A Little Help From Your Friends
Oct
16
2007

How’s everyone doing? I know sometimes getting started on a new project or a challenge can be daunting and the pressure comes when you start overthinking and it freezes you up. Just try and relax and remember the Sven challenge is really about yourself and only yourself and your words.

Night before last I realized as I shut my laptop down, I didn’t have enough for the wordcount the short novel I was working on demanded. I brainstormed with my husband, who is always a great source of inspiration but it wasn’t quite enough so I woke up disgruntled and still searching for the thing that would give me the depth and layers I needed.

So I booted up the desktop and turned on IM and sent a note to my buddy Megan – I’m stuck and I don’t have enough meat for the story. She popped on about half an hour later and after I told her I couldn’t very wel have 50K words of fucking (well I could but it wouldn’t work for this story) we worked back and forth (our stories are interconnected) until I finally hit on what I needed, the hook, the layers that would bring the story’s heart to light.

By that time, a story I’d been struggling for a few hundred words here and there (but with a clear idea of what I needed which made it even more painful) loosened up and I got over 2700 words yesterday.

So while we can’t compare ourselves to others and find ourselves wanting when we talk about wordcount or book deals, we can reach out to others who know what we’re going through. Brainstorming and plotting sessions with a friend is something I’ve found to be a really big help and I highly encourage it!

This year, we’ve added five new sponsors to the challenge. Those of us running Sven’s gym are Alison Kent, Jo Leigh, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Shiloh Walker, Lauren Dane, Diana Peterfreund, Jaci Burton, and Portia Da Costa. Expect to see us popping up on various sweating challengers’ blogs over the next 70 (93) days.

In addition there are nearly 300 sweaters and many of us know other authors who are willing to lend an ear and their creativity to help you out of a block or a tough spot. We’ve all been there so there’s no shame in reaching out. BTW, Megan is made of sparkly awesome for helping me.

One comment to “A Little Help From Your Friends”

  1. Megan Hart
    October 16th, 2007 at 1:42 pm · Link

    Hey, I do what I can to help those in need.

    🙂

    m