Sometimes it can be both. I’ve been neglecting writing to concentrate on my plan. I’ve noticed that I tend to come to grief in the middle of my book when I feel overwhelmed with all the threads flying off in every direction. It’s that situation that’s taken me back to review planning, so I have a firm steer to take me through to the end. But I also think trying to resolve anything when you’re mentally exhausted doesn’t give the results you’re after. Interestingly the time that works for me one day doesn’t necessarily work on another. And one of the very best times I’ve found is during an attack of insomnia, if I can make myself get up, my brain sloughs off that tiredness pretty quickly and writing at 3 or 4 in the morning is wonderful and productive

@Dani Rosenblad James like a pitch line? I have those. I have the vision - the best way I can describe it is like if you are driving to somewhere you know really well. You can see the destination in your mind. But you can’t quite work out how to get there? It’s like that

I have regular calls on Tuesday’s between 7 - 8:30 GMT (an hour behind CET) so the Friday would work better for me too. However I’m also open to any other dates

Ooh I love these sort of questions! First I want to say how much I empathise with Shawn on this and appreciate the frustration of feeling you can’t write what you want because of how it may be perceived. My credentials to answer this question: I was brought up in a Calvinist Christian home. As such, it was drilled into me what would, or would not, please Jesus - and also what would or would not please my family. Internally my rebel side wilted at this perception that who I was was not good enough. Best behaviour was important. And I constantly felt I fell far short of what I was required to be. I would write things, then think I should not be writing these things. I would try to write things that would please the people who were telling me what was right and what was wrong. When I hit my forties, I realised I had lost the person I was. We are not created as bad people. Good people do bad things. Bad people do good things. Everyone has a different interpretation of what is right and what is wrong. Even Jesus’ words - were written down and recorded by infallible men. It has taken me until my sixties to become authentic. I was created an authentic being and that got hidden and smothered under years of what I can only describe as indoctrination. Now I feel angry and cheated that I allowed that to happen for so long. I have, recently, and quite deliberately written explicit sex scenes into my work in progress. I don’t want to write them gratuitously, but I think writing loses its power if you leave out meaningful aspects of life - of which sex is a part. I might discard some scenes on editing but it will only be because it serves the story and for no other reason. I’m not sure Jesus ever said sex was wrong although there was plenty about not with the wrong or the right person. But it’s the thing we can all stumble over, right? If you’re a crime author, you’ll routinely write about murder and possibly theft; jealousy and hatred. Without those things there’s no conflict. So why are we so hesitant when it comes to sex?

@Shawn Helgerson You’ve summed it up well. And the book you’d be proud to put your name to is because of its literary content, not whether or not it deals with a subject that a certain sector of the population deems taboo. I’d like to think I would only use a pen name if I was a best selling author in a particular genre, but wanted to try out another genre. I know that can sometimes cause issues in publishing and it makes sense to separate your known name in order not to disappoint a public who buy your book because they like the genre you usually write in. I applaud you on your journey. It’s not an easy road, to balance caring and respect for others alongside recognising and valuing your identity and worth. And yet, as you’ve pointed out, until you’ve done the latter it’s just about impossible to do the former.

I read a lot, and that doesn’t change just because I’m writing. It’s interesting to see how authors deal with challenges, and sometimes it helps if I’m on something tricky to sit back, let my mind process in its own time and read something different while my imagination does its own thing in the background. It leaves me feeling refreshed and after a break I’m able to come back more creative than if I sat and agonised about it. So I’m definitely a fan of reading in that space

@Cherryl Chow is it the copying across that’s causing you the issue, or is it working within Scrivener itself?

@Cherryl Chow I’m nowhere near my laptop atm, but when I login later I’ll do a screenshot to show what my workspace looks like -see if that helps at all?