The Case of the Writer's Block

 So, as many of you know, I love to write stories.  It's been a hobby of mine since I was about ten.  None of my stories are particularly good, probably because none of them are particularly finished, except for two short stories that I wrote, one for a cousin and one for a friend who was having a rough time.  In spite of my best efforts, these short stories were not very good.

However, my lack of innate talent has not lessened my determination to finish and polish ALL of my slightly better, much longer stories.  I am currently working on two projects.  The first is that story which was temporarily posted here in installments.  It will be available here once again, when it's finished.  Don't hold your breath.  The other story is a super hero story about myself and some of my close friends from the high school days.

My short term goal is to finish those two.  The super hero one will hopefully be finished by Christmas, so that I can give it to the old gang while they're all in town for the Holidays.  The other one will hopefully be complete by the time I graduate in May.  If I can swing that, then I will consider myself quite accomplished.

So, in an effort to improve my chances of finishing these stories by the target times, I have enlisted the help of a very generous expert: Holly Lisle.   Ms. Lisle is a full time author with 32 published novels who has a website that is completely devoted to assisting and training aspiring authors.  It's wonderful!  She offers online courses, but she also offers free writing tips.  I am currently enrolled in her free Plot-Outlining Course (if you're interested, check it out here).

I have certainly found Holly's tips and tricks useful, but I think the best thing that she has given me is the motivation to push beyond writer's block.  It is as if each time one of her writing tips appears in my inbox a little voice goes off in my head saying, "you need to keep up with your writing".  To you, this may not seem like much, but I cannot begin to say how much a consistent reminder helps.  It sort of creates the illusion of someone eagerly hounding me to finish so they can read it.  It's nice.  It gives my writing a purpose.  It gives me hopes of finishing and finishing well a sense of being possible.  I like that!