The Kindness Bench for SimLit Writers - For All Games!

How Can I Help?

Whenever you notice that someone has posted on the Kindness Bench, you can stop by to see what friendly words of encouragement you might be able to share with that person.

Sometimes we need different types of responses to help us get back on track. Here are some of the ways you might offer support:

Listen: Sometimes people just need to vent. Knowing that someone is hearing what we're saying can help a lot!

Lighten the mood: Being able to laugh about something and see that it's not so serious, after all, can sometimes be a great help!

Share similar experiences: When we hear that others have been in the same situation we have, it can often help us feel better. And often, we can learn from others' experiences.

Offer suggestions and solutions: When we are open to advice, hearing others' suggestions can be a great way to find solutions we might not have thought of.

Provide a different perspective: Sometimes, being able to look at our writing, gaming, and creative projects in a new way is just what we need.

Offer to read the other person's work, to provide feedback, or to brainstorm.


You might ask the person what type of help they'd like. Sometimes we know when we just need to vent, or when we need somebody to brainstorm with us, or to help us see things in new ways.

For more thoughts about different ways to help, check out Tara Mohr's 6 Kinds of Conversations.

How can I get encouragement, inspiration, advice, or just someone to listen?

If you're feeling like you could use a lift with your writing (or your attitude about your writing or Simming), stop by here and post. Someone will be by within 24 hours (and likely much sooner) to reply.

You might think about what kind of help would work best for you...

• Do you just need to vent?
  
• Do you want to find out how others have handled similar things?
  
• Do you want help shifting your perspective so you can look at this situation in a new way?
  
• Do you want some feedback on a particular chapter, plotline, scene, or idea?
  
• Do you need technical advice (like where to get a certain pose or how to write dialogue)?
  
• Do you just want someone to read something that you feel especially proud of?
  
• What else might you want to help you get your mojo back for your SimLit writing and storytelling?
  

Also, please feel free to help out others who post here, too! Sometimes the best way to encourage ourselves and solve our own writing challenges is when we step up to encourage others and help them with their writing challenges!

@CathyTea This is yet another awesome idea from you. I love how thoughtful you are in the SimLit world... and well, kind. I appreciate our online "friendship" if we can call it that, and your posts always make me smile. I hope people will be encouraged by this page. :)

This is a fabulous idea. I know I need the encouragement sometimes...and so does @BabyDollAnne (tagging her so she find this.)

@CathyTea when I'm in my slowed down time, i either step away for a little bit (usually when I have no creativity left at all) or I look back at what I've been writing to try to get inspiration and some more creativity.

As for profiting from the slow times, I don't...but that's just me. I do feel like I grow in terms of understanding what blocks me though.

@CathyTea this is the sweetest idea!! I am too new to be of much help but I hear you. I am good at just sitting on the bench together :)

@CathyTea this is a great idea! As to your question: I think Periode of destruction and slow down can help you relax and releive the feeling of being overwhelmed with everything. You can be more laid back and then Start again in October with renewed energy. That way we don't get burnt out.

You are such a wonderful human being @CathyTea <3 Thank you for setting this up, I cannot imagine the community here without you! <3

Regarding feeling slowed down and restricted:

I think the most important thing is to not try to fight it and listen to your energy flows. From what I've read, you're more in tune with that then most, which means you've already got a head start!

We have it tough, since we're constantly trying to battle two restrictions - the external ones (such as work projects and other real life responsibilities that carve away from our time and creative energy) and the internal ones, when inspiration is generally at a low. When those two meet, which happens often to those of us with busy lifestyles, it's important to embrace it. Don't beat yourself up. You need rest to become refreshed again.

I went to a spinning class the other day and the instructor had some surprisingly insightful advice. Towards the end of the class, he made us alternate between 10 seconds of very high intensity exercise, where you were going really fast and at a really high strength setting, and 50 seconds rest, when you were either going slowly or just stopped altogether. He said the idea of these quick bursts from a spinning perspective was to increase our stamina, but that he felt it was an important reminder for today's lifestyle too; that people often think they need to go at a 100% all the time, but rest is needed and not something you should feel guilty about. Allowing yourself to have that time to recoup is the only way you can give it your all when the next burst of high intensity comes along.

@CathyTea Thank you for this. I believe a bit of my crying on your shoulder last night was the push you needed to start so I feel better knowing that in some way I helped make this happen. ;)

As to feeling slowed down... I was thinking if you could somehow inform your readers and potential readers about this slow-down and show it as an opportunity for them to catch up on some of your stories? Knowing there won't be a bunch of updates that they'll have to keep up with? It was just the first thing that came to me, oh this is a good time to catch up on CathyTea's writing.

*Sits down on the bench*

I keep typing things out and then deleting them. I'm not sure how to explain. What I want to know is if anyone else builds up things in their heads... and then gets terribly discouraged when nobody else shares your enthusiasm?

I always seem to do this to myself. I'll get so excited about a new story or a post that I worked really hard on or in this case the end of the first generation of my legacy. Then when I don't get a response or not the response I had expected I get discouraged and depressed.

Any advice is welcome if you think of anything but mostly I just feel like I'm the only one that does this.