Write Every Day: Day #7

[auroracloud]

Woo hoo, I'm caught up with the Write Every Day comments! I think, at least - hope I didn't miss anyone! And forgive me if I said anything dreadfully stupid or silly, I'm a bit sleep deprived!

I've had a lot of work at the computer this week (and then some more procrastination at the computer), and I didn't get my usual amount of exercise last week, and my back is really beginning to feel it. So did my eyes at one point today. So I took a few hours mostly off the computer, and that felt good.

Instead of typing at my computer, I took my notebook and a pen. First I did some free-writing and a bit of poetry there. Then I wrote the beginning of something which may or may not turn into a story later, depending on if I come up with the actual story after the opening. But even if it doesn't become anything more, I really enjoyed it, because I was trying something completely different from what I usually do, and in a different style and voice than most of my projects.

It's been awfully hot here for the last two days, but at least in the evening it had cooled down enough that walking outside was tolerable, so I took a nice long walk as well. Now I think I still ought to do something to soften those muscle knots in my upper back. I may need to get a massage some time soon, though I can't really afford it. Maybe I should just see what I can do with massage balls myself. And then make sure I don't miss regular exercise, especially if I'm working at the computer a lot.

Anyway, writing in the notebook felt really freeing, and I should probably do more of it in the next few days. It's often one of my go-to choices when I feel I need a break or a change from what I'm writing, or am not sure what to write. Often it's just free writing, sometimes it's poetry, sometimes it's descriptions and writing exercises, sometimes it's lists or story ideas, and sometimes it ends up being story snippets, beginnings of new pieces, etc. Do you have any particular forms of writing you do when you need a break?

Now in the evening I finally finished editing that fluff bingo ficlet that had been hanging there in my drafts for a few days, and posted it. Will try to remember to share it in the journal soon.

Tally

Day 1: alexcat, alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cassini, china_shop, cornerofmadness, falkner, luzclarita, shopfront, silveradept, sylvanwitch, used_songs, ysilme

Day 2: alexcat, alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, falkner, sierranovembr, silveradept, sylvanwitch, ysilme

Day 3: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cassini, china_shop, cornerofmadness, falkner, shopfront, silveradept, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, used_songs, ysilme

Day 4: alexcat, alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cassini, china_shop, cornerofmadness, falkner, shopfront, sylvanwitch, tinx_r, ysilme

Day 5: alexseanchai, alexcat, auroracloud, carenejeans, cassini, china_shop, cornerofmadness, falkner, sierranovembr, silveradept, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, yantantether, ysilme

Day 6: alexseanchai, auroracloud, cassini, china_shop, cornerofmadness, silveradept, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, yantantether, ysilme

Day 7: china_shop

Let me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. You can join in or drop out any time!

Comments

[yantantether]

400 words for me today, and I've now got a week off so I'm hoping I'll be able to get a bit more writing done!

[auroracloud]

Yay for weeks off! May yours prove creative!

[alexseanchai]

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THREE SENTENCES

it is actually 2.3K

it crossed 100 kudos in 8.5h

my previous record was ~16h

*flabbergasted*

[auroracloud]

Oh wow, congratulations! That's amazing!

[sylvanwitch]

When I need a break from what I'm writing, assuming that what I'm writing is original fiction, I write fanfiction. For example, this Hawaii Five-0 fic I'm working on has been incredibly enjoyable and has reminded me what effortless production of words feels like. Sometimes I need that seemingly simple reminder to help me find the right attitude and energy for working on my original stuff.

Today, I entered all of my exam grades and checked and submitted both the fourth quarter grades and the final exam grades (all computer work). I also surrendered my graded exams for vault storage, so I'm all done with my school work for this academic year! Yay! (I have two days of "professional development" on Monday and Tuesday this coming week--boo!) Anyway, I wrote 998 on the H50 fic, part of that continuing the story and part of it a sex scene that wanted to be written even though I hadn't planned another of that sort in the story. I'll figure out where it goes eventually...or maybe add it to a one-shot later, if it doesn't end up in this story.

[auroracloud]

I also do that with alternating between original fiction and fan fiction. I often write pretty different kinds of things for fanfic, or at least they're shorter, which gives me a chance to try out lots of things. But I can get a trifle goal-oriented with both, so sometimes I need just random scribbling, and that's when the notebook often comes out. And writing by hand seems to free different things in my creative mind somehow, plus it's not as straining for the eyes as the screen. :-)

Congratulations for being done with all your school work! Hopefully the coming week's work-related tasks will pass by quickly and without too much stress. Yay for still managing to write quite a bit, too! Sometimes sex scenes just want to be written. I'm sure you'll find a use for it somehow. :-)

[cassini]

[spent another three hours on getting the art thing finished wrestling with the cat and the laser mouse all the while and realised i had to get ready for work and i'd forgotten to write... i promptly rushed to the bath and tried to get something down before leaving. then came back from work, found i had twenty minutes before midnight and started hammering the keyboard, and added another 50% to the afternoon's word count. when did i start liking time pressures? well, the 750 for today should get me to my weekly goal *kazoo noises* ]

[auroracloud]

Wow, you certainly had a lot of creativity in one day! And it's useful to know if your creative mind responds well to time pressures! Even if it's not always so nice to subject yourself to such pressure...

