Well hello there, Reader!

Do you ever get to the end of the week and you’re just tired?

So tired that all your bright and shiny plans for Sunday just go right out the window?

So tired that you can’t even bring yourself to change out of your PJs despite the fact it’s long past noon?

I was that kind of tired this past Sunday, Reader.

It probably didn’t help that I was woken up way too early by our neighbor’s “valiant” attempt to train their dog not to bark.

You see, they’d gotten him one of those subsonic anti-bark collars. Unfortunately, it’s a frequency (along with those pigeon deterrents) that I can hear like someone driving nails into my skull even through double-paned windows.

So by the time I got up, I was tired and had a massive migraine.

Suuuper fun, right?

Now what’s to be done when you’re beyond tired? The sort of tired where you can’t even summon the will to write?

When you’ve just dragged yourself home from a 10-hour shift, had to feed your whole menagerie of kids/cats/capybaras, and tackled Mount Laundry?

You know, that sort of tired.

Well, you could try one of these 3 things:

1) Work through possible solutions to roadblocks in your story. But in your head.

Find somewhere cozy to sprawl like a mostly useless sack of potatoes and let your brain puzzle out how your characters get from Point A to Point B in that scene you’ve been stuck on for weeks.

2) Paste your current WIP into Google Docs and read it like a novel.

Yep, just read it. DO NOT STOP TO EDIT IT. If you absolutely must, you can make notes of things to add to your story in a separate notebook.

3) You can…

Watch a show 📺

Watch a movie 🎬

Watch a docu-series 📹

…related to what you’re currently working on.

Those are my 3 “I’m too tired” solutions to feeling creatively accomplished when the universe has decided to ride you right into the ground.

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I hope you’ll consider using one of these 3 ideas the next time you feel too tired, Reader.

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

🐱

PS 👉 Does the idea of trying to summarize your 100K fantasy tome make you cringe, Reader? Maybe fill you will dread? Or even make you consider writing a whole new book to avoid writing marketing copy for the one you just finished?

You’re in luck! I’m putting together an easy-to-follow mini-course to take the pain out of writing those book descriptions for your sales page and website.

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What I’m Reading

Heaven Official’s Blessing

I was gifted this light novel for Christmas and now that I’ve read about a hundred pages of it, I think I’m gonna rewatch the anime because things make way more sense. Also, the publisher was kind enough to include both a glossary and pronunciation guide in the back.

What I’m Watching

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Ancient Magus Bride

I can’t recommend both of these enough, seriously. The first explores the nature of politics and how it affects the lives of both the nation and the individual in a SciFi setting.

And the second is about the lives of 2 mages and the fellow mages, alchemists, and fae they interact with. The whole series is deeply steeped in traditional fae lore and the animation is gorgeous.

What I’m Listing To

Create Today with Beth Buffington

My friend Beth’s podcast for anyone who wants to be a working creative. She teaches digital illustration at a university in Illinois and has a course on Procreate.

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The Saga Quest

1179 West A Street, Suite 137, Hayward, CA 94541