I've broken my writer's block!

I have decided in 2025 that I am going to start journalling. It makes sense as a writer to write about my own life and use it for inspiration so that's what I am going to do. There's no time like the present.

A few months ago, I was struggling to get any writing done. I loved the idea I was working on and wanted to do it justice, bringing the characters and world to life. However, pulling words was like pulling teeth and I was almost at a point of giving up honestly.

Maybe this isn't the career for me, I thought.

I have a notorious history of career swapping. After switching degrees three times and holding an array of jobs that I was not passionate about, I realised I had been avoiding what I really wanted to do, which is write.

Since I was a kid, I had been good at creating stories even when I didn't write them down, but I never thought that I could be good enough to make it a career let alone a sucessful one.

In 2024, I had decided to fully dedicate myself to writing my debut. After becoming a full time editor and seeing more authors make the jump, I was even more determined to join them.

But at this point in time, I was even doubting that.

Two months ago, I uprooted my whole life and went travelling. I started in Osaka, Japan visiting the surrounding areas and now I am in Sapporo, Hokkaido. I think the combination of a different environment and routine has been helping my mind find inspiration.

In the last few weeks, I fleshed out my antagonist, plannned a novella as a prequel story for two important characters in my novel and sussed out the general plot of the series. I have researched into gothic writing styles and created a reading list of books that have aspects I want to include in my manuscript

For the scenes of tense spookiness, I have enlisted Lockwood and co by Jonathan Stroud, which is about a group of teens that start a ghost hunting agency in a world plagued by ghosts.

One dark window is a favourite that I plan to reread for the slow spiral into insanity and the banter between the Elspeth and the nightmare.

Deadly education is on my reading list as a dark academia fantasy. I'll be reading a lot of these especially after I finish my draft and need to start editing. If you have any recommendations, drop them in the comments.

I recommend taking a break after finishing your first draft to all my editing clients so they can read books in the genre they are writing in or have aspects they want to add to your own work. This will help reinspire your imagination before rereading your project.

Doing these things has helped me get my writing mind on and I'm burning to write all the time but I don't have time to sit all day. I have manuscripts and chores and basic needs that need to be met. It's incredibly frustrating. A writer's curse, I guess. It's consuming me like a fire.

My debut fantasy novel has evolved into a spooky, dark academia fantasy with creatures prowling the night and secrets begging to be unveiled. It's coming in October 2025. I hope you'll get to read it.

I'm heading to Vietnam next for 3 months in the new year. It's going to be a stark contrast on weather after being in snowy Sapporo for 3 weeks. It's beautiful and I plan on coming back next year to do some snowboarding in the mountains (only managed sledding this time). The weather has helped me write a lot of imagery for my world that is inflicted with snow half the year and is pretty gloomy for the other half.

regards

the author