Reminder: Progress reports for the past week will be due by midnight on Sunday for posting on Monday. I will also be posting a new sticky calender this weekend.
As we near the end of our first week of GRAPEMO, you might be noticing a weird pattern here.
Your writing is brilliant!
OK, not "brilliant." We never think our writing is brilliant. Well, sometimes we do. But that's a secret. We never say it out loud. I shouldn't even be writing this. I might be breaking a rule.
But it's good, really good. Possibly the best writing of your life and you're totally psyched. And yeah, maybe it is brilliant because, hey, it feels brilliant. And you feel brilliant because of this. 
YOUR WRITING SHINES. You're in love with your story. You'd almost forgotten how wonderful that is.
Whoops! Then, one day later--or heck, even five minutes, when you hit an unexpected glitch--the shine disappears.
The clouds settle. No, not just clouds. Frickin' Mount St. Helen just exploded, turning everything to molten lava and choking ash.
Your scene, your whole plot, the entire idea-- !!!!!!!??????!!!!!!
And your brain, dammit. WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO YOUR BRAIN?
Repeat after me: "THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL."
It happens to all of us. Sometimes it's the Plot Weasel (more on this later this month.) Sometimes it's our environment.
Sometimes it's just...us. Sigh.
Whatever the reason, DO NOT give into it. Take a short break if you have. Or simply sit there and work through it. Don't you dare use it as an excuse to say "I suck. I give up."
WE ARE TOUGH. WE ARE PASSIONATE. WE ARE RELENTLESS.
WE ARE WRITERS!