WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 25 -- Saturday

[linaewen]

It's Saturday and the end of a week of writing (or attempts at writing). I hope today is looking to be a good day of writing to finish off the week!

For our special Saturday poll, tell me -- how do you feel about your writing efforts today?

Was it a happy and productive time of writing/research/editing/plotting?

Were you overloaded with other stuff, or struggling to break through writer's block?

Was it a discouraging day with nothing to show for it?

Did you meet your goals for the day?

Did you take a break to give your brain a rest from your labors?

For discussion:

• What is your favorite way to write your story when you are in the process of creating? Can you only write on the computer? Do you write it out on paper first, then type it up in a document? A combination of the two?
• How do you handle notes for your stories as ideas come to you? Do you scribble notes on anything that comes to hand -- envelopes, napkins, church bulletins? Do you wake up at night and have to get up to write down an idea so it's not lost forever?

Comments

Well, my break didn't last long. XD Good for fanfic, bad for housekeeping.

[enemytosleep]

Yuujinchou Exchange (due Mar 17): First draft complete. Is with betas right now. I reordered the ending to maximize drama, and am waiting for their edits to fine tune the fic. Current word count: 9,306

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #1 (due Mar 24): First draft complete. Is with beta right now, and am waiting for her edits to fine tune the fic. Current word count: 2,078

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #2 (due Mar 24): No new words. I started an outline, and am once again worrying this will be longer than I have time for. T_T Current word count: 0

Help_Japan (due 18 years ago - 750 word min): No new words. I promise to give this love after the Yuujinchou exchange stops eating my brain. O.o Current word count: 3,666

I got quite a bit written last night. \o/

I usually type things straight onto the computer, but every now and again I will write longhand in a notebook, usually when carrying a laptop will be inconvenient or simply not possible. Notes and idea gets scribbled wherever I can find space to scribble them (on receipts, on scraps of paper, my body).

Re: Well, my break didn't last long. XD Good for fanfic, bad for housekeeping.

[linaewen]

My housekeeping is suffering, as well. It's for a good cause, right? Yay for more writing goodness!

Re: Well, my break didn't last long. XD Good for fanfic, bad for housekeeping.

[enemytosleep]

*looks at laundry pile*


< .

Re: Well, my break didn't last long. XD Good for fanfic, bad for housekeeping.

[roane]

My house is TERRIFYING at the moment. I really should do something about this today. But... story!

[roane]

I... posted smut to the internet. I am now terrified. :) Turns out "Sublimation" wasn't the defense mechanism I meant, so it's retitled "Displacement". Which isn't as sexy a title to me for some reason, but hey, accuracy. Today I can't decide whether to continue on that story or start something gen, as I have a new prompt and also a big bang to start working on.

I type. My handwriting is crap and it's too slow. I keep a document specifically for notes (called "bunnies"), and I'll email myself stuff if I'm away from my computer.

Anyway, I'll just be over here chewing my nails.

[linaewen]

My writing always seems awesome to me until just after I've posted it. Then it's like, "wait, was I really ready for the world to see that?" Here's hoping you get lots of good reviews and demands for more!

[roane]

I'm normally pretty okay with posting. I'm fairly confident in my ability to tell a story, I just worry if someone's going to like the story part. This is an entirely different beast. I've never written anything explicit before, much less shared it on the internet. It's a totally different realm of nervous. :)

[enemytosleep]

I have written buckets of terrible porn over the years. XD I'm sure yours is fine. People will love it!

[linaewen]

I'm on the verge of being ready to write (got some new ideas just before bedtime last night, yay!) -- but I have to go to work for a few hours shortly, drat! Hopefully it won't quell my desire to start my chapter. My work is such that if I'm not actually dealing with people I can probably sneak in some writing time. Here's hoping!

My notes go on scraps of paper, in notebooks that are just for story notes, or whatever comes to hand, like church bulletins. I collect them in a folder and transfer them into my outlines on the computer from time to time. My longhand writing is pretty scribbly when I get inspired, so I prefer to do my notes and outlines on the computer if possible. I like working from the computer, but when that's impractical, I have a notebook for actual writing. A lot of my writing time is spent shuffling to make sure all my files on the computer match my written out notes, but it seems to lend itself to helping the story gel in my head while I'm shuffling and rereading, so it's all good.

