I find the best weapon against writer stagnation is to improve your skill. And let's face it, there's always room to improve. Even Stephen King said he still goes to writer workshops and reads guides by his idols, and to me he's the proverbial god of the written word.

My point is, the more confident you are in your skills, the less fear you have, right? So here are some links and important people around Wattpad that can help you do that.

The number one stop you should make is Rebel_Town. And no, I'm not just shamelessly self-promoting here, even though full disclosure, I am one of the Queens on that profile. But if you're looking to further your skills, get some experienced eyes on your work and some helpful feedback, this is the place to go.

The Rebel Elite Book club is a give-and-take critique group, which means you critique others and receive critiques on your book. This will brush up your chops while learning by doing, and helping others with their stuff is always a nice confidence boost. Now, obviously, there are a bunch of book clubs across Wattpad, but you'll have to ask around (and feel free to link to them or tag them inline here) because I don't have any experience with them so I can't vouch. So if you've been involved with other book clubs on Wattpad that are dedicated to excellent critique and helpful feedback, feel free to tag them inline to help each other out!

Now, I couldn't get through an article about brushing up those writing chops without mentioning Dark_Writes' Fix That series. Fix That Bitch is all about grammar, and learning how to use it within the English language to write your prose properly. His latest, Draft That Bitch, is more into line editing and deeper into different aspects of writing that don't pertain to grammar. I highly recommend both. Not only are they informative but they are also hifuckinglarious.

In the Wattpad community forums (WattpadWriters.com, or click that Community tab at the top of your screen on web), there are two channels there, Improve Your Writing and Story Services.

Improve Your Writing has a bunch of threads where people post writing help questions and guides.

The Story Services group has a bunch of different channels, ranging from critique services to beta readers to simple writing buddies. So if you are having a hard time finding those things around, this is definitely the place to look!

There are also lots of places outside of Wattpad to learn about writing, be it grammar and language, or how to write fiction well. I find books on the subject to be incredibly inspiring (If you have not read Stephen King's On Writing—where the hell have you been?!—go buy it and read it right fucking now. And if you have other books on the craft of writing that you like, on Wattpad or off, be sure to post it inline to help out your fellow readers!

A great resource that I've used a lot is CritiqueCircle.com, which is essentially a giant critique group that works with points to make sure that everyone puts in as much as they receive. It was my very first foray into getting really intense feedback on my original fiction, like they just tore my chapter to shreds, and it made me so so happy. Having a person that didn't know me and had no bias towards me at all tell me in detail exactly what my story needed to thrive was invaluable and I've carried that into my work and personal writing, and eventually into my freelance editing as well.

So, TL;DR: The lesson of the day for being inspired is to LEARN. Learn learn learn. Because if you're going to procrastinate on your writing and not be writing fucking words NOW then you'd better be using your time productively. And if it's confidence you lack, then let me tell you growing your skills and learning about the craft will definitely help boost that.

Activity

In the Introduction, I said drop and write me fifty. I don't know if any of you actually did that. So this time I want proof.

I want a six word story. You can put it in the comments. You can post it at me on Twitter (@EsHurricane). You can make it into a pretty graphic and post it on Instagram (tag me @ESHurricane). But I want to see it.

It can be a totally original story. It can be about characters you're alright writing about. It can be fanfiction. It can be about what an asshole I am, demanding words from you. I don't care as long as you write a six word story.

Come on. It's six measly fucking words. You can do this. I believe in you.

Not sure how to write a six word story? Head on over to MicroBytes, open up MicroBytes Magic and read the chapter on Six Word Stories. You might even get some inspiration!