WIP Challenge Day 5, Sunday

[jagnikjen]

Good Morning, Everyone--at least, it's still morning where I am!

Share your writing successes or woes here today...

Word count, or lack there-of. No writing time at all or hours and hours of blissful creation.

We're here to celebrate or commiserate.

Discussion topic. . . .

What are your writing rituals, if you have any? Music in general? Specific play lists? Candles for mood, for aromatherapy? A specific place you sit and write? Computer vs. pen and paper? Comfy clothes or do you dress up? Snacks, energy drinks, chocolate or wine??

Comments

[roane]

No writing yet today, which I should probably just break down and do, because instead I'm procrastinating on everything I SHOULD be doing because I'd rather be writing. Ahem.

I don't know if I have rituals, necessarily. I'm on the couch with my laptop, but then, that's where I usually am anyway. Definitely computer. I type much faster than I write, and I get impatient. Music is a big part of my writing. I sort of use it to trance out sometimes, by listening to the same thing over and over. When I'm really feeling crazy, I'll have the same song on repeat AND get a little hyped up on sugar and/or caffeine. Been a while since I went that far though.

Photographs are turning out to be a big part of my fanfic writing. There's one specific photograph of Martin Freeman floating around that is a driving force in my current story. Maybe I should post it with the story when the story's done. :) Also, all of the fan art I'm seeing that gender-swaps John and/or Sherlock is really making me want to write them both as female characters.

[enemytosleep]

Hope you manage to get things done, writing and otherwise. :)

[roane]

I did! Took forever to do my schoolwork, but I'm writing at the moment. Of course, it's bedtime soon, bleh. I hate being a grownup sometimes.

[enemytosleep]

T_T Tell me about it.

[crowdog66]

I've written 392 words so far (not bad for someone with a menstrual period bearing down on her like a Mac truck) and finished the third chapter of "Lost in Translation" (which is turning out to be four chapters long, go figure!). I'd like to try to finish the fourth chapter today as well, or at least get it beaten into rough shape, but I'll have to see how my time works out and whether the hormonal storm hits harder as the day progresses.

I have no writing rituals, apart from my usual cup of coffee if I write first thing in the morning, but even that's not essential. I find music distracting, my husband is allergic to scents... although I must admit that I use the computer religiously for writing, and have now developed quite a distaste for pen-and-paper writing because I'll just have to transcribe it into a WP file anyway. :)

I suppose you could call my addiction to Scrivener a ritual of sorts...

[crowdog66]

Wrote another ~600 words (plotting Chapter Four of "Lost in Translation" and a new short story, "The Only Way I Know"), and I think that'll be it for today. :)

[enemytosleep]

Good word count!

[lilly_c]

I'm still on a roll with the fic I was working on yesterday :) I did stop writing it a couple of hours of ago to do some research. A little disappointed that the books and maps I had of San Francisco have gone walking - downside to moving around so much I guess, losing things. The local library will be my friend this week.

Music is always on, I have itunes set to shuffle but sometimes load the few playlists I have and I usually connect my earbuds to my laptop so I'm not disturbing my flat mates too much. Sometimes I work with the TV on but I try not to because it's too distracting even with the sound off. I'm either at my desk or on my bed, occasionally I'll work on the floor. It depends where I am but I usually have some bits on paper and some on the computer, I do prefer the computer though because of the assistive software packages I use. Either trackies or pyjamas, anything that requires minimum effort. Tea, lots of tea and crisps.

[enemytosleep]

Hope you can find what you need and continue that roll.

[eve_doodle]

I meant to write more for Chapter Nine of WIP but only got about 300 words done before my wrists started killing me. It didn't help that this chapter is action-heavy and I'm not very good at writing battle scenes. Any tips would be super helpful! Taking a break from writing and outlining and just going to relax with a nice movie, tea and a cupcake.

As for writing rituals: I usually need to have music on, doesn't matter what it is, since I usually have the same song on repeat. I change them every so often but I'm currently listening to "Whatshername" by American Idiot Original Broadway Cast. Need to have hot tea (but I usually forget about it while writing and end up drinking it icy cold) and I usually use Word for heavy writing sprees. I do prefer outlining things by hand, as it's easier to plan out and sketch things out with a good pen and lots of paper.

I usually end up writing in bed even though I start out at a desk. (It's strange how I migrate from a sitting position to a boneless heap...)

[roane]

I sprawl on the couch. Probably horrible for my wrists, but it makes the rest of me happy.

[eve_doodle]

Your wrists and mine should get together and form a fic Writer's Anonymous and complain about how awful we are about taking proper care.

[enemytosleep]

I find action/fight scenes easier to describe after watching a few and getting some rough choreography penned down first. Hope your wrists quiet down.

[eve_doodle]

Ah, that sounds like a good idea. I've been mostly muddling through the fighting, adding a few punches and kicks here and there and wondering what to do next.

