For Your Procrastination Pleasure #4

Writing Status: Well, this has been a busy month—much busier than I had expected, so I’ve had to lower my NaNoWriMo word count goal from 505,505 to 408,804. Sad face.

Now that we’re nearing the final stretch of NaNoWriMo, we’re practically dragging our exhausted bodies in a desperate attempt to reach the finish line. Nothing makes sense anymore. All our thoughts are getting muddled and strange, like we’re listening to two conversations at once, and we haven’t figured it out yet:

 

You might feel the urge to rush through to the end of your book, to cut corners and gloss over important details. For some, that’s how you draft anyway, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But if you’re just getting tired, I urge you to stick to it and flesh out your story a little more, even though you may not want to. When it comes time for editing, you don’t want to end up in the same predicament as these people:

 

That would be unfortunate.

For music, today, I offer you C’est la Mort by the Civil Wars. Despite the reference to death in the title, this song always makes me happy. And I’ve never been sure what to think of Desperado by Celtic Thunder, but I do know that Ryan Kelly has one of the best voices ever. Forget the rest of the band—I could listen to him for hours. Last but not least, here is Moment by Nate Ruess, and you should listen to it because it is so beautifully sad.

In keeping with la mort, here’s an article on the Black Death, because what is more fascinating than plague, I ask you? (Probably you could list dozens of topics, but research on the Bubonic Plague will always hold a special place in my heart. And I will leave you to wonder why. Muahahaha.) Also, please enjoy this piece on an interesting book mix up. You’re welcome.

Discussion time, my little coffee beans. Did you like the funny videos? Do you have any musical suggestions of you own? Have you read any cool articles you’d like to share? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, how is your novel coming along? Have you noticed I’ve been asking pretty much the same questions every week?

For Your Procrastination Pleasure #3

Writing Status: Well, I'm still struggling to get back on track for my 505,505 word goal for NaNoWriMo, so I won't be as active on all your blogs this month as I would have liked to have been. But I will be making the rounds come December.

So it’s been a few weeks, and you’ve probably been writing your little heart out. But, at this point, your brain might be starting to get cloudy and vague, if it hasn’t already. You may feel a bit like a zombie. That’s okay, you’re still a fearsome creature: 

Or not.

 

Either way, with your head turning all mushy and gross on you, the fictional world you’ve been living in is becoming your reality. Or maybe your reality is becoming fictional:

 

Oh no. GASP. And to make things worse, your characters are probably misbehaving and ruining all your lovely plans:

 

Speaking of music…

In keeping with the theme of this first song, your novel’s ending may seem beyond reach, and you might be begging the universe to shatter you so you won’t have to write anymore. Rest assured, this month will be over sooner than you think.

Just drink plenty of coffee, and you’ll be fine. Or, if you’re not convinced that coffee will help you write at this point, take a break and read these interesting facts about coffee. Or, you could check out some random tidbits on chocolate, if that’s more your speed. Oh, and here’s an article on the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Maybe you’ve heard of it before?

 

Discussion time, my little coffee beans. Did you like the funny videos? Do you have any musical suggestions of you own? Have you read any cool articles you’d like to share? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, how is your novel coming along? Have you noticed I’ve been asking pretty much the same questions every week?

For Your Procrastination Pleasure #2

Writing/Life Status: I am officially (mostly) finished all the packing and moving craziness! Hopefully this means I’ll have time to beef up my word count a bit more. Also, some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been answering comments or reading blogs for a couple weeks, but now that life is (a little bit) less hectic, I plan to do something about that soon.

 

Welcome back. I see you didn’t learn your lesson the first time. Too bad for you. Don’t worry, I’ll save the “torture” for this week’s first video.

 

Speaking of weighty matters, I’ve mentioned before that I really like ice cream. But be cautious when buying ice cream—this could happen to you:

 

*evil laugh*

You’re probably hoping for some music suggestions right about now. (If you aren’t, I don’t care—or maybe I do…but only a little.)

This first song really fits with some of the themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, including Gatsby’s rather unhealthy obsession with Daisy as well as the harsh dichotomy between the perfection he perceives and the reality he experiences. So you should totally listen to it.

I grabbed this song from the playlist Stephenie Meyer used while writing THE HOST, and I must say, it does fit the book. Also, the plus side to this song is that it’s one of those pieces I can listen to for hours (because I do that when I’m in the zone).

Okay, I don’t have any personal brain condition anecdotes to share with you today, but I do have this article on punctuation and this article on cannibalism. Enjoy.

Discussion time, my little coffee beans. Did you like the funny videos? Do you have any musical suggestions of you own? Have you read any cool articles you’d like to share? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, how is your novel coming along?

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?