I get by with a little help from my friends...

     FINALLY finished off chapter seven.  So far I have probably struggled with that chapter more than any other thus far.  I have to give credit to a couple a different sources for it.  One is a guy I work with who with a simple idea got me to pump out nearly a page.  The other is a long-time friend who got my creative juices flowing simply by letting me talk.  It really is a lot of fun to simply jabber about what I'm doing.  Talking shop with another writer or even someone who is creating something of their own can inspire like no other.
     It was also nice to be able to throw ideas and concepts that I have been keeping from my other guinea pigs (I mean beta-readers.) simply because I don't want to ruin anything and I need their feedback unbiased. Telling my buddy everything was kind of an experiment that ended up being a rousing success.
     The high I got talking his ear off about it sustained me through a pretty rough week.  Ended up with an ear and a tooth infection that left me pretty hopped up on some groovy pain killers.  Which I normally would have enjoyed (The pain killer part, not the infection.) except it made writing anything more than a little difficult.  Kinda hard to jot stuff down when the words keep moving.
     Never turn down any source of potential inspiration.  I'm not saying show off what your doing to everyone you can, that's how ideas get stolen, but don't spurn telling someone just because they don't seem like the "ideal" candidate.  The non-reader buddy you talk to may hit you with an idea or concept that would never have occurred to you otherwise.  The guy I work with just made an offhand comment and I got around a page out of it.  And when you haven't written jack shit in over two weeks a page is a lot.
     Also follow your favorite authors or writers online.  I follow several on Twitter and have gotten words of encouragement from some.  Recently Kevin Hearne (Author of the Iron Druid Chronicles, which I can't recommend enough.) posted some words of encouragement about word count and when I thanked him I actually heard back.  If I ever make it in this business I plan to take a page out of Mr. Hearne's book and actually respond to my followers.  Anything I could do to help a fellow newb like his simple words helped me would be passing on a kindness that has far reaching effects.
     I would like to thank Mr. Hearne not only for writing some hilarious and entertaining books but for remembering the little guy and setting an example of what an author should be.