Word Games for Unwinding Writers

I love word games. They're usually strategy-oriented and make you think, but not in a way that's overly taxing. At the end of my work day, when I'm relaxing with Netflix, I like to pull up word games on my phone and unwind.

So on a slightly different but still related topic here on Writability, I thought I'd share my favorite free word games with everyone. Because there's no such thing as too many word games.

1. Words With Friends
   
   This is an obvious one that most of you probably have, or have had at some point or another. It's a phone classic based off Scrabble (AKA: the best word game of all time) and remains a favorite to get my gears turning.






2. Capitals
   
   This is a tough one I'm still working out the best strategy for, but it is addictive. The basic idea is to capture as many hexagon tiles as possible by building words with the letters in the tiles. By using a letter, you "capture" that tile and add it to your kingdom—and you win by capturing your opponent's capital and all of their tiles. It's a hard game but I really enjoy the strategic combination it requires to gain an upper hand.
   
   



3. Crossword Quiz
   
   I recently picked this one up and I love it for many reasons. Firstly, it's completely free and you can unlock all of the levels just by playing. And second, it takes the crossword classic and puts it in a cool interface, but adds in a combination of emoji and picture clues. I like it a lot—it's low-key, and has a new daily quiz every day so you'll probably never run out of levels to play.





4. Word Cookies
   
   This is my most recent addition to my word game collection, and it's a fun one too. Word cookies gives you a selection of letters and you have to come up with all the words the selection can make. The first several levels are so easy they're a bit bland, but it gets more challenging and it's another fun, relaxing game that you can play and go as you please. 

So those are my favorite free word games, but I'd love to add to my collection, so lets hear it. What are your favorite free mobile word games?

Twitter-sized bite:

Looking for some free fun word games to help you unwind during your free time? @Ava_Jae shares her favorites. (Click to tweet)

You're Doing Just Fine

Photo credit: that.alastair on Flickr

I've seen a lot of lamenting in my writerly social media circles about how difficult creative-types have been finding it to get back to their creative work since the election. From writers saying they haven't been able to write a word since, or talking about how difficult it's been to revise, or how slow the words have come, or even how much people's reading habits have taken a hit—it's been hard for a lot of us.

I've also seen some people come down pretty hard on themselves about it, so here's a post for you: you're doing just fine.

Look, everything is hellish right now. The last week and a half of our Bully in Chief has been worse than many of us imagined. Between protests, and phone calls, and keeping informed when every hour there's something new, our political climate is really emotionally draining right now. It's not remotely surprising so many of us have been struggling to make progress.

I've written a post already about self-care in these times, so I'm not going to reiterate that, but I will say this: things are hard, and if you're lagging behind your usual output, know you're not alone.

Some things that I've found helpful in terms of boosting my productivity as of late include:

• Not checking Twitter until after I've gotten out of bed and brushed my teeth, etc. 
• Closing Twitter and turning my phone face-down on my desk when I need to focus. 
• Setting concrete tasks I need to accomplish every day and checking them off when I do them. 
• Building in extra time into my expected completion dates/self-determined deadlines. 
• Putting on headphones and listening to lyric-less music (like soundtracks) when working.

But the main point I want to make is this: whether your progress has been stalled, a trickle, or a slog, you're not alone, and you're doing just fine. We're all trying to figure this out together one day at a time. 

Finally, for some encouragement, check out the #WriteYourResistance tag on Twitter. It's beautiful, inspiring, and encouraging—which I think we could all use. 

How have you been handling your creative output since November? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Struggling to get back to your creative work since the election? You're not alone. (Click to tweet)

Self-Care When Life is Exhausting

Photo credit: hsingy on Flickr

Life since November 9th has been pretty exhausting and disheartening, but I think it's all starting to catch up with me. Or just piling into something overwhelming. Or something.

