#WriterLife TAG by @KelsNotChels

My new favorite YouTuber @KelsNotChels posted a video last week starting a #WriterLife tag. Well, I am not a YouTuber (a lot of effort and ego that I do not possess) but I loved all of the questions! As a blogger, I figured why not just answer them here?

1. Write Fuel: What do you eat/drink while writing?

- Relatively recently I started drinking coffee in the morning and found that caffeine (like alcohol) is a double-edged sword for my writing. The right amount and I can produce words like Michael Crichton. Too much and I am so useless I might as well be a monkey with a typewriter. Usually I just drink a lot of tea when I'm writing. Black tea, white tea, herbal tea, I have it all. And I find snacking next to impossible - which might be a good thing.

2. Write Sounds: What do you listen to while writing?

- If I want to get in the Zone I turn on Coffitivity and an 8tracks playlist or a Pandora station specifically crafted for writing ambiance. And then I put my super awesome Bose headphones on and it's like my muse is whispering in my ears.

3. Write Vice: What's your most debilitating distraction?

- Tumblr, no contest. Sometimes I go there to put up a short gif reaction post about my WIP and TWO HOURS LATER emerge with a queue that's three days long.

4. Write Horror: What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you while writing?

- Suddenly realizing that the pain in my left wrist has caught fire and I've ignited my tendinitis again.

5. Write Joy: What's the best thing that's ever happened while writing or how do you celebrate small victories?

- Best thing is something I can't actually talk about because of the Spoilers. I celebrate small victories by waltzing around the kitchen with my cat. No lie. My boy can confirm.

6. Write Crew: Who do you communicate with or not communicate with while writing?

- I put the headphones on so the boy doesn't distract me. But sometimes I talk to my TTT buddies or the fine folk on Twitter for inspiration and/or working out plot problems.

7. Write Secret: What's your writing secret to success or hidden flaw?

- Secret to success: trust the process and don't stop just because it gets hard. (That's not really a secret, but it is a truth that's difficult to accept sometimes.) Oh wait! My real writing secret is that when you don't know what to write, write a dream. Or a flashback. Even if you don't end up keeping it, it always seems easier to churn these out than the narrative storyline. And it can produce useful ideas!

8. Write-spiration: What always makes you productive?

- Music and tea! I am also highly inspired after reading a good book or watching a good movie. And reading about other writers.

9. Write Peeve: What's one thing writers do (or you do) that's annoying?

- Overly descriptive passages that don't serve the story. My biggest pet peeve about myself is my inability to finish something before moving on to the next project. But I'm working on it!

10. Write Words- Share one sentence from a project. Past or present.

 - From Grave of the Goddess:

He felt like an hourglass running out of sand.

(And here's the video. I love writers talking about writing!)

About A Girl

It's dark and gloomy outside and I'm sitting at my dining room table listening to Nirvana. How's that for a Friday morning?

The second half of this month has been a total wash for me in terms of progress in my writing. Write Motivation is a great thing, but I've been backsliding like crazy. Last week, I went out and did social stuff four days in a row. I had a great time in the moment, but damn did I miss some serious recharging time. (I'm a big ole introvert if you didn't already know.) So that's basically what I've been doing since Sunday night. Which is why I've been remiss in blog posting, still haven't finished the episode of Holyoak Five that was supposed to be up last Friday, and have fallen behind on every other goal on my list.

Yesterday, I tried to do the write-all-day thing - but I drank waaaaaay too much coffee and spent several hours trying to bring myself down to earth again. (Stupid caffeine sensitivity.)

Today I'm back to one cup of coffee, no sugar. Also attempting to get the house back in order... Although to be fair, I've done a ton of dishes and laundry in the past few days... But the big thing is to get my writing schedule on track. Ugh. I suck at forming habits that stick.

Actually, I've been pondering that problem, and I'm thinking that part of why I suck so much at habit-forming is how I self-treat my anxiety/depression issues. A lot of it is straight avoidance of "responsibilities" in favor of "turn your brain off" activities. (...I play a lot of Pokemon and watch a lot of Netflix. Sometimes I read a book or two.)

I'm not saying I think this is healthy. But sometimes it does feel necessary. If only to give me a kick when I reach the end of my rope and realize, oh hey, I would actually like to be a functioning human being!

Turning Into My Mother

It's true! I've spent the past two mornings of not working (curse you, weather gods, curse your miserable selves) doing things my mother has done on a regular basis for as long as I can remember.

Drinking this -

I think I've finally become an adult.

Doing this -

Captain's Inn by Little House Needleworks (one of my current stichy projects)

With this beside me on the couch -

Actually the other one is with me today but my camera isn't charged.

But it's all good. I love my mother, and can't imagine ever being upset about turning into her. If I can be half the cook/artist/wife/mother/friend that she is, then I'll count my life a success.

I probably wax poetic about my family a lot, but it's because I'm related to so many wonderful people.