, Hopelessness, Take A Break

I never knew writer’s block was such a bleak and empty place.

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

2020 ended with a zero that sucked out the rest of my joie de vivre. Zero hope, zero strength to continue. I checked out of life and entered survival mode. If I remembered to brush my teeth and shower before bed, yay.

Portugal, where I live, got the first doses of vaccine delivered into freezers, then into arms at the end of December. I knew it would be August before I had a turn. There was no point in making plans — my world would continue limited for months to come.

Meanwhile, case numbers got so high that other countries came to help us. The ambulances lined up for hours outside hospitals. My despair deepened.

I had to eat, to pay bills, so I wrote for work, but I stopped writing for pleasure. I had nothing extra to give.

How can I write when I don’t have even the illusion of peace? When there is no hope, no energy, no inspiration? I’ve always been able to at least keep a journal. But my only record of these past four hopeless months is photographic. A shot of the empty table at my in-laws’ home when we stopped by on Christmas Eve. The ice on a nearby roof. Moss on a tree when I went for a walk alone on New Year’s Day. Screenshots of things that meant something at the time.

Even my special interests flagged. There was no pushing through it this time. I knew I was depressed but I didn’t care.

At some point, I read “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Devon Price. Their insight helped me cling to existence and find a shard of hope. If I needed to take a break, it was OK. I might just be able to write again one day.

It took four months, but here I am. It feels tenuous to type words for myself. I’ll probably hit “publish” before I proofread them to death.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. May the Muse smile upon you and the breeze push you onward to fairer times.
8 Tips to Make Writing Fun Again
By: Ben Soyka
Tags: Writers On Writing, Inspiration, Writing, Hobby, Writers Block

Write with the help of a writing prompt

Sometimes you just need a little prompt to get the ideas flowing in your brain. Those of us who let writer’s block take control of us need to do two things.

First, do a quick Google search. Find some good ideas that interest you.

Second, don’t let writer’s block affect you in the first place. Keep a journal of ideas and prompts at hand. Whenever an idea strikes, write it down. You may think you’ll remember it, but you probably won’t.

Illustrate your writing

Your readers are people, and people are very visual creatures. We like to have some sort of aid to show us what a piece of writing is about. Without a photo or drawing to go with it, your writing isn’t as interesting. Potential readers will move on to other writing.

Try adding in a colorful and eye-catching photo with all your writing. It’ll draw readers in and give them an idea of what to expect.

Tell a story

Personal experience always makes up the best stories. For example, if you’re writing about programming, you should have some experience.

Personal experience can also make you more credible when writing. Would you rather read a story about writing that’s by a writer or one by a football player? Probably the one by the writer, because they have experience and can tell a personal story.

Write, write, write

With practice comes better results and a better experience. If you have a lot of practice with writing, you’ll end up enjoying it more. You’ll also end up with better results. Just keep writing.

As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect,” and the only way to practice writing is to write.

Write about something new

Try writing about something you haven’t written about before. What experiences have you had in life? Share them with the world!

Don’t just keep your experiences to yourself. There’s someone in the world who wants to read about them.

Get inspired by others

There’s some amazing stuff out there. Whether it’s other writing, a video, a book, or something different, get inspired.

Don’t be jealous of others, learn from their work. It’ll make your life a whole lot easier, and then someone else can learn from you.

Re-write previous works

Once you’ve written something, don’t leave it for the rest of eternity. Try re-writing it.

Add some more detail and fix some things up. You don’t even have to publish it. It’s good practice either way.

Write about what you enjoy

If you write about things you enjoy, writing will become more fun.

If you like dogs, write about dogs. If you like the holidays, write about them.

Write about whatever it is you enjoy and writing will be more fun.
When You Hear Voices in Your Head, Take Dictation.
By: Marilyn Regan
Tags: Writing Prompts, Writing, Personal Development, Mindfulness, Writers Block

Still not convinced?

If you don’t believe me, you haven’t read Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. Her writing is fascinating, not because of the setting or the lives of the characters, but because she writes about small things so beautifully. She sees the beauty in the mundane.

I found myself dog-earing and underling paragraphs of text to the point I just made a list of the unique passages.

For instance, the main character talks about the impressions he gets when someone speaks to him.

“When people come to speak to me, whatever they say, I am struck by kind of incandescence in them, the “I” whose predicate can be love, or fear or want, and whose objects can be someone or nothing and it won’t really matter because the loveliness is just in that presence, shaped around “I” like a flame on a wick, emanating itself in grief and guilt and joy and whatever else.”

Just wow.

This character talks about light entering a room.

“It was the kind of light that rests on your shoulders the way a cat lays on your lap.”

He talks about the quiet in a room.

“It is as though there were a hoard of quiet in that room as if any silence that ever entered that room stayed in it.”

And memory. Who would ever think to write about the subject of memory? Not a memory, memory itself.

“Memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have any reality at all, even in its passing.”

At first glance, it appears dull. I assure you, with Marilynne’s unique voice, it is anything but.
Kickstarting Creativity — a fad. Over the span of the last 3 months…
By: Aditi Patel
Tags: Creativity, Angst, Headspace, Writers Block, What

Photo by Chase Fade on Unsplash

Over the span of the last 3 months, I’ve gone through multiple resumes and there’s something that most of them have in common — the badge of creativity subtly pinned in the skills section. This got me thinking.

Is creativity, fundamentally, just a skill? Can it be honed?

Creativity, in its essence, cannot be separated from subjective biases or be plotted using a universal standard of measurement. Creativity exists because people exist. An idea takes form in someone’s head and this idea picks up traction and starts developing into something greater than itself, a product of several intrinsic values combined with what is perceived at the face of it. This only takes place because of an external viewer’s biased glasses. What is creativity, if not an external party’s perception of something?

Sometimes, we’re put in positions wherein we need to come up with a creative outlook to mundane life tasks — innovative solutions to get out of sticky situations, thrifty ideas to save some big bucks, quick proposals to please the boss. How does one force themselves to be creative in the spur of the movement?

I’ve often found that shutting my eyes, focusing on my breath and counting down from 10, in true Andy Puddicombe style, helps me.

But sometimes, more often than not really, I run low on creativity and end up finishing a post much sooner than I ideally should have and try to pass off my lack of imagination as untapped quirkiness.

Am I doing this right, kids?
I am a beginning writer, all of my life was spent as a Reader, I have read 1,000’s of books…
By: George Trudeau
Tags: Creativity, Writing Tips, Writing, Ninja Prompt, Writers Block

I am a beginning writer, all of my life was spent as a Reader, I have read 1,000’s of books, magazines, poetry, etc., I can open a book to a chapter and read 3 or 4 lines and remember the whole story……My inspiration is mainly Louis H. Lapham’s collections of Essays, I have everything he wrote, like; “A wish for Kings”,” Imperial Masquerade”, “Money and Class in America”. He is a Master of Satire. I wrote to him, to tell him how much I enjoyed his work, and he sent me a nice note and a copy of the first Essay he every wrote. I only dream of having 1/4 of his talent…… My goal is to write for the future, a livable future for all of our Children, an end to this relentless march of Greed, Lust for Power, and Profit above all, which is destroying any possible future, because we are Consuming it all Right Now!……….You have some good inspiration in your article, Just start writing, smooth it out along the way, and proof-read your work. I have read articles on here where the writing was so dis-jointed I had no idea what the author was trying to say! One thing that helps me is I threw out my T.V. 35 years ago, and thereby added at least ten years of reading time to my life, My mind is the T.V. Screen!………………..~~~~~I am looking forward to reading your next article!
Mr. Branwyn, Thank you for inspiration on writing!
By: George Trudeau
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writer, Publishing, Writing, Writers Block

Mr. Branwyn, Thank you for inspiration on writing! I have been a Reader most of my 74 years, Millions of words flowed into my head, I also do crossword puzzles, when I got to where I could solve the New York Times Friday & Saturday puzzles, I gained confidence that just perhaps, I could write something interesting to read…..I go to My local Library book sales and purchase dictionaries, and Encyclopedias, I just got a Random House Dictionary of the English Language, copyright 1983,1981,etc…It has four language’s at the end, Italian, French, German, Spanish, plus the Arabic Alphabet, and many other helpful features, for $10.00!………………………~~~~~(This is my Paragraph indicator) Some books are best read aloud, with a Lover, such as; “The River Why?” By David James Duncan, I have bought and gifted away at least 40 copies of that wonderful Love Story…….~~~~~My interest in writing is to stem the tide of that deadly, infectious disease; “Greed, the Lust for Power, and endless Profit, that is destroying any hope for a future for our Children……Another inspiration for me is the book; “The Experience, A Celebration Of Being” by Sirio Esteve, Random House, 1974…..(Available from Abe’s books, all prices!) I have also purchased 40 + copies of this book and gifted it away! It was totally unknown until I bought all of those copies!…….I hope that someday I will write something that will really resonate with Readers……Thank YOU for taking the time to share your thoughts on writing with us!
Combating Writer’s Block by Analyzing My Life — Daily Quote
By: Jo Hawk
Tags: Motivation, Quotes, Exhaustion, Self Improvement, Writers Block

Who hasn’t experienced this feeling? It is difficult convincing myself to leave my bed. Like Nicola, my spirit is willing, but my body refuses to budge. Anger is my first response, and it often works. It helps me burn the blahs and I force myself to move. If that doesn’t work, I go through my list of usual culprits. Am I drinking enough water? Are my iron levels low? Am I obsessively worrying over something which I can’t control? Do my meals and snacks contain too much junk food? Am I sleeping? Or do I have too many responsibilities?

My review showed three things conspiring against me and contributing to my lethargy. The first was worry. The second was a task list three people couldn’t accomplish. These two items combined to ensure I wasn’t getting a restful night’s repose. Identifying the root cause of my exhaustion is only the beginning. I shifted responsibilities, and recognizing apprehension’s futile nature, helps me monitor and banish those thoughts. Sweet sleep came as I resolved those issues. I could breathe, and when I can breathe the words flow.

What items trigger your fatigue and interrupt your writing?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer