For Your Procrastination Pleasure #1

Writing Status: What with packing and all, I'm a lot busier than I had expected to be, so I may not reach my ultimate goal. But, I'm still enjoying my novel so far, and that's always a plus.

So, you may be wondering why I’m not writing a review today. Rest assured, I won’t be discontinuing that feature permanently. I’m just taking a break to do something different during November because National Novel Writing Month deserves lots of attention. (Come December, I will return to my normal Monday reviews). In the meantime, you can expect a post much like this every Monday and a pep talk every Wednesday. (Some of you may remember my pep talks from last year.)

While every writer, in the end, needs to buckle down and avoid all distractions in order to get words on the page, let’s face it—it’s fun to procrastinate. And because I’m (only slightly) diabolical, I figured I’d do what you probably don’t want me to do. I shall be the little devil on your shoulder offering you all sorts of lovely diversions.

But maybe you should listen to this shoulder angel instead:

See what I did there? Really, though, I’m probably a lot more like this guy:

 

You’re welcome.

Okay, I’ll try to be serious now.

Many writers enjoy listening to music while drafting/editing, and I know it can be a struggle to dig up new and interesting tunes when you’re on the clock. Here are some songs I’ve enjoyed: I always fall back on this one if I can’t think of anything else to listen to, and I just discovered this one a few weeks ago. Feel free to play them while I talk—I won’t be offended.

All set? Okay, let’s keep this ball rolling. Despite my mild maniacal side, I really don’t want to sabotage your entire day. Or maybe I do.

I realize you just put in your ear buds (or perhaps you didn’t, it’s all the same to me), but here’s another goody you might enjoy, if you find white noise is better for getting you into the writing zone.

Now, I like to read interesting articles that give my brain something to munch on, so I figured I’d throw a couple more links at you. But first, story time: When I was around eight years-old, I told my mom that I see letters, numbers, weekdays, and months as having color. I actually referenced this in a post a while ago, but I didn’t go into a whole lot of depth with it. For a long time, I thought it was this weird OCD tic of mine, and that no one else was like that. Recently, though, it has come to my attention that I am not going crazy (okay, maybe I am, but that’s beside the point). I have a condition known as synesthesia, which basically means some of the things that trigger only one part of a normal brain will trigger two or more areas in my brain. There are many symptoms of this condition—people with synesthesia might literally taste sound, smell color, feel music (as a physical sensation), or any other sensory combination. If you would like to read a better explanation than my poor attempt, here’s a link, and I highly recommend that you check out the article because it’s super fascinating. Here’s another, if you want even more information on the subject.

Well, I’ve probably held you up long enough, so I’ll just leave you with this article about Milgram’s Experiment on Obedience to Authority. And I will be back on Wednesday with a pep talk for all those participating in National Novel Writing Month.

Discussion time, my little coffee beans. Did you like the funny videos? Do you have any musical suggestions of you own? Do you have synesthesia/know someone with the condition? Are you writing anything for NaNoWriMo or do you plan to sit this one out?