[sierranovembr]

Today I wrote about 200 words of rough paragraphs in the outline for the next fic. Felt good since my writing time is really low lately.

[auroracloud]

Yay, that's great! I'm glad you managed to find the time to write! Outlining and planning paragraphs (as well as first drafts, for that matter) are totally allowed to be rough. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

I actually love writing by hand. I tend to get a lot more done that way. Case in point 739 words written by hand earlier and typed in now for Mischief Christmas

[auroracloud]

I'm slower at writing by hand than I am at typing, but I find it opens different flows of creativity in my brain, so it's really good to do it sometimes. And especially if a story is having difficulties or I'm unsure about it, writing by hand somehow makes it easier to just try and write. :-) Glad writing by hand worked for you, and you were able to progress on your story nicely!

[cornerofmadness]

It's definitely a different way of accessing your creativity. I'm probably faster hand writing. I used to definitely be faster but I'm learning to go faster typing.

[china_shop]

Congrats on the fluff bingo ficlet! \o/

8th: 965 words plus some editing on a bodyswap, with just under three days till the deadline (which I don't have to meet, but it would be convenient). Hopefully I can stop it from sprawling too much!

I'm finding very rough pen-and-paper drafting is really helping with the ensemble scenes, but is less use for scenes with more emotions/interiority.

Also gave the ficlet one more read-through and sent it back to beta. :-)

[auroracloud]

Thank you!

Yaaay, that's a lot of creativity/writing! Good luck with your story deadline and with keeping it from sprawling excessively. Congrats for managing to send your ficlet to beta, too!

Hmm, I haven't yet noticed if there's a difference between what kind of scenes work particularly well for pen-and-paper drafting - should pay attention to that!

[silveradept]

Posted some things. Someone liked them and said so.

Ended up spending a lot of my time today fanficcing a work of mine that was going to be published in a professional context. The editors came back with it and hacked it up to the point where it had lots of the words of the original, but none of the tone. So I helped with the rewrites suggested and made it into a more complete piece, but it's definitely an AU of the original. So it was a few hundred words, essentially, of new content, and perhaps a promise to myself that at some point, I'd talk about the differences between the original and what ends up getting published.

[auroracloud]

Woo hoo for posting and for someone liking the things and saying so! That's always nice!

Hmm, that's an interesting situation - thinking of it as fanficcing your own work can be a helpful perspective on it.

[carenejeans]

Oops, I got distracted by bookshop stuff (real life, not fiction, alas) and forgot to check in for Day 6 -- but I wrote some alibi sentences, some notes for essay stuff, and worked on the nonfiction project. All in dribs and drabs.

But today I wrote over a thousand words on one of the essays -- about food! Next thing I'll do is cut it back to about 800. Heh. Or more likely, add more words and split it in two. Or three.

I'm glad writing by hand works for you so well. I do it sometimes, but mostly for lists or "clustering" (which I've talked about before -- a sort of free-writing using free-form diagrams). Maybe I should try it more often -- my eyes could use a break from the computer screen!

[auroracloud]

All right, I'll add you for Day 6 as well! Being distracted by stuff and forgetting to check in happens to all of us. :-)

Yay for essay about food! It's a good topic. :-) Good luck cutting it down, splitting it up or whatever you end up doing.

I definitely do recommend giving handwriting a try - if it doesn't work, you can just stop, after all. It is a nice way of giving your eyes a break from the computer - and your wrists, too, I know mine ache a lot from typing. (Writing by hand can also hurt if you do a lot of it, but at least it hurts different parts!)

[alexcat]

On day 6, I got 648 and on day 7, I cleaned and only wrote 15 words... I also spent too much time procrastinating and playing games at Facebook... but some days are just like that. :)

[auroracloud]

Some days are like that, yeah. Sometimes our brains/creative minds just need a break or something. But any writing is still writing. :-) Glad you got more writing done on the day before!

[st_aurafina]

700 words more of tentacle porn!

[auroracloud]

Woo hoo productive tentacles! (Okay, now I'm picturing lots of tentacles writing porn.)