The Best Ways to Procrastinate Writing

Hi everyone!
If you're a writer, you know that you procrastinate writing more than you actually write.

At least...I do...XD

So, to help you procrastinators, here are some of my top favorite ways to procrastinate writing----
 

1. WATCH THE YOUTUBE!!!

Guys, I happen to have a crazy YouTube addiction. It's so bad that my sister and I have taken a full week off from YouTube videos. It's torture, but tomorrow is the last day!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH YOUTUBE ON SATURDAY!!! XD

If y'all want some new channels to subscribe to, here are some of my faves-

Rhett and Link + Good Mythical Morning

Blimey Cow

Studio C
Jordan Taylor

Adler Davidson

They're all very clean and I haven't heard any of them swear before. Blimey Cow, Jordan Taylor, and Adler are Christian, Studio C prides themselves on their clean comedy, too. Rhett and Link haven't sworn, but they'll occasionally have VERY mildly suggestive things in passing.;)

2. Make a post about writing!

I do this quite a lot. It's so much easier to make a post saying how hard writing is than actually WRITING, AMMIRITE?;)

3. Pinterest 'til your brain falls out!
I may or may not do this all of the time...BUT IT TECHNICALLY COUNTS AS RESEARCH, RIGHT???

4. Do something masked as "productive"!
You know how it goes- you sit down at your computer and stare at the blinking cursor. Suddenly, everything that you have ever wanted to do before pops into your brain.
HEY! It's been a while since you've played the piano, why not do that for an hour?
HEY! You're falling behind in your German course, go do that!
HEY! Remember how five years ago you had that one fun app on your mom's iPad? GO DOWNLOAD THAT AND PLAY IT UNTIL IT'S TEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT! (not productive, but something I've thought of before, I'm sure.XD)
You get the gist.XD
5. Plot!
This has to be the most deceiving way to procrastinate, because you can say that it is technically "writing". I do this so much, saying that it's fine...but I'm really just procrastinating.XD

6. Hermit.
What's better than hiding away from your writing? NOTHING!! There's nothing better than moaning and crying in your bed whilst wrapped in a blanket hiding from all civilization. Trust me.

***

Can you relate to any of these? What are the ways that you procrastinate?;) I have to say that YouTube is definitely my main way.XD
-Emma-
HAS ANYONE SEEN THE NEWEST ROGUE ONE TRAILER?! I AM DYYYING!
Update on Glazed: I drew the picture a couple days ago, and it should be up hopefully on Saturday.:D

The Ultimate Tip for All Artists

Hi everyone!

I've had this tip in my head for the longest time, it's always been my biggest piece of advice to give to anyone. Writer, artist, person with a dream. EVERYONE!
Here's the shining tip in all of its splendor....

The best way to get better at anything is to keep doing it.

I've always been one of the people who has told everyone that practice makes perfect. I firmly believe that. I wouldn't be anywhere I was today with my art if I hadn't continued to draw and keep on going. You never really think about that, it's just sort of something that's so obvious it doesn't seem like it's important. But it's true.
Lately, I've been thinking about my writing. Sometimes it seems overwhelmingly stupid, so riddled with problems. My story is no doubt all over the place, it's unoriginal, cringe-worthy, like, please, no. I can also feel that way about my art. I see my future far ahead and I go- there is no way. There's no way that I'll ever be good enough to actually be the kind of artist I want to be. No way I will ever go that far.
I think about artist's legacies that they've left.
I think about the insanely original stories that people like George Lucas or J.K. Rowling have created.
And I can lose hope, telling myself I'll never be that good. I make too many mistakes. I'm way too far behind.
But the truth is that if I don't keep going, there is no hope. There is no chance if I stop now! The only way I could fail is to not try at all.
You have to gain the experience to become better! You have to make all of the mistakes to actually acheive something good.
God has given me a talent. But if I had never done any work to foster that talent, I'd still be drawing this-

(oh the horrorrrrr....)

Now, to quote Captain Rex...

(not mine...credit to whoever owns it!:D)

 

So, if you're dealing with a rough patch in your art, just know that the only way to get better is to make those mistakes. Learn from them. Practice does make perfect.:)
-Emma-

How to Make Your Story More Interesting.:)

Hi everyone!

Lately, I have been feeling more writer-y, then artist-y (although I have been drawing still, but for stories....Glazed not included...;P) so I have another writing post for you!:) It's about how to make your story, or book, more interesting.

These are just some ideas I have, and I am just throwing them out there for others to think about.:)

 

 

 

I think that this one is a very good way to make your story more interesting. Let's say your character is battling a dragon. That is very interesting in itself, but if you also add the fact that if they don't defeat the dragon, then their parents will die (because the dragon is keeping them hostage.;)). Automatically, the stakes are higher and another problem arises. Let me give you another example for general plot conflict.

You have your despicable villain trying to ruin the world, but if you add onto that that your main character has to deal with his/her best friend who has recently dumped him/her and they have to go on their quest with them, then that makes another immediate conflict.

