What to do in week two.

Week two.  The enthusiasm of week one is wearing off, and you haven't hit the week three slump yet.  Week two is where the magic happens.  Now that you're on a roll, and you've hopefully have some kind of writing routine underway, this 50k goal seems a little bit more in reach.

Hopefully.

Unless you're like me and every word has been tedious in its removal from my brain.

I hit a slump at day THREE.  Then day four.  And five.  And six.

By day seven I decided I had to do something dramatic.  Something to kick-start my writing mojo.  So I locked myself in my study, got fired up on fizzy drink (don't do coffee), commandeered an unlimited supply of lollies and joined the 6k in a day challenge.  For me, it was the 6k in an evening challenge and from 4pm to 11.30pm I put fingers to keys and typed until my fingers bled.  Okay, they didn't really bleed but I needed a serious hand massage after that!

If you are struggling with your mojo, you're not alone.  If you're not struggling beware!  The infamous week three slump is fast approaching.  SoCNoC isn't, and was never meant to be, easy.  It's hard.  Really hard.  But achievable.  Even if your word count is at zero, its still achievable.  Even if you write a hundred words in a day, it's still chipping away at that 50k goal.

I might not be the best person to give advice, after all, they say those who cant, teach.  All I can do is tell you what worked for me and if you want to try them, go for it!

Set yourself a mini challenge.

The 6k in a day worked for me, but there are plenty of others that you could come up with.  Even if it is just 1000 words in an hour.  Set yourself a goal and shoot for it.

Reward yourself.

I have a chocolate biscuit sitting in front of me at the moment.  When I finish this blog I get to eat it.  Its sitting there, taunting me, but its also motivating me to get this done!  Little rewards, big rewards – use whatever motivates you.

Find a friend.

If you didn't drag a friend into this with you (or get dragged into this by a friend) like me, there are still plenty of people around in the chatroom and in the forums.  Get on twitter.  There are lots of us on there moaning about our #SoCNoC pain.  Join in and have a moan too.  Everyone is wonderfully encouraging.

Turn off the internet.

Stop reading this blog.  Cut my last comment about twitter.  If you're not writing because google is far more interesting, then try go without technology.  Peel that phone from your hand, switch the TV off at the wall (so you cant use the remote), unplug your wi-fi and write.

Take a break.

A real break.  Go to bed early.  If the words aren't coming at 1.30 am, they're probably not going to, even if you stay up for another three hours.  Go for a walk, watch a movie or spend some time with your family who are probably beginning to notice your absence by now.  Leave your novel and come back the next day when you feel refreshed.  I had to leave my novel for three days, I'd burned myself out so quickly.  Now I'm back in fighting spirit, but the lessons of the first few day's of SoCNoC are still with me.  Exhaustion does not make for good writing.

Write.

After you've taken a break, write.  I've said this before, but even one sentence gets you closer to your goal.  Write something.  Anything.  Even if it doesn't flow.  Just get the words out and the next sentence will flow on from that.

Some of these ideas might work.  None of them are guaranteed.  Find what works for you and roll with it.  Now... onto my chocolate caramel biscuit.