Write Every Day, September Day #2

[auroracloud]

Hello and welcome back for Day #2! The Day #1 post has an explanation of what this is, if you need it.

A few organisatory things first: when we were sorting out who would host this month, a few people said they couldn't host September but would be able to host another month. In the comments both navaan and brightandravenous volunteered to host for October. shopfront volunteered for November; but she said in yesterday's comments that she can also do December instead, if either navaan or brightandravenous wanted to take November. What do you say? That would leave us nice and sorted for quite a few months, especially since January traditionally belongs to trobadora (who already said she intends to continue that tradition).

And of course, if someone volunteers a few months in advance and then something comes up and you can't host, just let the rest of us know before the month starts and we'll find a new solution.

Also, yesterday I was going to ask what are everyone's goals or plans for the month of September, if you have any. A couple of people already posted about theirs, but if anyone else wants to share their goals for this month, or other comments about where they're at in their writing at the moment, feel free! No need to have any particular monthly goals if that's not your thing. I've just rather enjoyed this as a chance to occasionally take stock of where I'm in my writing, so I'm offering that chance here.

My next deadline-thing is Femslash Exchange, which has its deadline in early October, so I'd very much like to have at least a decent draft by the end of the month. Being able to post a fully edited and finished version before the deadline would be even more awesome, instead of always scrambling to edit frantically between the posting deadline and the reveals. Anyway, my assignment requires me to do some canon review, so I'll attempt to get that done in the next couple of weeks.

Otherwise, I've got the "language of the flowers" prompt table challenge over at femslashficlets, where you've got 20 flowers as prompts, and the challenge is to write ficlets between 100 and 1,000 words for each of those flowers, using the meanings/symbolism, cultural connotations etc. of each flower. I only found the challenge a few months ago, and if I recall correctly it lasts until the end of October, so it would obviously be nice to have a bunch of ficlets ready already in September. I've got one complete draft and several in the making, so I'll try to have... 10 would be nice, but at least 6 ficlets posted in September would already get me on the way to completing the challenge.

Other than those, I'd love to finally finish at least one fic that isn't for a challenge, a fest, an exchange or other deadline. We'll see how that goes. On the other hand I'd like to progress with my original writing, just don't really know where to. I've been brainstorming for a bunch of novel ideas, and some short stories as well, but I'm not sure which one I want to be my next project. I hope to have chosen and started a new novel draft before the end of the year, but I guess this month I just hope to make some progress, whatever it is.

Anyway, that's it for my ramblings! Any goals or hopes you want to share, if you didn't already?

Today's Writing

It's been one of those days when I just want to stay in bed or curl up on the sofa for the whole day, so I've been mostly doing that. And reading Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which is utterly awesome. But it has been kind of hard to focus on any kind of writing. However, I managed to write 171 words on the femslash ficlet I started yesterday. It's 504 words now, so obviously it's at least half done! I also looked at a fic which I need to edit, but then I ran away. Well, figuratively.

(I also procrastinated by finding a new place to order Classic Who DVDs from without using Amazon. Although I don't have any money.)

How about your writing?

Tally

Day 1 carenejeans, cornerofmadness, justmcshane, shopfront, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme, and me. (8 so far)


If I missed you or you wrote but didn't check in yet, let me know! And you can join in any time.

Comments

[navaan]

Ah, November is the worst possible Mod time for me. I'll be postig BBs, our BB posting will have to be checked, Holdiay Exchange matching... Remix preparation. XD Too much already.

Checking in late for Day 1 - which was a long day and an Alibi sentence and involved being a guest at a wedding and me and husband getting sick, yay!

Day 2 - lots of modding and organizing and another Alibi sentence so far. I hope I get bck int he drift soon.

[auroracloud]

Okay, not November for you! We'll see what the best way to mix and match possible hosts is. :-) ETA: brightandravenous is fine with hosting a different month, too. So you can do October if that's better for you. Also, if one of you wants to do December, shopfront can also probably do November as she originally volunteered. Whichever works the most smoothly is fine by me. :-)

I'll add you onto the tally for both days. Yay for managing at least alibi sentences on otherwise busy days!

[alexseanchai]

Alibi sentence.

My goals for September are "get a job", "get a housing", and "get a social life". Basically. :)

[auroracloud]

Those are definitely important goals, so good luck at them! ♥

Yay for managing alibi sentence!

[sylvanwitch]

Congrats on managing some words when you didn't really feel like it--that is quintessentially what this community is about, right? Yay! :-)

I wrote a 920-word coda to Avengers: Infinity War and edited and posted that. I finally watched the movie last night, and this was a wound that needed lancing most immediately, so words happened.

I don't have a particular month-long goal, particularly as it's the start of my teaching year, but I do want to finish the as-yet-untitled original short story that I'm 6K+ words into already. Did I say "short"? Lol!

[auroracloud]

Yes, this challenge/community is exactly for helping us all do that! :-)

While I'm not in the fandom and don't know what it's all about, but I sympathize for wounds caused by something in canon that lead to stories needing to be written. It can be one of the most beautiful ways to get stories, but it still hurts.

Good luck at finishing your short story despite all the stress and workload of a new teaching year starting! And hey, 6K+ is still a short story... I'm pretty sure that in the Hugo voting categories they're short stories until 10,000 words, after which they become novelettes. :-)

[shopfront]

Added a few hundred words polishing one of my AUEx fics. The other one is the one I wrote yesterday and I think it's going to need fleshing out as well as polishing, so I am deliberately leaving that for tomorrow now :/

[auroracloud]

Good luck at the fleshing out and the polishing, and yay for the polishing you managed to do. You can do it! *waves pompoms*

[tomakeanoffer]

208 for today. Considering I've had such a troubled time getting words out, I'm calling this a win.

As for doing months, I don't care honestly. I was kinda excited to have October, since it is my birthday month and it would have been a neat way to celebrate but I can also take on November, if need be.

[auroracloud]

208 words is definitely very good for a day when you have trouble getting words out.

Okay, good to know you're flexible! Seems different conversations were happening at about the same time so you both volunteered around the same time... Navaan can't do November, though. Of course, if one of you wants to do December instead, I'm sure Shopfront is also fine with taking on November as she originally volunteered. Preferences?

[tomakeanoffer]

Definitely flexible, yeah. I'm totally good with doing whatever works best for everyone and what is easiest on folks too. I don't want to cause too much messiness, you know?

[auroracloud]

It kind of looks like November is the most needy one, but if it turns out you can do December better than November, Shopfront can also take November if needed.

[tomakeanoffer]

I'll do November, yeah! :D

[cornerofmadness]

I've got to get my wipbigbang posted. This months goal is to finish my original short story and get it sent out.

Tonight was 2,503 words on my project.

[auroracloud]

Good luck with your goals! Yay for a nice good chunk of writing on your project!

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks, it really is

[carenejeans]

Worked on the nonfiction project; alibi sentence for the novel.

I'm not really sure what I plan to do this month. Work on the nonfiction project for sure, since the deadline (for a first draft, but still) is in November. Ack!

The novel is irritating me again, so I think I might put it aside for a little while. The thing is, it's easy to pick up and fiddle with, but I'm not getting any deep work done on it. I think I need to let it simmer for a bit.

In the meantime, I'll probably poke at some of my other WIPs -- for no other reason that I don't want to burn out on the nonfiction project!

[auroracloud]

Good luck with the nonfiction project and its November deadline! But yeah, it's a good idea to have something else to work on as well, so you can switch gears when your mind needs it.

If you feel like the novel needs some time aside, it's good to trust that instinct and try it. In my experience if you feel it needs some time to simmer, you're usually right about that.

[talkingtothesky]

Hi! Thanks for hosting this month. I quickly wrote about 700 words of very silly crack fic on Day 2.

My goal for the month is 10,000 words, and I'd like to make significant progress on my Big Bang fic.

[auroracloud]

My pleasure, I enjoy hosting the challenge every now and then!

And yay for 700 words! Sometimes very silly fics are just what you need. :-)

Good luck with your goals as well!

[trobadora]

Another alibi sentence for me. I did look through my list of WIPs, but nothing really spoke to me, and for once I can afford to take my time. I definitely want to be in the saddle by next weekend, but until then, if it happens it happens, and if not - well, then not.

Here's hoping we can both manage to finish something without a deadline for once, though!

[auroracloud]

When you're not under any particular pressure or deadline, it's sometimes good to take your time when your brain/muse/something else needs it.

Good luck for us both! It must be possible, this finishing things we speak of...

[ysilme]

Darn, late again already on the second day... *sigh* I wrote nearly 900 words of meta and edited the first WIP as I got the beta back, too, in the evening. And did some file sorting and re-reading of the epic WIP, too.
I don't have a fixed goal for the month, if I don't count getting as much of the house painting done as possible, but I have a faint hope that I might get far enough with my epic WIP re-read that I can start writing for it again, or at least plan chapters and scenes. We'll see.
By the way, slyvanwitch and I would like to try out something new, hosting-wise, in joining forces and combining both our strengths, and using a joint DW to share the hosting. It'll be like any regular participant hosting on their journal, just that it's the two of us sharing the coding and commenting parts in any month we host. Seeing that all months until February seem already to be taken care of, we could offer for February. October and December would also be possible, but November wouldn't be very good as I'm going to do NaNo, too.

[auroracloud]

Don't worry, I'll add you on the tally. Happens every now and then. :-) And I'm on a time zone ahead of you, and work schedule keeps me going to bed relatively early, so I tend to do my check-in posts a bit earlier than most others. Anyway, congrats for your writing and editing! Sorting and rereading is important, too, to be able to get somewhere with epic WIPs. Good luck at getting to write on it again, either this month or a bit later, depending on how your schedule goes!

That's an interesting idea - I'm sure it's worth trying out if it feels like it would work better for you both to host that way. You're welcome to offer for February, or if something in our next months' plans falls through, come in at an earlier month that also suits your schedules. But I'll put you both down tentatively for February.