Not Writing Advice

It’s November 7th, which means this is one complete week into NaNoWriMo, and I’ve been writing a lot every day. So far, I’ve managed to write every single day without miss, hitting the number of words just as expected. But, this is not a post to brag about this. No, this is the Not Writing Advice part of the week, where I talk about something shitty about writing. And in this case, it’s word counts. For the longest time, I’ve been one of the biggest pushers for NaNoWriMo (and I still am), but I’ve always been very conflicted about writing goals, especially when dealing with word count. See, the thing is that when I write a lot–and I mean a lot–I start losing sight of the work. At some points, it seems that scenes go on forever and take longer than they should, all because I’m trying to hit a word count […]

NaNoWriMo Day 07 – Not Writing Advice

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Okay, so. Originally, I meant the Not Writing Advice as a section of my blog to compare different clashing writing advice, but it slowly evolved into a slightly rant-like idea in my head. Now, I keep thinking about this as a “the crap that comes along writing that writers never talk about.” And I mean it. There’s just so much that writers never talk about. For example, no one ever brings up just how difficult it is to find a writing group in person. Yes, I know you can go online and find all sorts of communities. I’ve met a lot of people through NaNoWriMo, and even met some important people in my life through other writing online communities. But, I want to clarify. I’m talking about groups of people in person, the types of groups you go to and meet with the people. Something like a workshop in a […]

NWA – Groups

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When I came up with the “not writing advice” series, I had one idea in mind for it. I want to talk about the things no one really tells you about writing. And, this is probably one of the biggest things no one ever brings up. No one talks about it. Some don’t even acknowledge it. Writing isolates you. It doesn’t sound that bad until you start to consider relationships. And, I don’t mean just romantic ones. Yes, those probably take the biggest hits, but all relationships take a hit. Friends, family, and acquaintances, writing compromises all of these relationships because it forces the person into a relationship with the page. It’s as if all writers had a jealous and clingy lover that snared them into a small room with them all the time. This reaps all of the writer’s free time and can push people away. Ultimately, this can […]

Not Writing Advice: Isolation

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“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King – A couple of years ago, I would have absolutely agreed with this quote. Back then, I wrote flash fiction every day without fail. In fact, thanks to that, I have many stories archived. But time changes people. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the quote. Stephen King is a prolific author and can justify the pedestal he stands on. I can also see where he’s coming from. Sometimes, there will be bad days, times when inspiration just isn’t there. The blank page will hurt the eyes more than usual and social media will be 10x more distracting. A professional should be able to overcome that and keep writing. I see his point, but I can’t agree with the connotations. The quote sets unrealistic expectations on writers and leads to the […]

Not Writing Advice – On Real Writers

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Source: Not Writing Advice – A Writer’s Advice on Writing I guess I should get this out of the way first since this is the first post in the series…What the hell is this series? – A while back, I sat in a writing class and tried to take in as much knowledge as I could. After the class, I’d pop up my phone and load up the newest episodes in writing podcasts. I’d listen to that as I drove back home, and then I’d read more on my computer once I got there. I felt like Jake Gyllenhaal’s character in the movie Nightcrawler. Yeah. I had issues. Anyway. The point is, I went through way too much advice on writing, and read over many different techniques. And as I did, I started noticing one thing. So much advice contradicts other advice or even itself. On top of that, every […]

Not Writing Advice – A Writer’s Advice on Writing

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