auroracloud: a silhouette of a young woman with old-fashioned updo, writing, with handwriting across the silhouette (writing / silhouette)
[personal profile] auroracloud
Welcome to Write Every Day! This month, we're at my journal.

What is this, you may ask, dear reader? Why, just what it sounds like! It's a challenge to write something, even just a tiny little bit, every day - or failing that, however many days happens to work for you. We don't judge. There's no competition, no ranking, no consequence for not actually writing every day. We're just aiming for that, and supporting one another in the endeavour. Participation is entirely voluntary, so just because you see this, I'm not pressuring you to take part; but if you want to give it a go, feel free to join in even if you haven't done it before or aren't sure if you can really do it. You can always drop out for any reason, no need to say why, and we don't judge you for missing however many days.

Also, you choose what kind of writing you want to do and what you count. Some only count and report writing (and editing) fiction, some may be working on non-fiction, count blog posts or beta-reading, etc. I personally focus on fiction, both original fiction and fanfic. I tend to mull around and research on my original projects a good while before I start writing, so I report that sort of preparatory work as writing, too.

This is how it works: every day, I make a post for checking in, and you write a comment if you wrote that day. You can just say you wrote, or you can talk about what you worked on or how much you wrote or how it's going or whatever else you please. I tend to ramble a bit about other things in the beginning of the post, sometimes related to writing and sometimes not (I'm known to report on the weather or what I baked that day), because I like it - it feels like it grounds the writing-related post a bit. It hopefully means it's a bit more interesting for non-participating followers to keep seeing these posts on their feed every day for a month.

Anyway, I do my best to respond to everyone and to keep a tally of who's written on which day (when it gets long, I put the beginning under a cut). These posts crosspost to LiveJournal, so you can comment on either Dreamwidth or LJ, though be aware that these days the majority of the discussion etc. happens on DW. I'm known to make mistakes on the tally, so if you're missing when you shouldn't be, or you see some other error, just let me know! And if you miss a check-in or a few but you did write, feel free to report later, it's no huge problem to go back and add you to the tally later.

The challenge has been going on for a few years (I'm not even sure how many), hosted by different users every month. I've been doing it for, hmm, almost three years, and it's had an enormously great effect on my writing, because it makes me keep writing, and write even if I have doubts about myself and what I'm doing - and that, I've found, is the key. I've written every single day since I joined in, but you don't need to feel pressure if that doesn't work for you. It's just that 1) I can be really dogged about things like this, 2) I know I benefit from regular writing, so I try to keep at it. But we have a term "alibi sentence" for the sentence you write just for having written that day. The sentence can be one or two words if that's how things go for you. It still keeps up the habit, keeps writing in your mind, and makes you more likely to write more on a day when things go better. Or that's how it goes for many of us, anyhow. It doesn't necessarily work for everyone, and that's all right.

If you've got any questions, drop me a comment! You don't need to formally sign up, and you can join in any time, not just in the beginning of the month. Feel free to say hi if we haven't talked before or if this is your first time doing it or any other reason. And feel free not to, if you don't want to. :-)

Also, I should add that with all the icon space DW recently gave to paid users, I've got several new writing icons, so hosting this gives me a chance to use them, whee! (If you're on LJ, sorry, you're not seeing the nifty icons, I can't afford to keep paid accounts on both.)

What are you working on now?

Many start the month by asking if you've got any particular writing goals this month etc. I'm having a day when my head turns all goals and timelines etc. into terrible pressure, so I'm not asking that. I'm just asking: do you want to mention what kind of writing you're working on these days, or if you've got any particular hopes or plans for your writing in the near future? No pressure to talk about it if you don't want to, though!

I've been planning an original novel for a while, and I've said for a couple of months now my goal is to start actually writing this month, and then I don't, because I've still got some things to work out so I won't grind to a halt in the early chapters. But anyway, I'm really hoping it won't take much longer to start really writing it. I'm trying to prioritize it now, and so I don't want to sign up to any fanfic events in the next few months - that sort of deadline pressure and the need to write to someone else's prompts/requests isn't working for me at the moment. I still want to work on my fanfics, but on my own terms. I do have a bingo card from [profile] genpromptbingo that I hope to get something done with, but I do my best not to stress about it.

How about you?

Today's Writing

How's the writing going? Have you written today?

