Writing Motivation - Blog Posts

stop what you're doing.

listen to me.

breathe.

it's okay to be overwhelmed at the idea of writing in your wip. it's okay to procrastinate. you have all the time in the world. it's okay to write in it months later, if you need that break, if you can't find inspiration.

stop stressing over your penmanship. it can be fixed. stop stressing over your word choice. that's what editing is for.

if your wip feels incomplete, don't start over. reread, plan, write. save the editing for after it's all on paper.

as writers, we often terrorize ourselves for not writing perfectly the first time. thing is, we don't realize that we're giving ourselves reason to stop writing. nothing you write will ever be perfect the first time, maybe not even the second time.

you just have to remember to breathe, come back to it later, and leave those worries behind.

witchy writing tips!

i - can't find your inspiration? needing to focus? use essential oils! dab some on your paper, or even directly into the ink! peppermint is fantastic for calming the mind and helping to concentrate! rosemary is another great example of enhancing cognitive performance.

and for those techy witches scolding me for even suggesting essential oils on computers, no worries! place a drop or two on your inner wrist!

ii - mediate next to your wip! this is an amazing way to connect further with your characters and the world inside!

iii - light some candles! scented or unscented are fine. after all, it's the color that matters! yellow can help specifically with increasing activity, while brown promotes concentration.

iv - use crystals! i use crystals daily and they give me a lot of energy! use alexandrite for that little spark of inspiration!

v - tea! before, during, or even after writing, drinking tea has always aided me. i use a mixture of lavender and peppermint to boost my mood, spark creativity, and it's incredible for your immune system!

vi - make your own pen/enchant your pen

i suppose making your own pen is a bit far-fetched, right? so, perhaps you can find a feather that calls to you. doesn't sound appealing? enchant the pen you favor and let the pen do the thinking for you.

it doesn't matter if you've:

never editted your WIP

never enjoyed it thoroughly

never felt satisfied enough

if you're nothing but pleased

if all you do is edit

if you never write anymore

if you've abandoned, ripped up, shredded, or spit on the very pages you held dearly—

your WIP is amazing and nothing will ever make you any less of an author.

YOU!! YES, YOU!! GO WRITE THAT FANFIC YOU THINK NOBODY BUT YOU WILL READ!!

Any tips you’d give to other pantsers/discovery writers?

hi anon!

so without much ornamentation, let me tell you this: being a pantser/discovery writer doesn't make you any less of a writer. it doesn't make you less passionate, serious, or committed to writing. you are a writer if you're writing; you are one even if you're only brainstorming or carrying a few characters in your head. you are a writer if somewhere in your heart you feel like you are one. don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

now for a few tips to help you feel less confused and alone in the process of writing your book –

it is okay to not know where you're going. the journey you're embarking on will be beautiful beyond your expectations, so try to loosen up a little and let go of your anxieties.

if you're still anxious, try to take it one step at a time. you don't have to constantly be thinking about the ending/destination. try to figure out what lies right in front of you. what's the next scene? what's a character relationship that you want to explore? what dialogue would you like to include? take small steps that will eventually lead you to the end and be mindful of them.

expect to be blank. sometimes, you can be completely out of tune with your book and it doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever. writing your book is important but it's equally important to take breaks, listen to music or watch shows that remind you of your book, stay hydrated, eat that meal, reward yourself for the things you've done, and do nothing.

when things aren't working out, let it rest for some time. a fresh brain is essential for a pantser because you need so much headspace (or bandwidth as i like to call it) to be able to daydream your own book into existence.

do not laze around too much. if you're a pantser, you might fall into the trap of just waiting for the muse to hit you, but the truth is, it won't. get started on the book, sit down to work on it, immerse yourself in the world as much as you can. make an effort to bring your story to life.

allow yourself the time it needs to write your book. it is okay if you can't write a book in thirty days. or months. or years. every story needs its space and every writer takes their time. don't rush it.

being a pantser means you're testing out the waters as you go, so here's a little pat on the back for being brave and strong and unapologetically you!

– ann.

It is the duty of a writer to give to others the stories they never had themselves. The stories they needed to hear but no one was willing to tell.

I have been seeing a lot of discourse on certain tags lately about fanfiction and writing fics that are “out of character”. And I don’t like conflict, so I was keeping my nose out. But now I’ve seen some things that I just can’t let go, and as the self-proclaimed fandom mom, I feel like I need to step in and state this loud and clear—

Fandom is for you.

