Writing Workout: Awkward Stock Photos Challenge

                Thanks to the polar vortex, my school is going on a six day weekend. The downside is I was supposed to take my Statistics final six days ago. The upside is all this free time has enabled me to get some work done on my novel, work on finishing the Crash Course literature reading list, and come up with a new writing workout.

                The concept is ridiculously simple and also simply ridiculous. Pick a photo from Awkward Stock Photos and try to write an at least semi-logical short story about it. The point of this exercise is to learn to write yourself out of seemingly impossible situations, for when you have writer's block or need to up your word count on Nanowrimo. If you can't think of anything good, write all the possible ways the story could go. Then choose the best one and go with it.

Here are some pictures to choose from, or pick one from the Awkward Stock Photos blog:

                             Uptight boss who keeps the meeting going even after a gas leak?

               New smartphone that punches user whenever he or she posts something stupid online?

                                                    I don't even know what to tell you.

The Writer's Funk

                So I have been in a bit of a funk these past couple of weeks. The kind of funk that every writer knows. The kind of funk which makes you hate every single thing your mind comes up with and every single thing your mind has ever come up with. Maybe you have one thing you are excited to get to in your story, but to get there you have to write the most excruciatingly boring plot anyone has ever spit out. Like writer's block except all consuming.

                Novels die in the funk's wake.

                Seriously, the last time I was in a funk I thought there was something physically wrong with my brain.

                I'm trying my hardest to survive this funk without abandoning my current project, erasing my hard drive, and setting fire to my computer. So far I've been successful. I've also been successful at procrastinating at writing even though I have free time for the first time in weeks. Another symptom of the funk.

                 To keep from deleting the 34 measly pages I have written in the past two months, I'm trying to focus on the elements I like about my novel. The little parts that might actually survive past the first draft. Writers are a lot better off looking at the things they like rather than the bottomless holes where their creativity goes to die.

P.S. Don't tell me that "funk" isn't a real word.

Funk:

                1. a strong offensive smell

                2. a depressed state of mind

I think that pretty accurately describes what I'm talking about here.

Writer's Cheat Sheet

Found this gem on Tumblr this morning: