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 dogs not to bark. With a squeaky toy. 🤦🏻‍♀️

You see, a while back they’d gotten the older pup 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 might get from Point A to Point B in that scene you’ve been stuck on for weeks.

And yes, I am 100% speaking from experience on this one.

2) Paste your current WIP into Google Docs and read it like a novel—on your phone!

Copy and paste your story’s text into Google Docs and read it via the app on your phone or tablet 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.

It might feel like you’re just vegging. But watching a story in the same genre as what you're working on gives you another perspective on how to approach creative problems.

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

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

🐱

PS 👉 In case you missed the email,Reader, March’s Casefiles & Mysteries Prompts are available and you can find them and past prompts in the Writing Prompt Archive.

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Hi! I'm Lisa Weiss I'm a writer offering storytelling prompts, book and podcast recs, thought leadership insights and ideas to help you become more connected, engaged, and visible. 3X Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, and founder of Storybeat Studio. Subscribe​

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