Writing a novel – Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Sunday Radio – Storytelling Sparkles

Did you ever fall out of your writing habits? If so, how were you able to get back to it?

Writing was (and it breaks my heart to write « was »…!) not only a habit, but sort of a lifestyle. And despite all the excellent advice on writing you and I can find out there (heck, I posted a couple of these years ago!!!), despite the famous waking up at 5 am, despite that little notebook I keep beside me at all times…

Something is lost.

Overwhelming. All seems to be.
Many dozens of books are published every day, everywhere.
Many dozens of times this summer, the blue sky was grey with smoke, and the sun was red.
Many, many times in the past months – months slowly becoming years-, I found myself in front of this screen, looking for the words to tell stories, to share through them hope, laughter, excitement, drama, and dreams.
In vain.

Then, I heard her voice.

Sunday Radio

An 80-year-old artist explaining how, since she was a kid, her entire being was drawn to drawing, to playing music, to making movies and telling stories.
Her mother bashed and shamed her dreams when she was 9 or 10, telling her she had no talents. Nearly two decades after, the artist was able to move beyond her mother’s shadow to finally embrace what was burning in her : the desire to create, to make art, to tell stories.

This week, this 80-year-old artist, Paule Baillargeon, will see her first book published.

The book highlights her career through her artwork, which she continues to do, even though she lost her independence due to illness, and now lives in a house dedicated to helping seniors who have lost their autonomy.

A long radio interview, which I listened to without doing a billion little other things.
Something was there, in her voice, her will, her strength.

That something I lost, many, many months ago…

Changing Back to Oneself

That something. Where was it anyway?

Well, that something never went far. It was simply hiding, keeping safe.

Hiding from a toxic manager’s influence, financial insecurity, and anxiety. For two years.

Not anymore.
I will not let those noises bash, shame or silence my dreams.
Never again.

Something is found.

Sparkling Stories

Telling stories always made me feel like something was sparkling inside my soul.
Something happy, dancing in my heart.

I’m gonna work less hours. I’m gonna rest. And I’m gonna start writing stories again.

No plan yet. No schedule.

A promise, however… Write every day, for the pure joy of feeling the sparkles shine again.

Thanks for being here, on the long road to achieving a dream: write novels full-time to make people laugh and dream.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.

Rusty Words

How does writer’s block happen, and how to make it stop?

Writing this post is ~~difficult~~ hard.

The first sentence was erased and rewritten about twenty times. This paragraph went through the same process.

I’ve been trying to write a post about perseverance in writing, or rather, looking for inspiration to get back to writing for a good hour now.

It’s, what, less than 50 words or so?

What happened to the 500 words I could write in an hour?

Where’s the flow, the energy, my ever-so-shy but vital writer’s confidence?

How does writer’s block happen? And when does it stop?

Trigger Moment

It was the second meeting with the psychologist.

« You’re burned out », she said to me with a concerned yet professional voice, « and keeping up with waking up 4 am to write and work all day like you do is not helping you. »

« Well, I guess I need to change things up a little », was my reply. Or something close to that.

When I came back home, I sat down in front of the laptop – after putting on my trusty pj, of course.

Starting therapy was a big thing for me. the work I had to do on myself to even admit I needed professional help… dear oh dear! However, I was then ready to do whatever it took to find myself again.

One, two, three clicks later, all the Word documents were closed. I shut down the computer, put it away. I didn’t touch it again for months.

That was about three years ago.

Never since that very specific moment have I been able to get back into a steady writing routine… despite the numerous posts I wrote about it!

The Science of the Writer’s Block

Every writer goes through a « it’s not happening on the page » phase.

I’ve been there before, but never ever for that long.

Every time it seems to be going well again, guess what? Yep, no, it’s not happening.

Maybe you heard of semantic satiation, where a word loses its meaning because you repeat it too many times in a row.

The theory is, after a while, for writers, every word kind of loses its meaning because, yeah, you’ve been writing too much, for too long.

Since it’s not always the case, I’ve been trying to look for more answers and most essentially, for ways to get past a prolonged writer’s block.

This article by Maya Sapiurka explains a lot but also gives some tips for going through writer’s block.

The « read more » tip particularly caught my attention: I also have been through a reading slump lately. I’ve barely read two novels this month.

One more tip was added to the list of ways to beat writer’s block.

It goes along these ones:

Break down the workload into 2 or 3 writing sessions of 20 minutes each, taking a break in between. Taking a walk, which is also a good way to get the writing going, or doing a repetitive house chore may help.
Try something new, like a new sport, restaurant, or outdoor activity. It gets the brain pumping and the inspiration going.
How are we doing? Fine!
Reeeallyyy?
Creativity is directly related to our well-being. Let’s be good to ourselves. Healthy comforting food, 7-8 hours of good sleep (when was the last time I slept even four hours in a row…. hum… euh… arehm…), walks in the woods.

Now, time to get going with those tips!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope this post will help you go through writer’s block.

Wishing you all the good words, fellow writers. Be safe!

Old Fashion Writings Tips for Technologically Overwhelmed Writers

Evolving Writing Times

It started some thirty-plus years ago.

A middle school day. Was it a maths class? Biology? Economy?

One thing is certain, I was writing when I should have listened. Writing always has been my thing. Reading and writing.

I was writing before going to bed, on the way to school, and sometimes at recess. With a blue pen, in plain school notebooks. Out of these many many words, not a lot turned into interesting stories. A lot less turned into good stories.

Often, I would hit a need-to-research-this block. A week could go by before I had time to go to the library to look it up.

Since the explosion of modern blogging (author Amanda Zantal-Wiener wrote a great post about the history of blogs, that’s how I sound knowledgeable right here) when in the 2010s, research-wise anyway, our writer’s life got a grand lot easier.

Writing tips-wise, however, that’s another story. No pun intended!

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