How did your homework from Writing Roundup #11 go? Have you had any breakthroughs in your plot? Are your characters following their own agendas now instead of your writerly agenda? Is your grammar improving? Have you learned any cool new words?

Productivity

Writing is hard, ladies and gentlemen, but some times are harder than others. Whether you need to take a break from writing for self-care and to heal your creative mind, or you need to reassess your habits to avoid procrastination, the information in these articles can help you live a happier, more productive creative life.

7 Things to Try When Writing is Hard | K.M. Weiland | Helping Writers Become Authors (Includes a podcast version at the bottom)
Four Ways to Protect Your Creative Brain | Bess Cozby | DIY MFA

Writing-Craft

Story is all about conflict, but with most plot models, it can be easy to forget that conflicts come from character goals and motivations. These two posts from Fiction university will help you to make better, more believable conflict and strengthen your story from the character level, up.

Two Questions to Ask for Stronger Character Goals and Motivations | Janice Hardy | Fiction University
Being Evil: Plotting From the Antagonist's Perspective | Janice Hardy | Fiction University

Prompt

This week's prompt was shamelessly stolen/adapted from a tweet by Daniel Silvermint. Write a scene including the phrase “You can’t keep submitting the same chapter!”

You can read my basically unedited attempt at this prompt on Wattpad. Placeholder words are in [square brackets] and notes to myself for later are in {curly brackets}.

Note: Computer users can view the story without making/signing into their Wattpad account by opening the link in an incognito window. I don't know why, but Wattpad doesn't have their nagging popup bother you in this mode (at least in Google Chrome).

If you would like me to see your attempt, send me a link, or share it on Twitter with the hashtag:

Technical Stuff

We're continuing to read Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty. This week we're on "Chapter 3 Let’s Get it Started: Starting a Sentence"(pgs 72-83). This is our shortest reading assignment so far (11 pages), so if you’ve fallen behind, now is a good time to catch up. As always, read and mark issues you struggle with, then return to those issues and practice.

Vocabulary

 If you want to use my words, I have a Memrise course for this class.

My words for this lesson are:

1. Dictum
2. Tow
3. Periodicity
4. Ramification
5. Efface
6. Gesticulate
7. Commingle
8. Roseate
9. Malign
10. Accoutrement
11. Mimeograph
12. Repatriate
13. Commissary
14. Sententious
15. Eglantine
16. Withy
17. Dislimn
18. Limn
19. Trull
20. Limpid
21. Housecarl

Progress

My progress has been pretty much at a standstill for the last few weeks. Aside from a day here and there working on blog posts, I haven't done anything. I blame senioritis! I know it's a little late, but still...spring is just around the corner and going on random adventures to refill the creative well has been way more important to me than writing. In an attempt to treat my senioritis, I got a new baritone ukulele, which means I'm also in the honeymoon phase of having a new instrument. I already know how to play it, so I'm not quite sure how long this will last. If I keep procrastinating on the blog post writing, expect more music-related videos...unless this cold lingers and/or I lose my voice again, because videos of me strumming chords don't sound particularly interesting to film or to watch.




That’s it! Writing Roundup #13 will come out in three weeks. To find other posts in this series and a more detailed explanation of the categories, visit An Eclectic Writing Class.