-If you need a laugh today :)

Okay, but like, if this is the ONLY thing you ever read from me like I don't even CARE if you don't read Déjà Vu, or any of my other works (actually I would but STILL), please let this be it. This is single-handedly the GREATEST piece of information I have learned in my time of being a writer.

Where You Write Matters.

And I've tested this!!! And researched! (If you don't want to learn the facts about this and just want to take my words at face value, scroll until you see a star.)

So, being the I'm-really-good-at-science-and-I'm-a-huge-nerd-human-bean I am, I gathered research, formed a hypothesis, and experimented. This is the only time you will need the scientific method in the real world. Trying to gain stranger's trust on the internet. (That is not true, you'll need it for other things. Pay attention in class, or have the internet to look up the scientific method.)

Normally, when I write, I'll cozy up in my hanging chair I bought for $62 off of Amazon. It's my creative space. I draw (badly), write, aaaand that's about it. At my desk, I do schoolwork. If I write at my desk, I'll develop ideas during Algebra, and then I fail. (Like what is a hypotenuse???) And if I'm in bed, planning chapters, and then I look at the clock, and I'm like "0-0 I should have been in bed hours ago I-" So I close my notebook and then try to go to sleep, my brain's still thinking of chapter titles and jokes and plots, so then I sit up again and try to write them down, and- You get the gist. It's a vicious cycle.

The science behind this is that your brain will associate what you're doing with the place you're doing it. Therefore, if you are creative at a place you need to be doing school at, you will automatically think of the piece you're writing, the thing you're drawing, etc., instead of thinking about the angle you're supposed to be calculating.

A better example of this is when you're in your bed. (Okay, science nerds, listen up because this is really cool)  You're scrolling through Tumblr, or Facebook, or Tiktok (I've covered all my bases, millennials, boomers, gen z... Yea, I've got them), Your brain is like "0-0!! We need to stay awake to read/watch this! Release the awakeness feels!" Instead of "0-0!! We're in bed!! Release the sleeps!!" And then your brain forms patterns.

So whenever you try to crawl in bed without going on your phone because you're exhausted, your brain thinks, "Oh! Phone time! AWAKEN." 

When in actuality, it's supposed to be "Oh! Bedtime! SLEEPS."

Or, whenever you go to your desk to try to do some math, but you've already formed the pattern that your desk is ~Creative Time~ all the memories or skills of math go out the window! And now we're thinking of the Glade's layout and the three main rules a Glader should follow or the backstory of Newt's limp-And oh no! Math? We don't shucking know her!!

...

what even am i writing anymore i-

...

Onward!!

Whatever you do, WHATEVER. YOU. DO. Do not do anything other than sleep in your bed. (unless you're like, bedridden. then do what the doctor-or your mother says)

IF YOU CAN HELP IT- Please move to a different spot to numb your mind with Tiktok, Tumblr, or Facebook. To the limited research I've done, your brain seems to make the easiest connections with stuff in your bed. I can't explain it, but with the desk and hanging chair stuff that I have tried to do myself, making sure that the things stay separate, it's taken 3 weeks to a month. With my bed, it's taken 2 weeks, tops. It made that connection really easily.

And to all my teenagers/pre-teens/adults-that-are-overworked that are complaining about sleep deprivation, LISTEN UP.

One step that you can take that doesn't include paying for medication or therapy is eliminating doing anything other than sleep in your bed. And if you're saying, "but it's so comfortable in my bed! Going somewhere else is so cold and unnecessary!" Check the time. If it is past your bedtime, GO TO SLEEP.

Think about gamers, for example. Do they game in their bed? Most times, no. They're at a desk where their setup is or in a special chair.

See that? SPECIAL. CHAIR.

Now, idk why they have special chairs. I don't really game other than Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing, but you gotta see what I'm hinting at.

(me tryna explain that the gamers have hacked something to my followers)

Okay. So maybe you're asking, "Dashing, I don't have a $62 hanging chair in my bedroom. I can't really separate my desk." And that's okay! We'll work with what we have! 

Your sense of smell is closely linked with your memory. It's quite possibly more so than any other sense.

So we'll manipulate it.

SCIENCE!!

*thinking of what we probably all have*

Chapstick!

Some backstory: One thing I came up with while writing Déjà Vu is that whenever I write it or get inspired to write it, I would always put on this peach chapstick that I had lying around. (which was terrible because I lost it all the time, but that's beside the point.) So whenever I wanted to get in the mood of writing it, I would always put on the chapstick and then wait for a bit. At MOST, I would wait 30 minutes. But that was very rare.

SO- Let's turn that into how we can separate what we have!

Step 1- Find two different chapsticks, preferably ones with a strong scent that you can easily distinguish. (tell apart)

Step 2- Whenever you're about to do homework, or are in the mood to do homework, put on one chapstick. Do this every time. And vice versa when you're about to write/be creative.

Step 3- After about 3-4 weeks, you should see results.

aaaaand, that's it! That's how we'll use science to make life easier on us poor struggling artists.

⭐️

So to summarize all of this, and give you some tips, I leave you with these.

•Try to keep your sleep, homework/work, and creative spaces separate. It will make your life infinitely better.

•If you can't, take two different chapsticks and put one on when you're doing homework, and the other, when you're about to write/draw/be creative. Keep repeating this until you die. (or you can find a new space to be creative)

•WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN SLEEP IN YOUR BED. IT WILL HELP WITH YOUR SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

Yea, *head scratch* That's about it. I mainly just explained my research with gifs/memes and a lot of bolded stuff.

Whenever you summarize it, it's really not all that much. You could literally look at the chapter title and get all you need. But it's fascinating to read tho!! I promise!! (can you see the desperate exclamation marks??) 

Well, I must go sleeps.

(me after trying to make sure that everything that I wrote was readable)