Hitting the Books

Very cute article in the April issue of Romance Writers Report called “Rx for Writer’s Block and Other Creative Maladies,” by Deborah Hale. She identifies “illnesses” that can afflict a writer, and offers some remedies. Here’s a short summary (as much as I dare without treading on copyright stuff)

Motivation Anemia–otherwise known as Procrastination. Idea Itch –a rash of new ideas that keep you from focusing on the WIP. “May be caused by an underlying Manuscript Completion Allergy.” Overactive Editorial Gland. Can be brought on by Resistent Revisionitis. Project Paralysis–can come from being intimidated by the work, a fear of deadlines, or inertia after a long break (Arth-writis) Method Sclerosis. Similar to Motivation Anemia. Scene Sprain–”a painful aversion to writing one particular scene.” Plot Fracture–where the story breaks down and brings the rest of the book to a grinding halt. Muse Atrophy–lack of fresh ideas. Environmental Poisoning. Also known as Contagious Discouragement Virus. Perforated Ego–self explanatory. Pervasive Malaise Syndrome. Actual physical reasons for lack of energy and desire to write. Life-Crisis Attack. If not addressed, might turn into Chronic Malignant Burnout.

Gee, I guess need to start taking some meds real quick, ’cause I suffer from a lot of these.

• I have an awful case of Idea Itch (which is why I’ve got 5 books going at the same time), but I’m afraid that if I try to control the itch, I’ll end up with Muse Atrophy.
• Motivation Anemia. Oh yeah, I’ve got that bad. That’s why I’m here blogging/playing Free Cell/”researching” instead of writing (even though Sheridan and Alyk have been pretty insistent the past few days).
• I certainly have an Overactive Editorial Gland, which in me can often cause a Scene Sprain (or is it vice versa?)
• To top it all off, I have Pervasive Malaise Syndrome–depression, SAD, Diaper Brain all turn my brain to mush entirely too often.
• At least I don’t have any Environmental Poisoning–my family and friends are all extremely supportive of my writing.

So what ails you?

Found on this month’s Carnival of Bad History (see previous post)

If World War II were an on-line game/instant message…

Warning–the language is quite crude, but that may be the norm for wargaming. However, the concept is so funny and well-done that it’s worth the read.

Okay, so I’m familiar with carnivals–my husband submits to the Carnival of Personal Finance, the Carnival of Investing, and the Festival of Frugality. He actually started up his own, the Carnival of Debt Reduction (these can be found on his site) . I actually sent in a post to some writers’ carnival (I was the only submission that week), but never did again.

Which leads me to my point. While on the topic of all those rules for writing (bad) historical fiction, I found, by way of Sarah (see sidebar) Rules for Writing Neo-Victorian Novels . The author, The Little Professor, had a link to the Carnival of Bad History, hosted this month by Ahistoricality. (Here’s the original Bad History website).

Y’all would probably be most interested in item #1 on their list, which is:

Bad presentations of history - This is the easy one. Review bad historical movies, books and teevee. How anachronistic are those uniforms? How improbable is that alternate history novel? Did kindly frontier doctors really talk like that?

Toddle on over, take a peek. Submit maybe. Or at least have a good laugh (or lament “Good Grief.”).

This time Sarah has posted the Official Rules for Writing Victorian Historical Novels, by Sally Zigmond (originally published in Solander–okay, call me ignorant, but what or who the heck is Solander?)

And since misery loves company, I’m posting this totally unrelated link so that everyone else can get this blasted song stuck in their heads too. Enjoy

Part 3 in Robyn’s series for History Strumpets is up on Snarkling Clean. This time she takes on Regency England. Go on over and put in your 2 pence worth.