Research, Music and Distractions

Hey.

So, I'm sick. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that.

I did not have this post pre-planned. And I'm not sure what to say, but I made a plan to post once a day, so that's what I'm going to do.

So, onto my other writerly things I promised.

Research

Do I research before a novel? Not really. 

Can you? Definitely. 

Can you do too much? Yes. 

What are some ways you can research? I am no expert on research, as I've said, I don't really do research. For my current novel, the only research I did was to read a few books on vampires. And I didn't read one from beginning to end. 

What is too much research? When you start looking up specific height and weight for something. Seriously, if you want to know something and you can't find it right off the bat, pull something out of the air and look it up during editing. Really, you don't want to do too much research before you start your rough draft. 

The only research I've done for my NaNoWriMo novel has been to read a book on werewolves and pick and choose how I want my "werewolves" to act. 

It's easy to over do it. If you can't find something with five clicks on google... Save it for editing. 

Music

Or other ambient sound. 

Some people say they have to have silence. Some have to have a certain kind of music playing. In any other situation, they say they can't write. 

I call bullshit. 

Even though I have my preferred music (J-Pop), I can write in silence, or my boyfriend can be playing a movie in the background (though the movie quite often distracts me). 

The thing is, it's okay to have a preferred method, or situation in which to write, but don't refuse to write unless those conditions are met. Don't place restrictions like that on yourself. 

Distractions

Music, for some people, can be under this category. 

If you want to get any good amount of writing done, you want to separate yourself from any and all distractions you can. Kids, cats, significant others, television, phonecalls, texts, internet, etc.

If you're constantly being distracted, what writing you get done will probably be negligible. 

Being distracted by your children? Well, I don't have children, but you may want to wait until they are in school/daycare/asleep to get your writing done. Maybe let them watch more brain-melty tv? 

My cats are a constant companion as I write. They, being kittens, are attention hogs. Now, I don't mind them laying next to me, but when they're all up in my keyboard, I have to move them off. If I have to keep doing this, I will move them to another room. They normally get the hint. 

My boyfriend is harder to take care off. Normally he's at work or asleep during my writing times, but on his days off, he wants attention as badly as the cats. During NaNoWriMo this may be a problem and I will have to hit him over the head with his iPad to get writing done. I'll keep you posted. 

Turn off your phone. It's that simple. If you answer a phone call even once, people will expect you to keep doing it. If you can, unplug/turn off the internet connection. I can't do this, as the music I listen to is from an online source, but if Twitter distracts me I will hit that nice little "x" in the corner. 

That's all folks

Sorry, that's all I can come up with for now. 

The illness, boyfriend, and cat 2 are making it hard to concentrate. 

I'll see you guys tomorrow!

Cheyenne

Why You Shouldn't Care

Hello all!

I'm going to start this post with a few stories, but bear with me. I have a point. I promise.

Now, if you've read my first post, *ahem* Briony, you will know roughly my age. So keep in mind I've been in the work force for three- almost four- years. Mostly fast food. My first story is when I was 15/16 years old, at my very first job.

• It was a small, family owned business, so I worked with pretty much the same people almost everyday. There was one girl I recall who *really* didn't like me (some of you may already see where I am going with this post, but let me finish). I had no problem with her, so I went about work as usual. Almost a year later I finally asked why she didn't like me. She gave me a legitimate reason. I worked to fix it. We never had a problem again. 
• My second job I had few issues aside from my last day (which is another story ENTIRELY). My third job was at a McDonald's. I think I worked there all of three-four months? In that time, most the people I worked with loved, or at least tolerated me. However, one girl disliked me extremely and it was causing problems. She'd outright ignore me, but that wasn't the issue, it was a problem when she'd ask me to do HER job, while I was helping or doing something for a customer, but I digress into run-on sentences. I asked her one day, and this is pretty much the conversation verbatim. "Do you not like me, or something?" "No, I don't." "Okay... Why?" "I dunno. It's just the way you are." I walked away and don't think I ever spoke to her again, but then again I quit like a month after that. 
• My fourth/fifth job (I went back to my first job for a couple months after my third, but then we moved.) I worked at a taco place down in Texas. Still in school, I worked night shift. There were a couple girls I had issues with, but one stands out. She didn't like me. It was obvious. I didn't say anything until she snapped at me one night. We were both on drive-thru and she took off her headset to take care of something in lobby. Shouldn't be a problem, right? She was still working, after all. My issue is, it wasn't her job to take care of lobby, her job was to do drive-thru with me. I asked her to put the headset back on. She comes back with something snarky about there being no customers. It irritated me. But I let a manager take care of it. Texting her later I asked why *she* didn't like me. She said I was bossy. Really? I'm bossy for asking you to do your JOB? (I actually told her this. She didn't like it.)
• Now we come to the incident that spurred this entire post (because I'm bad and forgot to write up my post before work, I hand wrote part during lunch and am now typing the rest.). I work at walmart. I don't care that you know that, it has nothing to do with this post. Nor am I criticizing it. But anyway. A guy I work with, doesn't like me. (Starting to see a pattern here, eh?) I don't know why. I don't care why, though I AM curious. I have no problem with him. He's a pretty cool guy, just has some issues of his own. I can understand that. Everyone has issues of some sort. Now, I'd only just figured out he didn't like me. Like... the night before last. 
• Last night at work, I was messing around with him and another employee. I don't think Terry will mind if I tell you his name, he's cool. So I was kinda messing around with Employee A and Terry. Stuck my foot out when they passed to "trip" them. (I don't think I ever actually touched either of their feet, was just messing around.) An hour or two later, one of the managers calls me in to talk. She does the whole schpiel about safety in the work place and how they know I was messy around but that it could cause an accident. Yadda, yadda. (She called me "bubbly", and while I'm not too sure about that, she said I light up a room. It made me feel good.) It's a mild pat on the wrist. I'm fairly certain at this point who complained. I'm sure you are, too. 
• Now. That normally wouldn't bother me that he went to the bosses. But some of the stuff he "jokingly" says to me, could warrant sexual harassment charges. But I'm not vindictive, and like I said, I think he's an alright guy. I would like to talk to him about this, but haven't had time/opportunity to get him alone. I may, I may not. 

Alright. Story time is over. 

How could this pertain to writing? You may ask. 

Well, I told you those stories to tell you this. And it's a harsh truth I think many burgeoning authors need to know right off the back; I just thank the life I've lived that I learned this lesson early (It's the way I am, after all). 

Not everyone is going to like you.

Some people could downright hate you/your book. However, there will be the people who absolutely adore your writing. Learn this. Know this. Write this down and stick it on your refrigerator. The sooner you learn it and take it to heart, the easier rejection will be.

That being said, I have never faced rejection of my writing before, but I have no doubt I will, and you will be among one of the first groups of people to know how I truly take it.

Happy writing, tomorrow's post will probably be something about NaNoWriMo, or the other writerly things one of my previous posts talked about, or something about cats, I haven't decided yet.

Cheyenne