The whole point of fanfic and fanart and cosplay and anything fan related is for you, the fan, to take a work that has already been created and have fun with it. Make it your own. Dive in and explore and do what you will. Fandom is meant to be a creative outlet where you can share ideas and art with other people who have the same interests as you.

THAT BEING SAID: it is never. And I repeat, NEVER okay to gatekeep fandom. And yeah, I fucking hate the word gatekeep. But it’s the only way to describe what I’m seeing happening. And so I’m going to use it again—

It is never okay to gatekeep fandom. It is never okay to gatekeep characters. And to throw negativity at anyone’s work, let alone come straight out and tell them that they’re wrong for shaping a character a certain way— I’m sorry, but where do you get off? I am completely understanding of wanting characters to stay true to the source material. I am completely understanding of having your own opinions about/expectations for a character and wanting them to behave a certain way. But YOU, my dear friend (or rather, we), are not the creator of those characters. Which means that we have no right to tell someone else what they can or cannot do with them.

The whole point of fandom is to let your imagination run wild. And if that means that a typically good character leans more evil in a fic, fine. If they make decisions you don’t agree with, great. If they do things that directly contradict what would have happened in the source material, even better!!

LET. PEOPLE. CREATE.

Let them throw characters into crazy situations and analyze how they react. Let them stretch them out like putty and poke at all of the soft bits inside. Let them shape them into something completely other just to see what happens. Let them be curious. Let them explore. Let them have fun.

Fandom should be fun.

And the second one person starts dictating what is right or wrong for a character or a ship, that’s the second it stops being fun. And that’s when fandoms die.

Don’t gatekeep something that doesn’t belong to you. Because again— It doesn’t belong to you.

You are allowed to have your own opinions. You are allowed to have your own expectations for characters. But who do you think you are, to flat out tell someone (or a group of people) that the way they write someone is wrong? That the way they have imagined something is wrong? That their creativity, their expression, their joy, is wrong? Or, as I’ve seen more recently, when someone gets dejected by the posts you’ve made telling them they’re creating wrong, you have the audacity to tell them “that’s okay, now that you know you did something I don’t like, you can reevaluate your work and try to improve!”

How dare you.

Because once again, I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the creator of these characters. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the actual creator is probably just so happy to see the diversity of idea that has sprung from their creation. So who do you think you are, to dictate an entire fandom?

If you don’t like it, move along. Click out of the fic, find something else to read. I understand having frustrations when things don’t go as you’d hoped, when a piece of work that you were excited about crosses those outer lines of your expectations and you feel disappointed. Again. But you know what? That’s your expectation. What about the person halfway across the world who reads the same fic and finds themselves in it? Finds a small piece of comfort that encourages them to hold on for just one more day. What happens when your words completely discourage the creators of your fandom, have them second guessing themselves? What happens when they lose confidence and stop creating completely? What happens when the fandom dies, and suddenly there’s nothing new to explore— to your standards or not?

You are allowed to have your opinions. Of course you are. You are allowed to express them. But you are never. EVER. allowed to tell people that they are wrong for making art that you don’t agree with. For using their imagination in a way that doesn’t fit into your small box of approval.

Let creators find happiness.

Let creators create.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

Being creative isn’t always fun

I think this is one of the most difficult things to realize. Be it writing or drawing or making music or crafting – it’s not fun. Not always.

I think we all expect it to be, I mean, why do it if it isn’t fun? It looks so easy when others do it. And then we get discouraged when things inevitably turn out to be more difficult than we thought. And then we blame ourselves!

It should be easy! This should be fun! I’m such a hack, I’m doing this wrong, I will never be good at this because it isn’t fun and it’s supposed to be fun, else it’s just a stupid waste of time. 

We all feel this way sometimes. 

Allow yourself to accept this. It isn’t always fun, sometimes it’s really difficult and you have to push through to get to the other part that is more fun.

It’s not easy, it’s not always fun but that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to do it. You’re not wrong, you’re not stupid, you’re not a hack. Keep doing your thing.

Tired of waiting for new fanfics?

Write your own fanfics!

Now YOU can control how the plot controls and hey! You don’t have to wait for updates anymore!

(Side effects may include: shitty writing, unfinished works, spelling errors and writers block)

I wanted to write today… but my brain said, “Nope.” Not sure if it’s a motivation issue or just good old-fashioned writer’s block, but either way—progress needed to happen.

So, I cheated (but like, in a totally productive way). I followed my plot outline and wrote just the dialogue. No fancy descriptions, no deep internal monologues—just vibes and conversation. And you know what? It worked.

