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| I've got beautiful angel wings for writing 365 days in a row! |
This time last year, still reeling from the toilet paper shortage brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, I found myself struggling with writer's block. Amidst the uncertainty of the virus, I placed myself in self-imposed quarantine with my four children. Not knowing what to expect, I wanted my family safe above all else.
Surviving in such perilous times, I suddenly found myself struggling to write. I suffer from anxiety and depression. Like others, I found myself spiraling downward.
To make matters worse, I lost my desire to write.
How could I write happily-ever-after romance with so much sadness and fear permeating the world?
It was a terrible feeling. I knew I had to fight it. This was my career, after all. While other people were trying to find a way to work from home, I was already doing it.
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| Tricia's Writing Cabin Retreat |
Just by luck, I stumbled upon a writer's group on Facebook that has quite literally changed my life forever. A group of writers came together to organize multi-author projects forming a place where writers could find calls for submissions and other open writing projects.
Interacting with such like-minded individuals, I realized I wasn't alone in this feeling of not being able to write. These writers were feeling it, too. They were working to push out of this writing funk, to get back to work to create stories for their readers. Readers were relying on authors to keep creating content for the time so many people were looking for a way to escape the world.
This group inspired me, sparking my desire to write again.
One of those authors mentioned 4thewords.
I'd heard of it before, picking it up somewhere from some other writer. I hadn't really explored it. I'm not much of a gamer girl to the chagrin of my children. But, this author told me 4thewords was what kept her writing. And it was fun!
I just had to check it out!
I am so glad that I did!
What is 4thewords?
Basically, it's an online writing game. You battle cute little monsters with word counts. There are all kinds of word counts from large to small. There are also timed battles. After defeating the monsters, you earn rewards. You get items to dress your avatar and now they have a house for you to decorate, too.
It is rather addicting. The site is designed to create a consistent writing habit for writers. You have to log in to write at least 444 words every day. The more you write, the more rewards you earn.
There is a main storyline, a quest, for you to follow. Your job is to defeat the monsters along the way. There are also side quests for you to gain more items. There's a map of the world and you unlock the different areas. It's both complicated and simple. But fun!
I joined 4thewords last year in June right in the middle of the Pride Festival. I had no idea what I was doing, but I soon figured it out. There's also a forum which makes it easy to find the answers to any questions. The community of writers there seem friendly and willing to help.
Throughout the year, 4thewords has festivals and events that encourage more writing by offering new quests and creatures to defeat. The developers work hard to keep the game fun, entertaining and inspiring!
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| My daughter likes to dress my Dust Warrior! |
I've never tracked my writing like this before and I found it interesting to see the numbers add up. Yesterday marked my first year of writing with 4thewords. I've earned pretty new wings to prove it as you can see in the image at the top of this post!
If you're a writer and you haven't given it a try, I urge you to check out 4thewords. It is fun! And it keeps you writing! Even when you don't want to write, you know you'll lose that nice writing streak if you don't at least put in 444 words. And really, that's like 2 pages. Right? You can write 2 pages every day. Just about fifteen or twenty minutes work, right? Something like that. I know, we're all different.
Check out my profile here. There's a free trial to give you time to check out the game and see if it's a fit for you. If you want to join, you can use my referral code - JBDWX52209 - that gets you a few free crystals to help you get started. I get crystals from it, too. So, it helps us both! You can add me as a friend on there, too, if you want!
This online writing game has helped me. A lot. I highly recommend it.
I hope it helps you, too!
Happy Writing!
~Tricia
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