I *think* I may have already talked about this on my blog, but honestly, this past month has been such a blur, I don’t remember.

I’m pretty sure I screamed about it onTwitter, so maybe that’s what I’m remembering. But either way

I HAD A FUCKING BREAKTHROUGH.

Oh my god. It feels so good to say that.

Though, with that being said, I still really didn’t work on my WIP this past month. I know I’ve said this, but between work and Codigo, I have very little time or energy to write. I currently exist in a state of constant exhaustion – it’s great. And with NaNoWriMo starting Sunday…my SF WIP is going to have to wait a little longer.

So, I had a breakthrough.

Part of the reason I haven’t been working on my SF WIP this year is because I’ve been incredibly stuck. I knew that there was a problem, that I regretted cutting a favorite scene and that my MC was acting out of character. I just didn’t know how to fix it – without rewriting the whole first revised and edited half of the WIP.

Well, apparently a repetitive task, plus a playlist of all Taylor Swift songs was the magic key.

It felt magical.

The fix suddenly just appeared, smacking upside the head and had me scrambling to find paper and a pencil. It didn’t even occur to me to use my phone, but I needed to write it out.

I don’t even remember what TSwift song I was listening to…which is a shame, but I had one thought while trying to find something to write down the idea with. I kept repeating the fix in my mind, so I didn’t lose it.

It allows me to keep the action scene, which is very much on point where my MC is emotionally, and the emotionally vulnerable scene is staying in, it’s just going to move to a more impactful place.

I can’t even explain the relief I feel now that I have this figured out. I’m actually excited to work on my WIP again. All this year, when I was feeling excited and inspired, I’d end up opening my doc, and just stare at it, unable to work out the problem. And I tried. Boy did I try. I rewrote, reorganized, changed up dialogue and a million other things, but something still wasn’t right.

I’m sure if you’ve had this problem, then you know full well how freeing it is to finally figure out a pesky plot issue.

So, even though I didn’t physically work on my WIP – i.e. get words on the page – I figured out what was stalling me. If I’d known that all I needed to do was find a repetitive task, turn my brain off and listen to TSwift to figure out what the problem was, then I would have done it months ago.

This isn’t going to be an incredibly long update, and I’m going to end it here. NaNoWriMo starts on Sunday, and I don’t plan on doing a SF WIP Writing Update post next month, since I’ll be doing Weekly Updates for NaNo. Unless there’s some strange twist of fate and I either get more energy or like, 10 more hours are added to each day, I doubt I’ll be working on my SF WIP alongside my NaNo WIP.

What’s the most seemingly random thing you’ve done that led to a breakthrough when it comes to your writing? Let me know in the comments!