Autonomous

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by, especially as we’re starting our November series today.

This month, being NaNoWriMo, I thought you might enjoy if I spent some time talking about the ways I get myself into the zone for my writing. As you all know, I write a lot. And I do mean a lot. My novels tend to be right around 200,000 words, and I can knock a novel out in around six months. That’s a lot of writing. Especially while I’m editing two or three other books at the same time. I’m a busy girl.

But, because NaNoWriMo is all about making sure we find time to write and stick to it, I thought it’d be a good time to share some of the ways I do that (in no particular order).

#1: ASMR Videos

I think I’ve talked to you guys about ASMR before, but I’m also pretty sure that it’s been a while. I don’t talk about it a whole lot, because there’s this weird stigma against it, and a lot of people who think ASMR is extremely sexual.

Let me tell you right now: it’s not as weird as you think it is, and it doesn’t have to be sexual at all. I greatly prefer if it isn’t sexual. I don’t like sexual. It makes me blush, and then I can’t write.

Anyway.

It stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (which pretty much tells you absolutely nothing about it), and it’s linked to that tingly feeling you get in the back of your head in certain comforting circumstances. Which is why it can be really nice when you sit down to write.

It can also be highly distracting, especially for people like me, so you have to find the right balance.

Anyway, it’s that feeling of comfort and relaxation that a lot of people got when they watched Bob Ross, back in the day. And he’s actually still pretty nice to listen to while you’re doing stuff.

It’s all about finding a background noise that helps you focus, that keeps you in the zone. And there are a lot of great ASMR videos on YouTube that really help me when I sit down to write (or even edit). Usually, they’re soft spoken videos, sometimes tutorials, but they’re always very chill, very soothing, and very helpful for getting me in the zone for anything that isn’t a super dramatic scene. Yeah, don’t listen to ASMR while trying to be dramatic. It doesn’t really work. At all.

I do highly recommend it, whether you use it to get in the zone for your writing, or to get out of the zone once you’re done and have to be a normal human being again. It’s great for both!

And if you’re interested and want to check it out, here’re a few artists I think you should look up:

GentleWhispering ASMR
GibiASMR

LauraLemureX ASMR

Articulate Design ASMR

And, the very best out there if you’re wanting some highly immersive fantasy-genre roleplays:

Goodnight Moon

Happy listening, and happy writing, my friends!

[love]

{Rani Divine}