As mentioned before, I've had a day when my brain turns just about anything into pressure and stress. I spent quite a while in the afternoon making detailed plans about how to go on about getting started on my novel - what to do which week etc. Well, it was partly useful to set down which are the final pieces I still need, both in research and in planning/notes, and what can wait until the writing or the editing phase. But it also made me terribly stressed out and then I couldn't actually write. Ah, head. It has flawed chemistry sometimes.

I managed to feel better by the late evening, though, and then I took a big sheet of paper and drew sketches of where one of my main character lives. That was fun. I'm terrible at drawing and at sketching houses, so there was no pressure to be good at it, and I got some ideas down. Then I spent quite a while writing about that place. I feel it's good for me to set out details of the important locations before I start writing, because I like grounding my fiction in places when I can, and it's easier to be specific if I actually know what rooms are in the house or how the yard looks and sounds like.

That's all for me - feel free to let me know how your writing's going!

Date: 2019-06-01 09:22 pm (UTC)
used_songs: (Default)
From: [personal profile] used_songs
I wasn’t going to write today but I saw your post and so did. Just a poety prosey piece on waiting for dinner guests to arrive. Four paragraphs of practice writing.

Thanks for the reminder to write!

Date: 2019-06-01 09:27 pm (UTC)
sylvanwitch: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sylvanwitch
Your drawing session sounds fun, and it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only bad drawer who also sketches things for her written worlds. They never look like I imagine them to be, but they're usually functional enough to be getting on with. ;-)

I'm sorry your brain is making you stressed, and I hope that goes away for you soon. *hugs*

I wrote 815 words on the H50 fic this morning before starting the day's outdoor work.

Date: 2019-06-01 11:01 pm (UTC)
cassini: 2bit low res davepeta (time at an end)
From: [personal profile] cassini
[hello everyone, let's do this for another month because i'm getting addicted. or do i mean, more productive? both. both is good ]

[i've met my 1k daily word count goal, with a couple of half hour sessions before work and a few minutes on the 'tea breaks' while at work. i procrastinated on it a little, writing up last month's 'summary' post and generally watching the wife play warframe for a thousand years. we've got some spare stress too (you have my sympathies, host) we're just trying to keep the brains distracted ]

Date: 2019-06-02 03:29 am (UTC)
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexseanchai
yes good

Date: 2019-06-02 06:33 pm (UTC)
falkner: [Ensemble Stars] [Kanzaki Souma] (王国心 ☆ This is Halloween!)
From: [personal profile] falkner
I'm amazed at how constantly productive you are! Love seeing your comments.

Date: 2019-06-02 10:56 pm (UTC)
cassini: 2bit low res davepeta (time at an end)
From: [personal profile] cassini
[ty, i'm pretty blessed with time and general good health, i'm making the most of it. and it's been years since i thought about really writing, so i've got a lot of enthusiasm going spare for it rn ]

Date: 2019-06-02 10:53 pm (UTC)
cassini: 2bit low res davepeta (time at an end)
From: [personal profile] cassini
[ty, ty! i'm having a lot of fun and this is a great no-pressure way to see some more dw folks in the wild, as it is :3 ]

Date: 2019-06-02 12:20 am (UTC)
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
From: [personal profile] china_shop
Hi! *waves* Thanks so much for hosting this month! <3

I'm all Guardian (Cdrama) fanfic, all the time at the moment. My plan is to keep up my posting streak on [community profile] fan_flashworks, write a couple of things for [community profile] smallfandomfest, and hopefully maybe fingers-crossed get back to my languishing post-canon WIP. (I haven't been in the headspace for longfic for a while.) Also, to manage my RSI so I can do all of the above!

I'm in New Zealand, so I live in the future (it's the 2nd here) -- do you mind if I check-in a day in advance? I find it much more motivating to check in for my today than my yesterday, but I know it can be a pain to tally...

Anyway, my check-in for the 1st: I wrote about 250 words on a bodyswap ficlet for [community profile] smallfandomfest, which isn't coming together yet.

Date: 2019-06-02 11:40 pm (UTC)
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
From: [personal profile] china_shop
Thanks! <3 <3 <3

Date: 2019-06-02 12:32 am (UTC)
romanajo123: (Default)
From: [personal profile] romanajo123
...Could I join please?

