Tuesday, March 06, 2012

My Weird Little Thing

I've put aside the story I was working on the last few months in order to work on the next Ghost Dusters book. For a while I was writing both stories. I'd work a few pages on one and then switch to do a few on the other. However, one story is in first person and the other in third. I ended up being all discombobulated and confuzzled. I was worried I'd end up talking about myself in the third person and annoying everyone more than usual. 


 I'm really getting into the story and things are flowing nicely. Like my hair. The thing is, I really have a hard time writing if I don't tie back my hair. I don't know why the two things are connected but apparently my brain won't create if I don't have my locks tied back in a ponytail. Once during a particularly tough time of writer’s block, I considered a brush cut. 


 Now my hair is a couple inches past my shoulders. I have a hair appointment Friday and, although it's just a trim, I'm a little worried too much will come off and I'll not be able to tie it back. This happened once before when I was in the middle of the first draft of Devil May Ride. I would take a hair elastic and pull just the top hairs into a tiny little ponytail while I was writing. I looked like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. One time the UPS guy came to the door and when I answered he gave me a funny look. After that I tried not to show the itty bitty ponytail to anyone. I gave up writing at Starbucks until my hair grew. 


 So that's my weird little thing. There are others but I don't know most of you well enough to share them. Do you have any weird little things that help you work?

11 comments:

Laura said...

I always write better when I have my bestie on IM, chatting with me as I write. Weird, but true. I can write without her (barely), but having her right there really helps.

Tori Scott said...

I have a friend who can only write while under the hair dryer. When her hood-style dryer broke, she had writer's block until she found a new one. For me, I have to be totally alone, as in everyone else in bed or gone. Even if hubby is in his office, just knowing he might walk in is enough to keep me from writing. Weird, but that's the way it is.

Wendy Roberts said...

Laura, that almost sounds weirder than my hair thing but if it works YAY!

Wendy, a hair template might be the way to go lol!

Wendy Roberts said...

Tori, we posted at the same time :) I write during the day when kids are at school. It would be nice if things were always that way but with all the school breaks, I've learned to write with people around too.

Wendy, my treadmill is broken so I don't have that concern ha ha

B.E. Sanderson said...

The only weird thing I can think of is that I have certain music mixes for certain books. And I can't use a mix for one book that I have used for another. It's only really bad if I forget to change to a writing mix after I've been exercising. I start writing expecting Bush and get derailed when Salt n Pepa blasts through my headphones.

Good luck with the new 'do on Friday.

Wendy Roberts said...

B.E. I totally get the music sitch. I usually have a theme song that prompts me for each book :)

Amanda said...

I can't think of any particular quirk that I have when I'm writing, other than when I write my blog, I usually pretend it's a one-sided conversation with my best friend.

As for your hair thing, if it ends up too short, maybe you should try a headband! You can get elastic circular headbands that would hold your hair back without it having to be in a pony tail. :)

Wendy Roberts said...

Amanda, I've tried the head band thing but I must have an odd shaped head as it always slides off lol!

Unknown said...

Holy crap, is talking about yourself in the third person and annoying people not normal or problematic? Man I have issues to work on....

Wendy Roberts said...

Brahm, talking about yourself in 3rd is only problematic if you're not Canadian. Which you are. So it's not. (she said annoyingly)

Vivian said...

I play spider solitaire while I think about what I want to write. If I did not have spider I don't think I could write.