I just think that this is a very good way to add interest into your story.:)

 

 

This one is kind of harder to do. Something I don't think I have mastered yet, but am trying to.;) Making your characters three-dimensional. Making them pop from the pages, or from the screen. When you do that, your story becomes more interesting and real, but it is a really hard thing to do. I think that when you add a past to your character and truly know them, the way they talk and walk, what annoys them, what they do to show their anger, their quirks, flaws, and all of those things, you start to understand them and make them come alive though. It's hard, and I know this probably didn't help much, but I knew it had to be added to the list, because it is very important in making your story interesting.:)

 

Hehe! Add a plot twist! I think everyone loves a good plot twist. Where something was expected to be one way, when it turns out to be completely the other way.:) By adding a plot twist, even if you already knew what it was from the moment you started typing your story, your readers go all like- WHAT??? It kind of wakes them up.;)

 

Let your characters fail, or do something wrong. When your characters do something wrong, the consequences all differ, to the whole plan failing or just to someone being disappointed or upset. When your characters fail, the story becomes more realistic and more interesting, especially if the stakes are high.:)

 

Give your characters secrets. I know I have a hard time coming up with secrets to give my characters, but when you make up secrets, your story becomes more interesting and the readers are drawn into the story, waiting for the big reveal.:) Something that goes hand-in-hand with this is also making your characters lie. In one of the stories I am working on right now, my character lies about something extremely important for the advantage of a whole race of people. But the lie is hugely important to whom she lied to, so I can't wait to write the moment when everything explodes. Especially once my character grows to completely trust the character who lied to her...

*delighted evil face*

Anyway!

I hope these tips helped you, and if you have any tips of your own that you think make a story more interesting, then I'd love it if you would share them on your blog (if you do, share the link, please!:D), or in the comments below!:)

 

Now, to get to writing (since this whole post was created in the time I was telling myself to write with...O.O)!

-Emma-

PS- I bet all of you think I never write, since I always say how bad I am with my procrastinating.XD



The Writing Journal, and Why You Should Have One!:D

Hi everyone!

I am here to talk to you about something that I think every writer should have...the writing journal! I know that I have seen some other bloggers talk about this once in a while, but I thought I would share with you the perks of having a writing journal, and also what you can put into it.:D

This is my writing journal! You might want to go out to a store and buy a special notebook especially for this specific subject, and maybe get some nice pens and colored markers while you are out, too, just for that extra something.:D 

The writing journal is amazing for so many reasons, but I just love having a private book for your writerly needs, where you can put everything in and not feel weird. It's your writing place that only you get to read.:)

Okay, onto what you can use your journal for-

You can use it for cataloging all of the names you like, so you will never run out of names for your characters!:) 

Boys, too!;) 

I also have a list of substitute words for the word "said" in mine, because I know I can be sitting at the computer trying to think of a good word for how someone said something for forever.;) 

You can write down all of your story ideas and current works in progresses. I like to put down on paper all of my ideas so that when I am lacking inspiration or direction with my story, I can come back to it and figure out what should happen next.:)

It also really helps when you are first getting a story idea and you can write everything that is popping up in your head as quickly as it's coming to you.:)

That is also why I want to say this to the people that are thinking, well I just use the Notes app on my phone-

Phones are not as good as a journal!

Here's why:

Phones can't keep up with all of your onslaughts of creative ideas that you get for a story. With all of the typing errors, auto-correct completely changing the words you write, and etc., it's just not as good as when you are actually writing it yourself.

Phones don't give you the same creative feeling you get when you have a journal solely for keeping your ideas.

Books are just better for brainstorming, in my opnion.;D 

This is sort of apart of the story ideas topic, but more for your characters.;)

You can write down all of your character's personality, character flaws, looks, body language, secrets, fears, anything and everything you need to know about your character.:) And not only for actual characters you are now writing, but you can put in ideas for future characters. Like if you see a person at the mall and you really like their coloring, or nose, or hair texture and want that for a character, you can write it down so you can remember!:) 

And my last idea, writing down writing prompts that you come up with! Like this one I thought of when it happened to me! I was reading a library book when a piece of paper came out and I grabbed it and read it, I mean, how could you not? LOL! It was a printed out email from some person asking about this special summer class.;) Although what the paper said wasn't exactly inspiring, it was really interesting and I immediately got the idea of what else the paper could have said.:) So I wrote this down for a future short story, story, or book.:D

***

I hope you liked this post and if you make a writing journal, I would love to see how you like it.:)

 

 I made a Star Wars tutorial a little bit ago, but I am not sure how good it is. I haven't ever been the best at teaching or instructing people to draw because I am kind of all over the place and not at all orderly, but, that being said, I feel better knowing everyone knows that now.;) I am sure that I will get better the more I do tutorials and figure out how to make it easier for others.:D

-Emma-

 



Character Flaws

Hi everyone!

Recently, I finished writing a complete series and now it's time for me to come up with a whole new idea for a story.:) The first thing I'm doing is coming up with a character.

I have heard that giving your MC (Main Character) flaws is a very important thing to do when creating them. Here is a list of things you can use for flaws---

o Stubborn o

o Prideful o

o Easily Angered o

o Negative o

o Gossip o

o Obsessive o

o Rebellious o

o Hurtful o

o Diminutive o

o Overly Sensitive o

o Nosy o

o Moody o

o Greedy o

o Ignorant o

o Insecure o

o Finicky o

o Liar o

o Fake o

o Thief o

o Messy o

o Rash o

o Overly Protective o

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope that this helped you come up with a character flaw for your MC.:)

-Emma-

What flaws do your characters have?:)