#WriterWednesday - October 31st 2018 - #HappyHalloween!

Writing, real writing, should leave a small sweet bruise somewhere on the writer . . . and on the reader.
~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Happy Halloween! If you're doing anything to celebrate, I hope you have fun. I know this is officially a writing related post, but feel free to tell me about your Halloween plans in the comments, if you have any. I'd love to hear about them.

OK. Let's get back to writing related stuff, shall we?

First of all, there are stories in your heart - set them free.

No matter what you're writing, you need to take breaks regularly. It's not good for you to sit at the computer for hours on end. Then again, you also have to be careful that your quick break doesn't turn in to something distracting you for so long you don't come back to your writing any time soon. Yeah, I need to learn about both those things myself. So, for all our benifits, here's a post on how to take a writing break without getting distracted.

Oh, and here's a potentially useful post that explains how to be super efficient by batching your work.

So... It's 8pm. Why aren't you writing? Or, maybe it's 8am...? Look, just substitute the time for whatever time is meant to be your writing time. The point is, sometimes you just have to work with whatever writing time you can, even if it's not your best time. Yeah, I know. This is another thing I need to work on. This year really hasn't been a good one for me when it comes to getting my writing time in though, and it's more than just a scheduling issue in my case. Sometimes that happens though, and sometimes you have to let it. Sometimes you have to make sure your writing happens when it can be scheduled in, sometimes you have to snatch whatever moments you can, and sometimes the other stuff in your life has to come first, and writing has to take a back seat. Only you know which is the case right now in your own life.

On a similar note: here's some advice on finding the time (and words) to write, and writing when life is more trick than treat.

Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction.
~Anais Nin

Though the reading or writing of mysteries and horror stories isn't limited to this time of year, it does seem like the perfect time to discuss tips for writing mystery, horror, and suspense, or writing terrifying horror fiction and monster stories. If your scary stories are aimed at children, you might want to take a look at this post on writing horror for kids, which bases its tips on quotes by R. L. Stine.

Regardless of the genre or age range you write for, if you write flash fiction, or would like to try doing so, here's a post on introducing the problem in few words.

Have you picked a title for your book yet? If not, check out these tips for naming your novel to help you find one.

Now your book has a title, do you need some marketing ideas? Check out this post on how to make use of locations in your marketing, even if the locations aren't actually real places.

Finally, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts tomorrow. I'm not participating, but if you're participating... Good luck! Remember to take care of yourself while writing though. That goes for those not participating in NaNoWriMo too.