How to Excite Yourself About Writing

Have you ever been bored by your own writing? Have you ever

thought about your book, only to feel dread and a want to procrastinate?

Here’s the first thing to do when you meet this predicament: Don’t

panic.

This is normal. In fact, it’s expected. Most writers start to hate their

book by the time they reach the middle, around that 30,000-word mark.

Usually when you begin a book (though not always) you know what’s going

to happen at the beginning, and what’s going to happen at the end. With the

middle, most writers wing it.

This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, this isn’t a good thing, either. It just is.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to excite yourself about your

writing again. Here are three options.

1. Change your font.

This is simple, easy, and fun. Anyone would get sick of Times New

Roman after 20,000 words. It’s boring, repetitive, and—well, there’s no

other word for it—blah. Change up your font every couple chapters. Try the

cutesy Kristen ITC or the romantic Blackadder ITC. Or maybe you can go

for something fun, like Jokerman. There are thousands of fonts out there

waiting to be discovered. So go out there and discover them!

2. Make your letters HUGE.

This tricks your brain into thinking you’re making the triple the

amount of progress you’re really making. If you’re using size 12, step it up

to size eighteen. You’d be surprise at the difference you’ll make. (But do not

check your word count. That’ll just set you way back. I mean it. Don’t do

3. Write for You.

Who did you start writing for at the very beginning? I’ll sure as heck

bet that it wasn’t your mom, or your dad, or your little sister, and it definitely

wasn’t for that guy in Ohio that’s been commenting on your blog for a while

now.

A lot of writers lose sight of what really matters. That writing makes

you happy. Why else would you be doing it? If you’re in it for the money, I

hate to break it to you, but there are so many better ways to do it.

Don’t write what you think other people will like. Write what you

like. And if you’re passionate enough about it, other people will like it, too. I

promise.

What are your tricks to falling back in love with your writing? I’d

love to hear them! :D

This post was written by Kate. Be sure to check out her blog here.

Alavare Update: From King Roldan

This is a continuation of last week's post: Meet King Roldan.

It's certainly refreshing to see your lovely faces again! From what I am tol,d you all enjoyed our introduction. Of course, that doesn't make much sense to me but I do enjoy gratifying others and therefore it pleases me to tell you a bit more about the goings on the castle household.

Since Sir Lyle has come, everything has seemed to calm down a bit. In past weeks, my step-son Harry has remained more secluded than ever, but the arrival of a guest has brought him out the shadows and he is not so hard to find. Being the charitable fellow that he is Lyle has also befriended several of the servants, and it would seem that he and Rosy have become well acquainted. And sometimes I wonder...but, I should  not make any speculations.

I dearly wish you could meet my daughter, for she is the sweetest girl anyone could know. However sickness continues to detain her, and until her health returns I am afraid that is simply out of the question. But with Sir Lyle here my worries don't seem so daunting anymore. He has helped me find me more zeal in the mission of recovering my wife, and that is probably the reason why I have accomplished more with him here than in all the weeks before.

Ah, is my time already out? Though it is a shame I am looking forward to you meeting some of my other friends and family. From what I hear you shall soon be introduced to my step-son. And given our relationship, I might gain more from his entry than you will.

Written by: Karoline Kingley

Character Intro: Meet King Roldan

This is the third installment of the character introduction feature in my blog. In this post, you will meet one of the main characters in my novel "Royal", King Roldan.

I'm not entirely sure why I have agreed to make an appearance here today. There are a thousand other things to be done and my mind has not felt at ease for some weeks. However, Rosy insisted that I dedicate a small portion of my day to forgetting my troubles. And though I know the dear servant means well, I don't see how anything could distract from the problem that haunts me day and night. But from what I understand, Rosy and Lyle have already informed you about my dear wife, so I will not allude to her absence anymore.

I suppose the fact that I am king of a country sets me apart from the crowd, but to me, my position in life does not seem so remarkable. Not to say that I am ungrateful! On the contrary, I have been blessed with a beautiful wife and two children, not to mention the Alavare people have only every been loyal and faithful subjects. Sometimes though, especially now, it is tempting to forget those things and dwell on the unpleasant. It seems Rosy was right; simply talking to you all has proved to be therapeutic. I fear I must leave you all though now, I cannot too long neglect my duties, nor my guest Sir Lyle. Ah, how glad I am that he has come! Close friends can make the world of difference in a time of trouble. But I will tell you about that and more when I speak to you again next week. I hope I did not bore any of you terribly; the thought that somebody might actually be entertained by my ramblings is phenomenal to me!

-King Roldan

How to Write When You are Busy

Busy. It's such a common word. People use it to lie, exaggerate, or unnecessarily clutter up their time. But I never thought I would be infected by the spreading epidemic that everybody seems to be constantly whining about. And now that school along with extra-curricular activities is taking a serious toll on my reading and writing time, I understand why others might complain. It has been my personal experienced that artists tend to show hunger symptoms if they too long neglect their craft. You don't have to search long for those folks, I'm sure you've seen them. They're grumpy, distracted, confused and sometimes they even have this weird eye-twitch going on. It's a dreadful state to be in, so the question is, how do we avoid it? How can we make time for writing without neglecting what needs to be done? And if you're an extrovert like me who starts to feel uncomfortable if they go a couple days without seeing their friends, you have a social life to squeeze in too.

The first thing to realize is, you do have time to right. You may not have as many opportunities as you used to, but they are there, and always will be if you look for them. Take m,e for example. A few days ago, even though I started school at 8 am, it kept me busy until 6 o'clock at night. 6 stupid o clock, which left me an hour and fifteen minutes before choir practice. During that hour and fifteen minutes, I had chores to do, and I had to make myself look somewhat presentable. At 9:20 I got home from choir practice, completely pooped. I took a hot shower, and turned on some Netflix before I went to bed.

NOTICE WHAT I DID WRONG THERE PEOPLE! You may have read that last paragraph nodding your head and agreeing that I had no extra time for writing. WRONG! At the end of the day, instead of winding down with my fingers clicking on the keyboard, or even dedicating half an hour to some leisurely reading, I chose to melt my brain instead. Maybe your response is, but how can I be expected to write when I don't have any energy, or my eyes are closing as I work? Those of you who have persevered through the sleepies will already know this, but, when writers write, our intellect is immediately thrown into the deep waters, and we WILL end up writing something, even if it's only one page. About a year ago I wrote a post about how inspiration in writing was only for the weak, and that truth applies to this concept. We can't afford to write only when we feel like it. Sometimes I have to sacrifice my comfortable 8-hours-of-sleep schedule so that I can actually get something done.

Trust me, it's worth it, and you do have time. Perhaps now you just have to search for it a little more diligently and deny yourself some other fleshly pleasures. Which will in turn shapes us into not only better writers, but better people as well! What a nice little lesson we learned today children. :)

Have you been busy lately? What do you do to ensure there is time to write? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

Written by: Karoline Ott