This morning I sat in front of a blank screen and wondered what to write. I have been doing this a lot lately. Seems my writing mojo has mojoed out!!! Well not totally. I am working on a story. Blank Screen Syndrome took hold when I attempted to write a love scene. My first! When I finished the scene, I was taken aback at how trite it sounded.
I decided there was nothing for it but to go to the book store and buy a few historical novels and read as objectively as possible with blue highlighter at the ready. The results, I now have books with blue streaks all over the place. I uncapped blue highlighter number two, last night. It just occurred to me as I rifled through the pages of said books, maybe I should have used different coloured highlighters for different reference topics. HeyHo! Not always so quick on the uptake.
39 comments:
I joined the Campaign, too! It sounds like it's going to be awesome, I'm excited. :)
All my highlighters are yellow. What's wrong with me.
Great to see you've joined the Campaign! :)
I always feel uncomfortable when I write or highlight in a book . . . I hate messing up those clean black and white pages. LOL.
I'm a crusader too!
YaY for Willow Watts. I'm trying to decide between two females for my Willow post.
Old Kitty hasn't been able to find her muse. You two can commiserate.
Oh, yipppeeeee! Thanks so much for the shout-out, Ann! I'm so thrilled you enjoyed Willow.
I'm a highlighter fiend, too. :)
Good to see you back, Ann. I am looking forward to reading Talli's book.
Hey!! You're baaaaaack with blue highlighter to highlight the blue bits!LOL!!!
Yay for Tali's book and yay for Crusading! Enjoy! take care
x
You could always hit the Mills and Boon books :) I remember they were all the rage when I was at high school.
Good to see you back in the Campaign! I completely understand about that blank screen. It'll come to you. See you around and best of luck!
Good to see you back Ann. x
(I am now off to look up the crusade.)
Great to see you've joined the campaign. I'll have to check if you're in any of my many groups. I'm reading Willow Watts too and loving it. Will be reviewing it soon as I finish.
Hope those books with the blue streaks lead to some great inspiration and you get back to the computer and fill the screen with your wisdom.
Denise
You are all so kind welcoming me back. I feel chuffed! Thank you.
@Jenna, welcome to Inkpots n' Quills. Hope to see you on the Crusade.
@Agnes, Great to hear from you Agnes. Hope all is well with you. Highlighter colours....fun!
@Golden Eagle, I know what you mean....I had to force the highlighter onto the page.
@Theresa, looking forward to Crusading with you. Isn't Watching Willow Watts brilliant!
@Talli, what is your favourite highlighter colour!
@Brigid, I am glad to be back! Talli's book is great. You will enjoy it.
@Old kitty, Yes I am back. Blank screen syndrome and all.
@Niki, thanks for the tip! I will look into Mills & Boons. Have you knocked the head off the creepy snow sculpture yet?
@Mary Mary, Thank you for your encouraging words.
@Susannah, It's great to be back. Hope to see you on the Crusade.
@Little Aussie, Blue Highlighter is exhausted! I haven't checked the groups. I think I am supposed to add myself this time around, is that right? Not the brightest light bulb in the drawer!
Hi Ann .. it's probably good to have a break, and sounds as though the blue streaks will come into their own sometime! I've got the Hating Game here .. to read, sometime .. and am so looking forward to it - Talli seems like a really good racy writer .. enjoy your Platform Building Campaigner with Rachael et al .. cheers Hilary
I like BLUE! Yellow is a bit too bright for me. Blue is perfect.
Hello,
I'm in the first Romance group but am going to try and keep up with y'all in the second group too. Nice to meet you :)
Wisconsin & Ireland? Wow! I've been to Wisconsin a couple times. Ireland is on my must-visit list!
Hello from a fellow romance campaigner. Great to meet you.
Hi Ann,
I'm a fellow campaigner in the short stories group and new follower looking forward to getting to know you.
Hi Ann, Nice to meet a Campaign veteran. This is my first, and I'm having such a good time traveling the blogosphere and getting to know new writers. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
It isn't easy to sit down at the computer screen and get something written. Easier, I think, to write a post. But you've succeeded at both, even if you do think the love scene is trite!
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets
Hi Ann,
I am new to the writing campaign. Just dropping by to say 'hi'. I am in the same (Adult Fiction 4) group as you. Look forward to getting to know you better>
JoAnna (Helen Clancy(
Hi Ann,
I'm a fellow campaigner and I agree that writing love scenes are hard.Good luck with that. Talk about feeling vulnerable.
Muses on holiday are no fun!
Mine hasn't been exactly absent, but he she is certainly taking it easy at the moment!
Hi. We're in the same romance group at the write campaign. Great to see Talli's latest book featured here, I am very much looking forward to reading it, soon! And I look forward to joining you on your writer's journey through your blog.
Blue highlighters, huh! Does that reflect the type of scenes highlighted?!? Seriously though, is there no way you can miss that scene out and come back to it at a later date?
I'm hearing a lot about Talli's latest book. Can't wait to read it and, as this is my first time with the Campaign I'm looking forward to it.
Fellow campaigner here. I'm with The Golden Eagle; I've never been able to bring myself to highlight a book - even one I bought for a quarter at a garage sale.
This is my first campaign, so I'm excited to see what's in store.
See ya round!
Melanie M.
You know you've got "Blank Screen Syndrome" bad when you can't write a love scene! LOL! I hope you get your mojo back soon.
LOL about the highlighter colors Ann! Saying hello from the campaign trail!
Love the highlighter colors. I haven't had to wrestle with writing a love scene yet since I write mainly for children. But I can see it might be a challenge. Good luck with getting it the way you want it.
I'd be interested to see what exactly you were highlighting and why it caught your eye. Glad to see that you're joining in on the campaign fun.
I'm in the short story campaign with you so I thought I'd introduce myself :) I am a mom to two, soon to be three, daughters and love writing so much! I am looking to start a short story critique group if you are interested, and I have the Hooked on Hooks event coming up on my blog if you'd like to participate.
I'm so glad we'll be in the campaign together. It should rock this year. I'm going to have a separate tab for the challenges on my blog because I already had guests lined up those days. Well, we'll just have a big party, right? :)
Sorry I'm late Ann, glad to see you back. Maybe you can tie that blank screen syndrome to the trite love scene? That's my love experience :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
I bet your love scenes sizzle, blue highlighter or not.
Manzanita@Wannabuyaduck
nice to meet you thru the campaign and i just went to the bookstore for inspiration too!
I hear ya. My mojo is fading as well, and I need to stew over floating ideas and try to get back into the groove again. Ugh... :)
♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
Can Alex save Winter from the darkness that hunts her?
YA Paranormal Romance, Darkspell coming fall of 2011!
Easy fix for your highlighting -- yellow over blue will turn green. Pink over blue will turn purple, so you can make at least three colors out of what you've already marked!
Hi there! I'm another Campaigner stopping by!
Good luck with the campaign, hope it all goes well!
And another campaigner stopping by to say hello! I'm a day-glo yellowish-green hi-lighter, myself. Look forward to reading you along the campaign trail!
Hi Ann, I'm also participating in the campaign - we're in the same short story group. Looking forward to seeing more of you throughout the campaign.
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