I once said that the only job of the first draft is to exist. A skeletal scene with dialogue and the barest hint of description? Totally fine. That’s what the second draft is for. Future Me can deal with the details—Current Me just needs to keep the story moving.

If you're a writer you're supposed to write a lot of bullshit. It's part of the gig. You have to write a lot of absolute garbage in order to get to the good bits. Every once in a while you'll be like "Oh, I wish I hadn't wasted all that time writing bullshit," but that's dumb. That's exactly the same as an Olympic runner being like "Oh, I wish I hadn't wasted all that time running all those practice laps"

the WORLD needs your writing

have *you* ever seen writing "advice" that mistakes harshness for honesty and punches in the gut for powerful points, and then tells you if you are not constantly, every day, scorching the earth on which you walk with your fiery passion for words - then you are not a writer?

I have! And it really gets to me when I see someone tear other people down rather than build them up, extinguish their lights for being more candles in the dark than nuclear bombs dropped from the sky, who would risk there being more misery rather than cultivate the joy of creating and sharing emotions, ideas, worlds...

So I wrote a post on why YOUR (whoever is reading this right now) writing is needed by the world, as long as it is in that spirit of deep connection and creativity that stretches beyond time and space and can outlive you by several orders of magnitude

I actually strongly take issue with "No one needs your writing". It's not just extremely discouraging and depressing, and turning away a lot of people for not burning with passion at temperatures of the sun, but very likely also just wrong.

Someone out there is missing out on a smile in a torrent of misery, a feeling of connection in a sea of loneliness, a moment of peace in what feels like an eternity of hurt. They won't have that moment of bliss, maybe their day saved, or even entire life changed for the better.

People sometimes think this is reserved to some small group of particularly good writers, that everyone else is foolish to think that anyone can have a big influence on anyone. And it's impossible to predict.

It can be in the most unexpected ways: a random fanfic touching someone's heart because they happen to address a very particular grief or longing that is unlikely to ever be published with characters that feel like family, a small poem providing strength at the hardest moments because it used language that resonated with a reader on a niche subject, an autobiographical story inspiring someone to a new, ethical life... there are so many possibilities.

And I know this *because I am talking from experience*. So many fanfics have let me imagine other lives that could be my own, made me see from new perspectives, awakened hidden feelings or mollified pain, formed the basis of years of friendships and self-discovery, or just opened me up to so many new genres of writing. So many random stories of people, imagined or of this Earth, that bring a light to the darkness of apathy, aloneness, and angst that threaten to engulf so many in the world.

And vice versa, I have been told that my writing (not published, not even getting 10 likes on Tumblr or Ao3!) has inspired some people, been "exactly the right amount of humorous" or even that one line I wrote was the best one they had ever read.

PLEASE, WRITE YOUR THING! FOR everyone whose life might be saved by it, even if just a bit.

the WORLD needs your writing

have *you* ever seen writing "advice" that mistakes harshness for honesty and punches in the gut for powerful points, and then tells you if you are not constantly, every day, scorching the earth on which you walk with your fiery passion for words - then you are not a writer?

I have! And it really gets to me when I see someone tear other people down rather than build them up, extinguish their lights for being more candles in the dark than nuclear bombs dropped from the sky, who would risk there being more misery rather than cultivate the joy of creating and sharing emotions, ideas, worlds...

So I wrote a post on why YOUR (whoever is reading this right now) writing is needed by the world, as long as it is in that spirit of deep connection and creativity that stretches beyond time and space and can outlive you by several orders of magnitude

I actually strongly take issue with "No one needs your writing". It's not just extremely discouraging and depressing, and turning away a lot of people for not burning with passion at temperatures of the sun, but very likely also just wrong.

Someone out there is missing out on a smile in a torrent of misery, a feeling of connection in a sea of loneliness, a moment of peace in what feels like an eternity of hurt. They won't have that moment of bliss, maybe their day saved, or even entire life changed for the better.

People sometimes think this is reserved to some small group of particularly good writers, that everyone else is foolish to think that anyone can have a big influence on anyone. And it's impossible to predict.

It can be in the most unexpected ways: a random fanfic touching someone's heart because they happen to address a very particular grief or longing that is unlikely to ever be published with characters that feel like family, a small poem providing strength at the hardest moments because it used language that resonated with a reader on a niche subject, an autobiographical story inspiring someone to a new, ethical life... there are so many possibilities.