Date: 2019-06-02 01:23 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] luzclarita
Fun! I'm trying to write more poetry and journal more. Maybe I'll make a solid month of it. :)

Date: 2019-06-03 01:59 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] luzclarita
I did write on the first!

Date: 2019-06-02 03:29 am (UTC)
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexseanchai
I signed up for [community profile] fandomgiftbox, which counts because there were a couple things where I typed out the prompt, looked at the prompt, ran a word count on the prompt, realized the prompt was technically long enough to count as a fill, and moved the prompt to my new masterlist of things I intend to write in this fandom...

Date: 2019-06-02 05:15 am (UTC)
cornerofmadness: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cornerofmadness
370 words for an X-FIle comment fic and 637 words on a MCU comment fic. You know, nothing I'm supposed to be working on.

Date: 2019-06-02 07:36 pm (UTC)
cornerofmadness: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cornerofmadness
THanks. That is true. I don't feel too guilty about it

Date: 2019-06-02 06:03 am (UTC)
silveradept: A head shot of a  librarian in a floral print shirt wearing goggles with text squiggles on them, holding a pencil. (Librarian Goggles)
From: [personal profile] silveradept
I thought I hadn't writ, but I did, six hundred words or so on a thing that sprung, essentially, out of the pun that was going to end it.

And some other assorted miscellaneous, et cetera.

Date: 2019-06-02 07:38 am (UTC)
carenejeans: (Default)
From: [personal profile] carenejeans
Howdy, howdy, howdy!

Sounds like you got quite a lot of work done on your novel today, and I'm glad the stress subsided a bit. Drawing helps a lot! I finally had to draw the floor plan for my fictional bookshop. My brain kept defaulting to the layout of our real bookshop, so I just gave up and basically used that -- with the important addition of the (sinister music) basement. 8-) I also had to draw the street with the nearby shops and finally a map of the whole downtown, sheesh. But it did help me visualize it.

(I'm not good a drawing either, so the maps are kind of terrible.)

Today I revised two of the essays I'm working on, making one of them longer and other shorter.

Date: 2019-06-02 08:45 am (UTC)
ysilme: Wordle with writing terms "ranting denial typing pain story decision tea". (Wordle: write every day)
From: [personal profile] ysilme
Thank you for hosting this month!
We've got visitors for the day, so for the moment I'm just quickly popping in to report my tally for yesterday: I've been mostly re-reading and shifting around parts of an old WIP I decided to tackle about a week ago, and haven't written more than about 50 new words or so. But I managed to tame the mess of several versions and drafts down to just one, so I feel quite accomplished.

Date: 2019-06-02 12:21 pm (UTC)
alexcat: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexcat
I did not do much writing yesterday - 32 words on some corrections.

I have Big Bangs! I signed up for Marvel Bang and will also do Cap - Iron Man Big Bang. I am in dire need of ideas and cheerleading.

Today shall endeavor to work on a couple of Cap -Iron man Bingo fics.

Date: 2019-06-02 06:48 pm (UTC)
falkner: [Ensemble Stars] [Kanzaki Souma] (FE ☆ il gentilsadico)
From: [personal profile] falkner
One thing you won't run out of here is cheerleading! shakes pon-pons

Date: 2019-06-02 04:46 pm (UTC)
shopfront: Black and white typewriter with a blank page, top down view (Stock - typing down my worlds)
From: [personal profile] shopfront
I did write yesterday! I think if I have a goal this month at all, it's to remember to check in because I... don't think I checked in at all last month? Entirely accidentally, even though I know I did write but sporadically enough that now I no longer remember when I did *throws hands up*

I hope your brain stops pressuring you soon! I had a weird brain May myself and had to just lean into doing things randomly with little purpose as and when the whim took me because structure of any kind was noooot happening, so lots of empathy and <3s

Date: 2019-06-02 06:31 pm (UTC)
falkner: [Ensemble Stars] [Kanzaki Souma] (戦国大戦 ☆ serenity)
From: [personal profile] falkner
Hello! Thank you for hosting this month.

I don't have any specific plans for June, other than just writing as much as possible. May turned into a meh month, so I want to get back into the swing of having fun writing and producing something I'm satisfied with.

Today I wrote about a hundred words of a new story. Not much, but I was busy most of the day so I'm glad I managed even just those.

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