Crash Course For Aspiring Writers

Setting Limits

Hi! This chapter is, quite possibly, the most important one.

Setting boundaries is important in every day life: with your family, your friends and partners (if you get one). It allows you to live in comfort with people. Some people are afraid of setting boundaries, fearing rejection, the person's reaction, and retaliation. But no one is allowed to cross your boundaries: No one is allowed to cross that line. No one is allowed to do that to you (unless it's genuinely ridiculous stuff like drawing references to Dream (yes, I saw someone say that drawing a Dream mask in a drawing was crossing their boundaries, I'm still confused)).

But boundaries aren't only with people: you set limits to your surroundings, too: you take that 20 minute break between working, you measure a certain amount of work you will do at once.

You need to learn to set limits to how much you write, too. A way to start is by thinking about how much time you spend on writing each day: personally, I spend several hours on it (with interruptions in it, but basically several hours). I practically never write at night, as my brain is kinda like "haha words are hard" at night, and it doesn't match up with my own personal standards when I write.

Try to avoid writing at night, unless you truly write well at night, but even then I don't suggest it. Sleep is important, and scientists find that teenagers need exactly 9 and a half hours of sleep to function correctly, so here are a few calculations I made to give you estimates on how much is too much.

Going to sleep at 20-21, and waking up at 6-7 AM: At most 11 hours of sleep, you're good, and at least 9 hours, so you're still good!

Going to sleep at 22-23, and waking up at 6-7 AM: At most 9 hours of sleep, that's still good, and at least 7 hours of sleep, you're still good!

Going to sleep at Midnight-1 AM, and waking up at 6-7 AM: At most 7 hours, you're good, and at least 5 hours, still won't have that much negative impact.

Going to sleep at 2-3 AM, and waking up at 6-7 AM: At most 5 hours, not too many negative symptoms, and at least 3 hours, try to sleep earlier.

Going to sleep at 4-5 AM, and waking up at 6-7 AM: At most 3 hours, try to sleep earlier, and at least 1 hour, please sleep.

These only have impact on you if you do it consistently for more than a week. You'll start feeling tired towards the 3 hour mark. I have a few things I do when I can't sleep, and here they are!

- Listen to ASMR. Don't go for the fast and agressive kind, or ones that are really dependant on vision (Maybelle's Menagerie ASMR is one I found that is an example. It's amazing, but uses a lot of visual props and I find I get curious of what they're showing and open my eyes.). I personally like roleplay ASMRs that aren't loud (cos ya girl ain't got no earbuds and my family would absolutely murder me if they heard) but are still nice. I suggest looking up 'sleepy roleplay asmr' on YouTube if you're into 

- When ASMR genuinely doesn't work, I just switch off my phone and spread my two pillows into a sort of nest. I also like hugging a pillow (haha totally not me being touch starved) cos it sort of feels like I'm hugging someone.

- I try to think about only how comfy I am. It defends me from being like 'I should've said this to that person' a bit, but occasionally it happens, in which case I divert my mind to deep philosophical questions about stuff that shouldn't be talked about so deeply, such as, recently, the ✨Snail✨, and have come up with an answer I find incredibly satisfying.

If you don't know of the ✨Snail✨, it's a question that popped up a few months back on Reddit. A user posted 'You are given immortality and 10 millions dollars. A super intelligent snail is also given immortality. It is always crawling towards you, and if you touch it, you die, and so does the snail. What do you do?'. It quickly went viral, and a debate started all over Tik Tok.

My personal answer to that question is I set up camp in my house, and wait for the snail to pull up. It's ultra intelligent, right? So I find a way to communicate, and we make a truce based on this: we're both immortal, and would both die if I touch it, so if it truly was ultra intelligent it wouldn't want to die. So, we make a restaurant together called 'Milo & Snail's Cuisine' and become world famous. We live out our days together, build a small cottage, and make never before seen advances in the world of cooking.

So, just to get back on subject, here's a summary of what has been said:

- Sleep with ASMR if it helps, or hug a pillow because you're touch-deprived and scared you'll never love anyone (*sounds of me crying in the back*)

- WRITE AT DAY OR I'LL CRAWL THROUGH YOUR WINDOW WHILST YOU'RE WRITING AND SMASH YOUR FACE IN and then look at your writing and go 'oooh this shit's good hold on lemme read this'.

Have a good day/night, sleep well, hydrate yourselves, eat the correct amounts, and stay healthy! You're doing great, I'm so proud of you <3