After a successful #NaNoWriMo2019 I found myself not wanting to write anything at all. For a little over a month, I was mentally checked out. Even trying to write morning pages had even become a challenge. My goals for 2020 were looming overhead like a dark cloud ready to burst open at any moment. I wouldn’t call my condition writer’s block, it was more like “writer’s pain.”

Writer’s Pain.

The act of writing had become painfully tedious to the point that I was beginning to hate it. After a month of struggling to put pen to paper, I really began to delve into what was causing me so much pain. After a few days, I found that my trigger was the editing process. It had never occurred to me that editing would be such a pain to do. I am almost positive I thought it would be fun. Something new to learn, a new skill to add to my resume. Boy was I wrong.

Dabble Cured My “Writer’s Pain”

While shuffling through all of the, “How To Edit a Novel” videos on YouTube, I stumbled upon an Authortuber who loved the Dabble For Writer’s program. She explained how Dabble had changed her views on the whole editing process. She went from wanting to throw all of her manuscripts into the garbage for good, too loving them again.

I had to know what this Dabble was all about. Suddenly I recalled that I had received a promotional offer for Dabble after finishing NaNoWriMo. I quickly headed over to the NaNo site, found the promo code, and signed up for the fourteen-day trial of Dabble at https://app.dabblewriter.com/ Within minutes I had moved over a few scenes from Project Alexia. The format is easy to use. Nothing really to learn. You can copy scenes over and move them around wherever they seem to fit. You can send scenes to the “trash” if you so choose. It was a perfect fit for me and my writing style.

I’m Writing Again!

If you would have asked me 15 days ago how my writing was coming along I would have said, “Terrible!” Not today. On this 30th day of January 2020, I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I am finally getting a blog post up. (One of my goals for 2020 was to write up two blog posts per month.) I am so close to finishing the first draft of Project Alexia and it feels amazing.

What’s Next?

A new challenge of course! Starting February 1st I will be participating in the 29 Plays Later challenge; which is hosted by The Literal Challenge. I haven’t written a play since high school (maybe college) and so this will probably be a “literal” challenge for me to complete. The object is to write a different play every single day of February. At the end of the challenge, each participant will have 29 new plays (that is if you are successful.)

It’s too late to sign up now, but you can check out their cool website here: https://www.theliteralchallenge.com/ to find out more about their organization and upcoming challenges.

PS:

I just truly love the Dabble and the LitChallenge community and I just wanted to share my love for both with those of you struggling, just like I was. Maybe it will help you love the whole writing process from beginning to end. If that doesn’t cure the disease, then just hire an editor!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope any of the above help you along on your writing journey. Leave any comments or suggestions below and I will try to respond to them in a timely manner.