{"id":2154,"date":"2021-04-07T19:42:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=2154"},"modified":"2021-04-07T19:42:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:42:40","slug":"changing-the-blade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=2154","title":{"rendered":"Changing the Blade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I had to change my lawnmower blade recently after an unfortunate run-in with the curb. If you&#8217;ve never broken a lawnmower blade, I do not recommend it. The unbalanced blade creates havoc, and the best thing you can do is just shut the whole thing down and let the engine cool off before you attempt a repair.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">If I had to choose an image of my brain when I am between writing projects, this would be it. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">My ADHD brain is a wild, out-of-control machine tearing up the ground without really doing anything. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Like most writers, I feel out of sorts when I&#8217;m not writing. My mind is full of what-ifs and storylines most days, but it&#8217;s overwhelming when I don&#8217;t have a project in progress. The amazingly wonderful editor Alissa McGowan offered some of her precious time to talk about writing. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">We talked for well over an hour about all the different projects I had banging around in my brain. Near the end of our time, after Alissa had patiently listened to me rattle on about no less than five fiction and a non-fiction project I have been thinking about, she said the magic words. &#8220;Do the thing you are most passionate about right now.&#8221; <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">That was like a new blade for my mower. The plot idea that had been a fuzzy image came into sharp focus. After much preparation, including character sketches, scene card sorting and playlist creation, I started the fourth book in the University Square series.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you, Alissa, for being generous with your time and for your encouragement. And if anyone else is struggling with choosing their next project. \u00a0Follow \u00a0Alissa&#8217;s advice: \u00a0Do the thing you are most passionate about.<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2155\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-300x206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736-438x300.jpg 438w, https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4736.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had to change my lawnmower blade recently after an unfortunate run-in with the curb. If you&#8217;ve never broken a lawnmower blade, I do not recommend it. The unbalanced blade creates havoc, and the best thing you can do is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=2154\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,318,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addadhd","category-writing-advice","category-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2156,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions\/2156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}