The Procrastination and Undone Deeds of a Teenage Writer

     So, I've been busy the past few days, and my story has been waiting. I've got a good idea of where I'm going with it, though, thankfully, so I plan on working with it today. It can be so hard sometimes, balancing friends, and writing, and blogging, and my Protagonize projects (then I'm going to be throwing school in here in about a month, and eventually a job), and everything else in a teenage girl's life, but I'm really happy right now. I feel like I'm finally at the place I want to be, and things are just getting better. On my agenda today, I plan on getting a new profile pic for Protag, doing some allowance work, working on my writing, working on some writing for Protag, calling a friend, and hopefully starting on a book I've been meaning to read for a while. We'll see how much of that actually gets done, but I'm set on doing at least the writing, the allowance work, and hopefully calling my friend.
     Unfortunately, many times I have lists like this and they get put aside, and my daytime consists of nothing but setting in the sun, swimming, and listening to music, then I write a bit at night. Maybe I should ween myself out of this procrastination problem with a reward or something? But how would I reward myself? It may take some time, but I will do it somehow. I think what I need is  a nice place that I can write outside in the daytime. I mean, every time I try to write outside, it's either too hot, too loud, or too annoying (little brother's friends). Maybe I should resort to writing in the woods. I am surrounded by them. The other things I'll probably just have to force myself into doing. I'll just have to walk around with a To-Do list stuck to my forehead, and not allow myslef to take it off until the necessary deeds are done. Maybe that'll teach me. I also REALLY would like to figure out how to get a new free CSS template for my blog. If anyone could help me with that I'd be very grateful. <3 So yes, I suppose I'll finish this off now, and maybe write back later to tell what has actually got done.... if I'm not too busy procrastinating.

Night Writing

     Last night, I stayed up until 2:40 in the morning working on my novel. Thankfully, I got a lot of it in, too, rather than just a paragraph or so. I think I'm moving past my Writer's Block now! Anyway, this is a little discussion starter that I think would be kind of interesting to talk about. When is your favorite time to write? When do you typically feel the most motivated and inspired to set down and write? For me, it is usually at night. I like to just lay in bed, get out my papers, and get into my story. Maybe it's because I know I don't have any chores waiting ahead of me. It's the end of the day (or REALLY early in the morning), and I can stay up as long as I want working on it.
     I just think it's interesting that this is the time that I enjoy writing the most. Of course rainy or cold days are really great for that, too, of course, but even then I can't write for too long without being disturbed. Sunny days aren't always the best writing times, either, because then I'm usually doing things with friends. If not, I'm doing something outside, which can be a good place to write, but not always at my house. Little Brother's friends come over, and need a third person to play in the pool. Guess who that third person is. -_- If not, they decide it would be so much fun to sneek up behind me and try to steal what I'm writing.
     So yes, all of these reasons and more is why night time is my default time for writing, or at least writing for long, undisturbed periods of time, like I like to. Your thoughts???

Dumping Reality, Indulging Fantasy

     When writing, or even drawing, for that matter, we all want to have total focus on our work. A lot of times, though, reality can get in the way. A lot of different things can be on your mind when writing that have nothing to do with what you are trying to indulge in, and in effect can invade your work. That's why you should keep daily journals before you begin your writing, to "dump", as someone put it, everything that has been on your mind up to that point that day.
     I give credit to my friend Charlotte for introducing this, and, since I'm now an avid sponsor of it, I will give you the online link that you can record your progress on: http://www.750words.com/ . It's basically just a way to dump reality for a while, so you can live in your fantasy, and put as much of your mind as you can into your work. Aaanyway, I hope this helps you like it's helped me!

When Research Gets in the Way

     So, I have been working on this story for a long time. About two years, to be exact. Gathering details, and setting everything up, so then I start writing it. I start laying things out, and BOOM! I realize I need more research. Now, for some people this might not be a problem, but being the worrisome perfectionist that I am, I want to know the details front and back before I start writing again.
     Unfortunately, this is a problem, because it may take a while for me to get all of the specific details that would give my troubled little mind rest, but I'm seriously getting to the point that I'm feeling like a failure. I really want to get a move on my story, so I think I'm going to set those unknown details aside and just write.
     This is only a rough draft, after all. A very, very rough draft..... Gee, I can't imagine how historical writers do it. Research isn't my strongest suit. But anyway, after my long, rant-like thing, you can see that I'm in a bit of a pickle. But not for long, because I'm going to get to the heart of it, and work through the specifics later. So I guess everything works out in the end. :)