Stuff with my chronic illness has kind of taken the spotlight for me this month. I've been flaring multiple times a week—probably at least partially due to stress—and I just started a new medication I'd been avoiding for years for various reasons (one of them being it's injected weekly), which in theory should help significantly, but it's been emotionally exhausting. Combine that with watching the GOP dismantle ACA and knowing there's a very real possibility I may not be able to get insurance at all once I turn 26 in just over a year, and thus may not be able to treat the disease upending my life—

It's just. It's a lot.

Monday supposedly will be the day the GOP reveals their replacement plan, so I should know—soon—how much this is going to affect my future. But between this and other exhausting things happening in my life, I've become intensely aware I need to take care of myself right now.

So. Here are some self-care tips for when life is exhausting. Tips that I will be trying to implement myself.

• Take as many breaks as you need. Breaks are important, and especially when you're dealing with A Lot and it starts to feel overwhelming, it's important to give yourself permission to take the breaks you need. After all, you're not going to do your best work if you burn yourself out.


• Step away from social media when needed. Social media can be great sometimes for various reasons, but sometimes it can be stressful. And some days, you just don't have the energy, or emotional space, etc. to handle whatever is being discussed. And that's okay. You don't have to be there for everything.


• Comfort food is delicious. I'm thinking I might make (low sugar, because sugar triggers my anxiety) brownies or something because it's been a rough week and dammit, I deserve brownies. But seriously, don't underestimate the power of comfort food, whether that's tea, soup, your favorite meal, or your some kind of dessert.


• Baths and showers are good for de-stressing. And relaxing. Basically, they're nice if you let them be.


• So are candles. I love candles, especially ones that smell like sweets. You are probably noticing a theme here. That's okay. Candles can be very relaxing.


• Also reading. Bonus—you can work toward your reading goal! Just don't stress out about that part, because that sort of defeats the purpose of reading to relax. 


• Talk to uplifting friends. I can't stress enough how much it helps to have supportive people to talk to. Whether those friends are online, local, or something else, make sure you take time to talk to uplifting people in your life when you need it. 


• You don't have to fight every day. This has been especially important for me to remember. Especially with everything going on politically, it feels like there's always a dozen things to fight everyday—and unfortunately right now that's not really far from the truth. But you don't have to tackle everything every day. You're allowed to take breaks as long as you need. You can't fight if you've run yourself into the ground, so whenever you need to take a day or week or whatever off—do it knowing it's okay.

So that's what I've got—now I want to hear from you. What self-care tips do you have? 

Twitter-sized bite:

In stressful times, self-care is essential. @Ava_Jae shares some self-care suggestions and things to remember. (Click to tweet)

On Taking Self-Care Days

Photo credit: kevin dooley on Flickr

I am a workaholic. This is a downside, I suppose, of (usually) enjoying the work you do—I work in a field I love (publishing), and get to spend many hours a day immersed in worlds I create, in worlds other people create, in blog posts and manuscripts and books, and it's a surprise to approximately no one who knows me that I get very immersed in my work.

(This is also a downside, I suppose, of working for myself. There's no one to tell me, "hey, you've done enough work today—go home and relax.")

So shortly after I graduated college, I realized if I wasn't careful, I was going to work myself into the ground. And so I established a weekly self-care day—a day when I'm not allowed to do any work; not answering e-mails, not writing, not plotting, not editing—this is a strictly work-free day.

So what do I do that day? I read a lot, mostly. And watch Hulu/Netflix, and play Assassin's Creed, or Sims 4, or Civilization V when I'm in the mood. And go out, and chat with my bestie, and do all sorts of things that don't involve working, all day.

It's a nice thing, and I do think it's helped, because come Monday (my day off is usually Sunday) I'm ready to dive in to work all over again.

I really do think it's important to take time off for yourself when you can. Writers are notoriously overworkers—many of us squeeze writing in during free hours or minute between day job, or school, or family, or all of the above, or, or, or—and it can be so easy to forget to take care of yourself.

So here is your reminder to take time off for yourself, too, whatever that means. It's important. You're important.

Do you take self-care days? What do you like to do during your work-free time? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Do you take self-care days? @Ava_Jae talks about the importance of taking time off for yourself. (Click to tweet)