How to kickstart your muse

I was in a slight slump the other day. I wanted my mind to wander, to imagine all those lovely, awesome new book ideas, but my brain just didn't want to cooperate. So, I asked Twitter and the fantastic ladies over on the WrAHM Facebook group if anyone had tips or tricks for getting the muse into gear. I received tons of great responses, and here they are! (Please click on their tweets to go to their twitters. Then follow these ladies because they're AWESOME!)

(Click on these ladies' names to head over to their blogs, or in some cases, their twitters, for more amazing content!)

Shallee McArthur says, "I have a playlist on YouTube for each book and use it to help me 'get in the mood' before I start writing (when I'm drafting, I can't listen to music while writing). When rewriting, I often have a song on the list for specific scenes, and I listen to that song while I work on the rewrite."

Bethany Crandell has a unique suggestion ;) : "My muse loves it when I blow my hair dry. Must be all the white noise and fumes from the hair product."

Tristina Wright says, "Pinterest inspiration boards! I have a board for each of my books plus generic writing and character boards where I keep ideas for future stories."

Melissa Brady King agrees with Bethany: "The hair dryer has some weird connection to my brain. It blows ideas in my ears or something. Good ideas sometimes occur when I'm folding laundry, but I often get inspired while running and listening to my WIP playlist."

Katherine Ernst recommends asking a lot of "What if?" questions. "Even when I think I know where the plot is going, I like to ask myself questions about whether this plot element or that character choice could be changed or modified. Could this twist be added, or that character be different. Many ideas get thrown away, but sometimes asking those sorts of questions leads to really interesting story choices that wouldn't have been discovered otherwise."

Melissa Blanco also likes listening to her playlist and going for a run. She also says, "Whenever I sit down to write, I read over the last scene I wrote." (I also like doing this. I feel like it gets me back into the story and I might catch a few typos in the process.)

H.E. Gryphus likes Pinterest, as well, and adds, "Staring at a fire... Seriously... I did it this weekend and kept running back to the house to write down notes."

Erica Covey says, "Listening to music or going outside/playing with the kids works best for me. Actually doing anything that prevents me from writing down notes (shower, rocking baby to sleep, baking) is sure to give me a few ideas." (THIS happens to me all the time, too! Which is why I put a voice recorder app on my phone!)

Jessica Opfer has this same thing happen to her, too. "I tend to play scenes in my head while I am swimming laps, walking the dog, or feeding the baby. So yeah, any time I can't actually write things down is pretty much when the best thinking happens. Go figure!"

Robin Lucas goes for a nap. Sometimes our brain just needs to recharge, I think.

Melissa Hurst says, "I use a notepad to write ideas down when I start a scene and I don't know where I'm heading. I include anything that comes to mind no matter how weird it sounds." (I love this suggestion because one never knows what thoughts are going to lead to that AMAZING idea!)

Alexandra O'Connor recommends a shower (I'm on the shower team too!). "Seriously, all my good ideas come to me when I don't have a dang thing to write them on. I have to keep repeating key phrases over and over until I'm done."

Do you have any suggestions for kickstarting the muse??? Please, leave them in the comments!

Keeping Things Fresh

I am definitely a creature of habit. I like a routine. Get up, fix coffee, have coffee while checking internet things, try to write, blah blah blah. But today, I've switched things up. See, normally my husband takes our 6YO to the bus stop in the morning allowing me to sleep a little later which means I'll stay up late. But I've noticed that I write more in the morning, when my mind is fresh. When I stay up, I say that I'll get writing done, but I usually just end up watching a lame movie or youtube videos or playing phone games. Then I'm like:

So, I'm hoping this change will make a difference in my daily word count. We shall see. It's 8:30 now (a good hour before I normally wake up), and I've already done my twittering, facebooking, and now, even a blog post.

Also, there's just something about making a change in one's life. Even though it's just a tiny thing, I feel like I'm moving forward. Like I just leveled up or something!

LEVEL UP DANCE!

Now it's time to spend those experience points and get down to business!

What about you? Are you a morning or night or evening writer? Do you stick to a routine or let things happen as they may?

OPAL by Jennifer L. Armentrout Reveal

No one is like Daemon Black.
When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love. After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Follow this link to an ~~~ EPIC CONTEST ~~~ Announcement. You will want to bookmark this page!

http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/p/october-1-2012.html

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog

5 Animated Movies That Won't Annoy The Crap Out Of You

I'm a stay-at-home mom. My oldest is six and then there's the three year old. We don't have television because we can't afford it. It's not so bad seeing as I don't have America's Top Model or reruns of CSI to distract me, but I also don't have Nick Jr. to distract the monkey-boy. The littlest is pretty good about keeping himself entertained, but sometimes I have to just put on some eye candy to keep him out of trouble (and to retain my sanity). In other words, I've seen a lot, A LOT, of animated movies. And I've narrowed it down to the least annoying, the ones that I actually enjoy and can handle watching multiple times (because as most people know, children can watch the same movie twelve times in one day and still say, "Again, again!"). So, here they are for those of you who might be in the same position as me.

1. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 

Based on the children's book written by Judi Barrett, this is our family's go to movie. We even have a nickname for it: Steve. The voice acting includes Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, Mr. T, Neil Patrick Harris, and the always brilliant, Bruce Campbell. The animation is fun, the story is great, and my husband and I are constantly repeating some of the hilarious one liners. I'm pretty sure a day doesn't go by that we don't watch this movie, and oddly enough, that's alright with me.

2. TANGLED

Remember when you were a little girl and you had crushes on animated characters? Yeah, apparently I never grew out of that. I just love Flynn Rider played by Zachary Levi in this one. My husband says the horse, Maximus, is the best part of the movie. And my 3yo has "Mother Knows Best" stuck in his head practically day and night. Laugh out loud moments combined with great songs make this one a classic Disney flick.

3. MEGAMIND

You can see all the big names in this one. I'm particularly impressed with the story. There's a great anti-hero thing going on plus a strong female character. And the animation is really quite pretty.

4. GNOMEO & JULIET

All Elton John, all movie long. Emily Blunt and James McAvoy do the main voices in this retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I'm a sucker for retellings and I love Shakespeare so this is a no-brainer for me. Also, there is nothing sweeter than listening to the boys sing along with "Love Builds a Garden." Makes me tear up every time.

5. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

This is a recent addition to our regular viewing list. The 6yo especially loves this one. There are lots of Scottish accents which I could listen to all day. The story reminds me of a boy and his dog kind of story. And who wouldn't want their own Toothless?

So, there you have it! I'm always looking for new kids' movies to add to our list. Do you have any that don't make you want to pull your hair out?

And now that I've finally done a new blog post, I think I deserve a break!

Entangled Teen Blog Launch!

Today, I'm first up on the brand-spanking-new Entangled Teen Author Blog! Head on over to share in my Crush on guys with accents! Mmmmm, accents...

PLUS, there's a huge giveaway going on! YAY FREE BOOKS!

Fangirl Friday

Long time, no FF! I know, I know, but today I'm feeling especially fangirly so let's get right to it.

A little while ago I mentioned that I would start watching Doctor Who. Guess what happened...

Yep... So, I think I'm finally emerging from my Doctor depression (or Tennant-itis, as I like to call it) and I can talk about how awesome this series is. One of the things I think is so great about Doctor Who is the way the writers have taken every day things and worked them into the essence of what Doctor Who is. They've created a fandom like no other. Take this picture above. The 3-D glasses, the bowtie, the TARDIS coffee mug, the thing-a-ma-bob he's holding (that's a sonic screwdriver, btw), and the banana are all references to the show and 3 of those things you could come into contact with often. Now that I'm a fan, I can't go a day without being reminded of The Doctor just by living life. Talk about smart writing.

I could seriously go on and on about the sheer brilliance of Doctor Who, but it would probably involve lots of spoilers and girly squeeing and ugly crying so I'll save that for another day.

Next on the FF agenda is the Nerdist! Go listen! Tons of podcasts featuring only the coolest celebrities and film and TV writers. I must say that my favorites are the ones where Chris Hardwick, Jonah Ray, and Matt Mira just have a conversation. The David Tennant interview is, of course, awesome.

Also, listening to these guys is strangely inspiring. I feel the need to find someone to geek out with, to start on that costume I've been wanting to make, and write about all the nerdy things.

Which is what I shall do now!

What are ya'll nerding out about?

In which I vow to care less...

So, this post from Chuck Wendig: Ask A Writer: In Which I Exhort You To Care Less

It seriously hit me hard. Like hard hard. I encourage everyone to read it.

After reading it, letting it really soak in, I came to two conclusions.

1. I let things get to me way too easily. Then, I let those things dig their stupid, meaningless claws into my brain where they constantly bug the crap out of me. You see, I'm a worrier (I might have mentioned this before). Tiny things, things that happened years ago, still nag me. Most of the people that were involved in these insignificant happenings probably don't even remember them or remember them differently than I do, but still, they're there in my brain. This habit has got to stop because pretty soon, when TSIBAN is released, there will be people who like my book (hopefully), but there will also be people who really don't like it, maybe even hate it. I've already vowed not to read the bad reviews, like the really bad ones that might be super hurtful. I don't know if this makes me smart or a coward, but it's just the way I'm going to approach the whole thing because life is too short, dude.

2. I have GOT to unclench when it comes to writing. I have GOT to relax and remember what is wonderful about doing this. I don't know what it is that's causing this sometimes overwhelming feeling of fear and doubt. Maybe I'm trying to hard to improve, maybe I'm letting other people's writing intimidate me because there are so many awesome authors and am I even worthy of a place on a shelf even close to them and *PANIC*

... Deep breaths...

See how quickly the anxiety sets in?

So, here's my promise to myself (and maybe you want to join me on this):

I shall care less. 

Simple enough. Easy? Highly doubtful, but if by saying that over and over in mirror gets me another thousand words down then it is worth it.

And just to end on a happy note: