It's so bad that I give writing advice and yet have never been published. Heh.
But, for what it's worth, here are a few more tips I've found helpful.
Keep a style sheet. My editor friend turned me on to this. Just keep a running list of mistakes you find yourself making over and over again. Post it somewhere where you can see it. It helps you become more aware of them.
If you are stuck, here is a list of possible things to unblock you, from least severe to total writer's block.
1. Stop writing and check facebook. Just don't get stuck there for hours- I know that's easier said than done.
2. Stop writing and move around. I wash the dishes, or switch the laundry.
3. Change the music. Sometimes music in a different mood calls up a new inspiration.
4. Stop and reread what you've written so far. If that doesn't work, go back further. Start at the very beginning. Bring to mind your vision for the story, the thing you want to convey above all, the thing you love the most about it.
5. Open up a brand new sheet and start hammering out the plot, or arrange what you already have by plot points.
6. Blog about it or bounce ideas off someone.
7. If you are really well and truly stuck, like I was when I was wrestling with the stupid road, stop writing altogether for a day or so. Just push it right out of your mind. Have faith in your subconscious. It will be hard at work, bubbling away back there.
Sooner or later, it will spit an idea out at you. But you have to leave it alone for a while for it to do it's thing. So watch a movie or read a book or do your homework or whatever. Just stop thinking about it for a little while.
8. If you've done this for a couple of days, and still nothing, open a new sheet and just do stream of consciousness writing. Just write whatever the hell the comes into your head. Or start a brand new story. The point is to keep writing. Never stop writing out of sheer discouragement.
I've gotten my rewrite up to the library. It's such a massive jigsaw puzzle. I'm constantly moving around bits of the original dialogue and description into new settings. I like the results, though. I think it's much better this way.
Before, the story was a narrow, sometimes illogical or unnatural channel as I drove it mercilessly from start to finish. Now I can take that original channel and reroute and widen it.
It's that time of the month, and boy, are the hormones savage. Women's bodies are at the mercy of such a messy chemistry.
Today I feel like crying for no reason. Yesterday, when Keith spent a hundred and fifty dollars more than anticipated, it was a very close thing before I could restrain myself from throwing something at him.
He looked over at my face and recoiled. He gave a little nervous laugh. "I shouldn't be afraid of you!" he insisted.
Poor guy. He should not be. Though, I wonder if all men are just a little bit scared of their wives during this time of the month... Anyhow, I threw over the anger instead and crawled up on the couch with him.
I still think spending that much money was completely unnecessary, but that's one of those topics of conversations that will, for the sake of marriage, remain closed indefinitely.
Last night, I had a whole series of dreams, but I only remember parts of the last of them.
In that dream, I was conceiving children, but they had mortal abnormalities that caused them to die before they were born. It was something to do with their hearts; their hearts weren't strong enough to keep them alive.
Then I conceived three children, and the doctor told me that two would actually live, but the third would not. She was excited for me, because of the two that would live.
I could see them, and as I watched, the third one increasingly struggled to breathe until finally, he had no more strength and died. It happened so slowly. There was nothing I could do.
I still felt incredible joy at the fact that the other two were living. I kept touching them to make sure they were alive.
I'll bet that dream is why I felt like crying this morning.
