It's the time of the season for...

 ...awards programs, graduations, and birthday sleepovers. Ya girl hasn't sat her ass in this chair for a long minute. I've missed it.

But too busy being a Mimi, which is one of my favorite labors of love.

Back to the writing. Woot! 🥳

Left off at a place in book 5 that could go two different ways. Well, similar but different. And this has given me time to think about where I would like to go.

Trajectory is key. And with a series, you like your sequences to line up with the other books. Are there breakout and breakthrough moments? Of course there are. There HAS TO BE. But you need to keep some items in sync.

My protagonist, LA, is irascible. Is she cranky all the time? Again, of course not. I'd yeet her ass to the sky. But I need her to be a bit cranky. It's how she's developed the self-preservation she was denied when she was younger. It's her knee-jerk from fear and change.

But you need balance if you're going to have a blunt bitch with childhood PTSD be the main character. I've surrounded her with a blend of people who accept, understand, and challenge her. Because no one is going to let LA crumble into depression/anxiety/PTSD dust. Not happening. These characters provide growth assistance. Sometimes they offer. Sometimes they push the fuck out of her. Both work, in her situation. 

Lean into the characters. If you've empathy, use it. If you're symmetrical, use it. If you love the fucking chaos...Hey! HEEEEEEEY! *waving*...then use that. Each of these provides potential for great storylines. 

Don't doubt yourself.

You're the first to introduce this literary idea?

YES! 

You're the hundredth to introduce this literary idea? But you have a majorly different spin? 

YES!

A couple of the biggest killers of writing motivation are: comparison, lack of confidence, and questioning if you're writing for yourself or readers.

Don't compare yourself. As has been said: those are their highlight reels compared to your struggles. Unfair.

Lack of confidence. Should I? What if I can't sell it? What if my writing is trash???

Let me be blunt. It's my wheelhouse.

If you want to write, then write. Not writing is akin to trying to stop a bullet wound with a band-aid. Thanks, Taylor! 😘

Who am I writing for?

First and foremost, you're writing for yourself. 

Writing gives me the dopamine I literally cannot scrape from the meds I take. One is supposed to hit my dopamine receptors, I believe.

Oh. Is it?

Because, nice try. I don't even think the med is in the same body, at this point. 🙄

Writing, like all the best shit, is a passion. It comes from the soul. And if you're blessed to share your words with the world? Great! And if you only write the stories because you'd be in a padded room with a nifty jacket that buckles in the back...also great!

You don't need the questions. You need the doing.

Get to doing.