And I know this *because I am talking from experience*. So many fanfics have let me imagine other lives that could be my own, made me see from new perspectives, awakened hidden feelings or mollified pain, formed the basis of years of friendships and self-discovery, or just opened me up to so many new genres of writing. So many random stories of people, imagined or of this Earth, that bring a light to the darkness of apathy, aloneness, and angst that threaten to engulf so many in the world.

And vice versa, I have been told that my writing (not published, not even getting 10 likes on Tumblr or Ao3!) has inspired some people, been "exactly the right amount of humorous" or even that one line I wrote was the best one they had ever read.

PLEASE, WRITE YOUR THING! FOR everyone whose life might be saved by it, even if just a bit.

Let writing empower you

Writing is a form of empowerment. The act of creating a world in which you have ultimate control can be an incredibly cathartic and joyful experience.

If you get overwhelmed or blocked, just remember that you have the power. You get to mould the world and its characters into whatever shape brings you the greatest satisfaction.

Once more for the fanfic writers...

There is no wrong or right way of doing this fanfic-writing thing. Free yourself in 2025 by embracing whatever sort of writer you are.

If you can only post a story once a year or you want to post everyday, it's okay.

Whether you can only write drabbles or 100k stuff, it's okay.

Maybe your strength lies in writing fantasy, or romance or adventure, or non graphic smut, or omergaverse, or whatever kinky stuff there is out there, or comedy, or musical, medieval stuff, etc., it's okay.

Whether you're in a large or a tiny fandom, it's okay.

There is an audience for everything and everyone. It's not possible to dip one's toes in everything. Things can be learned and you can diversify if you really want to do more things with your writing. There is no gun to your head though. Even our favorite artists aren't good at everything.

It seems like recently there is so much pressure on fanfic writers to write certain stuff, in a certain way and for certain fandoms.

Let's not forget that from the get-go fanfic-writing is a FUN HOBBY and hence the secret is for you to write what you want to write, how you want to write it, when you want to write it and for whatever fandom you love.

Just keep swimming. Just keep writing. Goodnight, everyone! :)

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.

— Louis L'Amour

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

— Richard Bach

It's been a while, but hello! :)

“I wanted to be a writer, so I became one. How? I wrote things down.”

— Ariel Gore

Sometimes I Just Don't Have It In Me To Post.

I’ve been having a hard time updating my blog, as you can probably see. Sometimes, I’m just busy. Other times, I’m just not up to it. It happens to us all. If you have a blog or website that you run for fun or as a side hustle, my advice is to not force yourself to update when you’re not up to it. I’ve made the mistake of doing that in the past, and it just makes it tougher to update later. If your blog or website makes you money, I can understand the need to update it constantly, of course. But everyone deserves a mental break. So, maybe I’ll just do some reblogs and quotes until I get my groove back on here. That way, I can keep the blog updated in some way, and it gets other blogs out there as well. Anywho, back to my writing orders. Take care, everyone!

Hey, hey, hey, everyone! It's Monday (evening on my end), and a new week is a fresh start. I'm going to work on a few writing orders today, but I don't have any tight deadlines, so yippy-skippy lol!

Regardless of what's on your agenda, I hope it's an amazing writing week for all of you! 😊

Photo Credit: Bellahu123 on Pixabay.

Take breaks when you need to, but don't give up.

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I Hope You Have A Great Writing Week!

Hey there, everyone. I wanted to post something besides a reblog, but I’m also too tired to get into past experiences and whatnot with writing. So, I’m simply going to wish you all a great writing week. I hope you meet all your writing goals, but if you don’t, please don’t be hard on yourself. Tomorrow is another day, and there is always next week. I just want you to love what you do and do what you love. Take care, fellow writers! :)

I hope everyone has a good writing week. :)

“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.”

— Mark Twain

Regardless of what you're writing, I hope you all have a great writing week! :)

“Rule one, you have to write. If you don’t write, nothing will happen.”

— Neil Gaiman

I hope you all reach your writing goals for this month. Have a good night! :)

A new month has begun.

A new month has begun.

Cheer up this month! :) ⠀

Oh, but I'm finished for the night. :)

I'm a freelance (content) writer, and procrastination and I like to battle it out weekly. This week, I'm determined to win the battle. Sooo, let me get off of Tumblr and other social media platforms and get back to work. :)

beginning to suspect that if I ever want to have a published novel I will have to actually write a novel, which is frankly ghoulish

There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. There are only great revisions.

Don’t get caught up with trying to make your first draft everything you want it to be. Instead, focus on the fundamentals, and then have fun sculpting it into what you imagine.