I hope my wrists do too! It's such a pain not being able to write when you want to. :(

[littlebutfierce]

I did a lot of editing today; I'm feeling much more productive than I did yesterday for some reason (even though I still have a cold!).

I'm excited b/c I managed to post a ficlet for the Porn Battle: Look Up, an admittedly not-v.-porny Natsume Yuujinchou OT3 fic. I'm kind of a slow writer, so often I miss out on things like the Porn Battle b/c it just takes me too long to craft a story to completion.

Oh, & rituals! I don't think I have any big ones, though if I'm writing certain types of emotions I have certain musicians I like to listen to. & tea is nice if it's hard for me to get settled, b/c once I have a mug of tea it's easier to tell myself I'll just keep working until I've finished the tea.

[enemytosleep]

Good job getting the ficlet done and posted up. I tend to be very slow myself, so I know the pressure of picking up challenges like that (trying to center myself and get on a good writing streak so I can get the Natsume fic done in time).

[dhae_knight_1]

Well. Not a terribly productive day (only 503 words), but considering I've had the back pain from hell and, consequently, slept only 5 hours a night the past two nights before waking up because I couldn't even turn around for the pain, I'll call that a win.

Not least because my back is now, finally, unlocked, so I expect to fix it with a couple of pills now and a good night's sleep. :-)

I have no rituals, but I've found that I just can't write with others in the room. I'm far, far too easily distracted. :-D

[enemytosleep]

Sorry to hear your back has been so awful. :( 500 words is a good number regardless, so kudos for that.

[enemytosleep]

~500 words today ... now for the Superbowl!

No real rituals for me.

[enemytosleep]

Another~250 words added on. \o/

[eve_doodle]

Sounds awesome! :)

[enemytosleep]

It would be more awesome if it wasn't already 11 months late? haha XD

[eve_doodle]

...Better late than never? It's great that you're finally kicking word count butt on it.

[sharpiefan]

Coffee. And occasionally music - though it depends what I'm writing. I did one multi-part fic telling the story of a couple of TV episodes of Hornblower from the perspective of one of the marines, which meant writing along to the DVD, pausing the DVD every so often because I wanted to get the dialogue right.

And as for how much I've written... I've managed maybe 200 words today, on a chapter I've been writing for over a year, which is really bad. (The other parts that I've written so far are approaching 2500 words, so I've got another 1300 words or so to go.) I've never known a fic to take so long!!

[enemytosleep]

200 words is still progress. My WIP this month is also a year old, so I know the pain. ;_;

[insignia]

I've mostly been outlining today. Shuffling things around to make this Yu-Gi-Oh thing more coherent. Feeling less ambitious than yesterday, but I will persevere. >_<

[enemytosleep]

*waves pom poms*

[bay_alexison]

Had been away most of today and when I came back the Super Bowl is starting. XD When I was away though I had been considering some changes I want to do to my Big Bang and whether I should send Chapter 4 to Beta B immediately or also along with Chapter 5 (have to wait for Beta A to finish looking over that chapter, though).After the game is over, I'll check over my beta's notes she gave me for my help_japan fic.

Already mentioned that sometimes I would get a good drink before getting some writing/editing done.Sometimes music also to get me in the mood. Otherwise nothing else.

[snowynight]

No writing this day, because I spent the whole day outside busy and when I returned I was too tired to write. I 'm looking forward to Monday to compensate for the loss.

I don't have writing rituals. I type on the computer because I usually post them on the Internet.

[roane]

Holy crap. Nearly 1500 words tonight in about an hour and a half. Got halfway through the scene I wanted to get through, but I think I need to break for the night, and start calming down enough to get some sleep. (Listening to "I Am the Doctor" from Season 5 Doctor Who on repeat for two hours and typing furiously = WOUND UP ME.)

[xpaperplanex]

You know that feeling when what you've been working on just isn't working, but you've been trying and trying to make it work, then you realize that no, it's really not going to and starting over is the best thing, and you should have admitted it a long time ago because now you're trying to sift through the 7000 words you forced yourself to write to see what you can salvage? I got that feeling today :( Made some minor progress on the starting over, though, and I'll try to get a bit more done before bed.

For rituals, I like to wear comfy clothes and mostly write in my bed. I generally have a glass of juice on hand, or if it's the weekend, an alcoholic beverage of some sort. When I listen to music while I write, I always listen to weird, mostly vocal-less noise experimentation by SYUN. Their Kun Mae and Landscapes series put me in a writing mood for some reason.

[pinstripefedora]

Wrote a couple hundred words, did some light editing, and did a little research that I needed to do for the scene. I feel like I should have written more, but it wasn't that bad all things considered.

I don't really have any rituals to speak of, other than making sure I have a cup of hot tea on hand at all times.