Is your writing in a slump? Have you lost your muse? Having trouble just opening your WIP to begin your work?

Well I found a solution that has been working for me! It’s called word wars.

First let me tell you that this week has been really hard on me. Having salmonella hasn’t been an easy ride and with me having a chronic disease, I’m just not healing as I should be. Despite all that I’ve managed to add 3,000 words to my WIP during the course of this week. To me this is amazing!

Now let me explain to you what word wars are. If you are able to attend a chatroom that is hosting one, then expect to have your sound on. You’ll leave the chat window open and have your latest WIP open and be prepared to work on it. A person will make a sound, most commonly a *whip* sound, since most sigma chatrooms have it, and you’ll begin to write. Depending on the group, this could be from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. I’ve found that most often it’s 15 minutes writing time. Then the person timing the group will crack the *whip* again to signal that everyone should return to the chatroom. After you say that you’ve stopped you’ll be asked to count your words. This is really simply, just highlight your words you’ve typed since you began the latest challenge and hit word count on most word programs. Then tell the room.

That’s the basics of it, doesn’t it sound wonderful? No one is really a loser, since how can you lose if you’re adding to your goal. Right? Plus being around others who are writing will help with any muse that might be MIA.

Once the time has ended for that round, you can chit-chat for however long, depending on the room. You just go with the flow of things. During one sitting you can join as many challenges as you like. Just don’t think this is a normal chat time and expect it to be all gossip and no work. Trust me on this, you will be expected to work! However, there will be time for gossiping during the 5-10 minutes between writing challenges.

Now that I’ve explained it to you, let me just say my true motive for bringing it up. I issue you a challenge! I know many of you are online Monday night, as you join the Avon chat for a little while, so join me afterward. If you are interested, I’ll share the link to RI’s chatroom and we can have a few challenges. So if you accept, come ready to write. It will begin at 9(est).

Also, I’d like to welcome the very delightful Mary Carter to Romantic Inks! This is her first time here, so don’t give her too much trouble. Well, unless she asks for it hehe.