Merry Grinchmas to all!

Hi, Everyone!

Today I'm rushing off to work the promotional showing of the tree lighting ceremony for Grinchmas, but wanted to say hello and, of course, Merry Grinchmas! It has been a week full of late night rehearsals, laughs, celebrity run ins and roller coaster riding at Universal Studios Hollywood, and I must say all my writing worries have taken a vacation.

I have been taking the advice of all my wonderful new friends and incorporating new methods into my process throughout the week as the inspiration came to me. Hopefully some real writing will go down soon, but maybe enjoying the WHO-lidays at Universal for the  next two weeks is just what I need.

In the next few days I will be posting lots of Grinchy pictures for you all!

So, in the spirit of the post, which does everyone prefer: the original Grinch, or Jim Carrey's take on the character?

The art of motivation and capturing inspiration

Last night I did my best to fight off the bout of procrastination that has been plaguing me since the beginning months of October. a mere 300 words and several hours later, I gave up and surrendered to the doxycyclamine before crawling to bed with my little chihuahua, Macho.

While I wrestled the 7-pound, snoring bed hog for a spot atop the mattress, I began to ponder the reason for my mental block. What motivated me in the beginning to start such a journey? What was it that kept me going for so long? Made me proud? Made me believe in myself?

I know in my heart it's still there lost inside, that powerful motivation, smoldering and screaming at me to get to work, to put my many ideas on the page. To be happy. Why then, if the desire hasn't left me, can I not write? How does one sort and preserve the inspiration flitting around in one's head?

I fear I know the answer to my problem. I have so many stories running through my mind, that when I attempt to work on the novel, the others out shout it. Then, when I do silence all but the one little voice whispering ideas for my novel in my ear, they are so disorganized, I cannot think straight. They never come chapter after chapter in a neat little line, or fully developed. That would be too easy. No, they come in staggered blurbs, leaping from different scenes spaced throughout the novel.

Why can't writing a novel be like composing a short story?

I'm trying so terribly hard to be an organized, collected writer, but I know that isn't me. I am a pantser.

Still, there must be a middle ground.

If anyone is out there reading this and happens to be/know a seat-of-the-pants writer, what do you/they do to organize their thoughts without too much structure? How does one capture and tame inspiration without stifling creativity?

Procrastination: guilty as charged.

It is now 7:47 P.M. on a Friday. I begin work at Universal Studios for the Grinchmas 2010 season beginning Monday, meaning I will be a permanent slave until January with little to no time to write. The few days I'll have off most likely will be spent either A.) Sleeping B.) Recuperating by declaring a movie and pajama day C.) Slushing through hours and hours worth of hum drum novel submissions and queries or D.) fulfilling my loving but needy family's every wish because I don't have the guts or the brains to ask for one day of solitude.

My friend, Brian, as sweet and charming as he is, has offered me the comfort of his home, claiming that I could sit and write for hours without interruption. This would be swell if it weren't for the charm I previously mentioned, meaning that even if I were to have peace and quiet, more...handsome thoughts with a great smile and winning personality would be on my mind.

So why, at now what the clock reads to be 7:56 P.M. am I not plugging away at the novel I have been working on for over a year now and/or slogging away at the two short stories that are to be submitted by January the 1st? The same reason as every night, I'm afraid. Procrastination.

I ask you, is it near impossible for a woman with a poor attention span to pursue such a career? Why is it that I have such passion about what I'm writing when the thoughts are buzzing around in my brain, but when it comes time to sit before a keyboard, my time is spent surfing the net instead?

I'm starting to think there's no way to win. It's now 8:02 P.M....and my page is still blank. Peachy.

If anyone's reading this, Do you have any weaknesses that lead to procrastination? Any fixes? S.O.S major!

-J.