Senioritis and GOS
In 9 to 11 days, I will once again be on the laptop! :D And then all shall be right in my world again.
Anyway.
Today I was thinking about senioritis. And what I was going to blog about. So I've decided to blog about senioritis. I promise this will be writing related. Somehow.
For those of you that don't know what senioritis is. It's a disease. The symptoms are a complete loss of all desire to do work for school. Or go to school. These desires are usually replaced by an urge to stay at home and do absolutely nothing. There is no known cure.
Senioritis doesn't actually exist. Unless you have it, then you swear that it should be in medical journals everywhere.
I have chronic senioritis. I like to joke that I've had it since I was a freshman. Despite it's name, senioritis can affect students of any age, though typically targets those in high school under high stress that are almost done with their time, such as juniors and seniors.
How does this relate to writing?
Well as someone who has experiences (and is pretty much currently experiencing) senioritis, I can say that there is a similar disease that affects my writing. And I'm not talking about writers' block.
It's similar to what I like to call Writer's Depression which is when you get down on your book and start thinking that it sucks and no one's ever going to want to read it. I'm going to call this disease Get Out Syndrome, or GOS. It doesn't really make sense, but it's kind of a fun acronym.
Symptoms of GOS:
- a lack of desire to work on your book
- a desire to do anything BUT work on your book
- thoughts of just sending it out to agents now even though you know it's not ready
- rushing revisions or writing just so you can "get them over with."
Luckily unlike senioritis I have a couple of things that help with GOS. Basically there are three options.
1. Take a break. This can be a break of a few hours or several months or even years. It's up to you. Just take some time away from that book. Trunk it for a bit. Work on something else, watch a movie, take a walk, refresh your tired mind.
2. Relax. Breathe. Remind yourself that you have all the time in the world to finish writing/revising (unless you're on a deadline, then I don't suggest telling yourself that.) Maybe take a short break and try not to rush so much. If it's getting to the point where writing isn't fun anymore, then why are you doing it? Then give yourself rewards as you go along. A piece of chocolate after each new 1,000 words, a short walk outside after each new chapter, even something as simple as that can kick GOS to the curb.
3. Indulge those urges. I definitely don't suggest this one. It usually ends in disaster when you send your book out to an agent and then are crushed when the rejection comes even though you know deep down that you should've revised before you sent it. It's not usually agents that I rush to get to, it's the revision process that I rush through to send it to betas. It's not a good idea to indulge those urges to slack off and do nothing either. *should really take her own advice*
I had another solution when the idea came to me, but now I can't remember what it was. Remember, don't let GOS run your writing life like senioritis runs my school life. It's why I'm on here writing a blog post instead of studying for my huge AP Lit exam on Friday.
Anyway.
Today I was thinking about senioritis. And what I was going to blog about. So I've decided to blog about senioritis. I promise this will be writing related. Somehow.
For those of you that don't know what senioritis is. It's a disease. The symptoms are a complete loss of all desire to do work for school. Or go to school. These desires are usually replaced by an urge to stay at home and do absolutely nothing. There is no known cure.
Senioritis doesn't actually exist. Unless you have it, then you swear that it should be in medical journals everywhere.
I have chronic senioritis. I like to joke that I've had it since I was a freshman. Despite it's name, senioritis can affect students of any age, though typically targets those in high school under high stress that are almost done with their time, such as juniors and seniors.
How does this relate to writing?
Well as someone who has experiences (and is pretty much currently experiencing) senioritis, I can say that there is a similar disease that affects my writing. And I'm not talking about writers' block.
It's similar to what I like to call Writer's Depression which is when you get down on your book and start thinking that it sucks and no one's ever going to want to read it. I'm going to call this disease Get Out Syndrome, or GOS. It doesn't really make sense, but it's kind of a fun acronym.
Symptoms of GOS:
- a lack of desire to work on your book
- a desire to do anything BUT work on your book
- thoughts of just sending it out to agents now even though you know it's not ready
- rushing revisions or writing just so you can "get them over with."
Luckily unlike senioritis I have a couple of things that help with GOS. Basically there are three options.
1. Take a break. This can be a break of a few hours or several months or even years. It's up to you. Just take some time away from that book. Trunk it for a bit. Work on something else, watch a movie, take a walk, refresh your tired mind.
2. Relax. Breathe. Remind yourself that you have all the time in the world to finish writing/revising (unless you're on a deadline, then I don't suggest telling yourself that.) Maybe take a short break and try not to rush so much. If it's getting to the point where writing isn't fun anymore, then why are you doing it? Then give yourself rewards as you go along. A piece of chocolate after each new 1,000 words, a short walk outside after each new chapter, even something as simple as that can kick GOS to the curb.
3. Indulge those urges. I definitely don't suggest this one. It usually ends in disaster when you send your book out to an agent and then are crushed when the rejection comes even though you know deep down that you should've revised before you sent it. It's not usually agents that I rush to get to, it's the revision process that I rush through to send it to betas. It's not a good idea to indulge those urges to slack off and do nothing either. *should really take her own advice*
I had another solution when the idea came to me, but now I can't remember what it was. Remember, don't let GOS run your writing life like senioritis runs my school life. It's why I'm on here writing a blog post instead of studying for my huge AP Lit exam on Friday.
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