[enemytosleep]

Fingers crossed you can get some stuff written!

[dhae_knight_1]

Started out with a thesis-related breakthrough, today. Upside; it's beginning to coalesce. Downside; suddenly I have next to no usable litterature.

So... Upside; I had some energy to spend on my rather impromptu new fic. So far I've plotted the case that's going to be revealed in bits and pieces as the reason Hotch's bought a ruin in Kentucky. It's... So bad that I feel kind of evil to have even thought it up. Anybody else ever wonder how twisted our minds can be?

I wrote on papr for the longest time. Still have binders and binders of not-even-remotely-finished fic. It's better when I write on the computer. Not least because I find typing up my fic unutterably boring. And, you know, a whole lot faster. XD

For notes, I love my iPad. Just bought a little pin-board app today (I've been using the free version to organize my thesis), and I simply adore the little post-its I can change the color off and move arund just by dragging. Mind-mapping without the fuss, and with a big text-field hiding inside enery post-it. :-D

[insignia]

I did a wee amount of brainstorming for my PT Western, and concluded that I have to do some research before I can sort this out. So a little bit of progress, but mostly of the "I don't know what I'm doing! *flail*" variety. I also wrote down an idea for a fluffy YGO fic.

[sylvaine]

I wrote almost 1000 words of two separate fics last night - technically after going to bed, but as usual as soon as I'm trying to sleep the plot bunnies decide to attack - and started plotting out a third. Haven't written anything yet today, but I'm excited about continuing what I started yesterday. :)

Discussion question: when I'm feeling inspired, I prefer computer, since typing is a lot faster and my hand doesn't cramp up. When I'm really, really not feeling inspired, I prefer writing on paper, since that forces me to concentrate on the actual writing rather than getting distracted by the internet. Notes: whatever's handy! Usually that's my hand... or the margins of my lecture notes, or whatever piece of paper happens to be in my pockets. I don't wake up per se, but, as mentioned, I get attacked by bunnies all the time when all I really want to do is *sleep* already, it's late, come on... I keep a pen and stack of sticky notes next to my bed for just that reason. Because sometimes I can wrestle the idea down from something that needs to be written out right now to something that I can just take note of and write the next day! :)

[crowdog66]

A happy and productive day! I wrote ~1600 words, and finished (and posted) a new chapter of "Visitations" (Garak/Bashir, dom/sub, NC-17).

I write exclusively on the computer -- it's just easier that way, and it saves me from having to transcribe stuff from paper to WP document.

Usually I'm very good at holding ideas in mind for long periods of time. Of course if the writing bug is biting really hard I can't rest or concentrate on anything else until I've gotten the words out of my brain, but as a rule I tend to let new ideas sit and mentally simmer for a while before writing them out.

[roane]

Of course if the writing bug is biting really hard I can't rest or concentrate on anything else until I've gotten the words out of my brain

Oh god, I do the same thing. It's why my house is such a disaster right now and why my friends think I might have fallen off the face of the earth. :)

[asecretchord]

Today ROCKED!!! I wrote ~1200 words on my novel because I had a scene I absolutely had to write down that very minute--and it made me cry! I always consider that a good sign. It made my beta cry: a better sign. PLUS I wrote ~2200 words for the second of three Thon fics I'm planning to submit. I also came up with a name for the wizarding BDSM club that will be in Hogsmeade. I'm quite pleased with today's productivity. :D

Be well, everybody!

[pinstripefedora]

It has been really slow going this week. As in, write two sentences one day, then turn around and delete one of them the next day. Then write another two sentences to make up for the one that was deleted. Which are, once again, the only two I write all day. And it just goes on. Argh. Oh well. I actually threw my hands up in the air today after my obligatory two sentences and just did some editing so I could feel like I'd done something.

I prefer writing on my computer - I get hand cramps really easily, which tends to slow down my speed. As for ideas, I usually don't have much trouble holding on to ideas - mostly because I tend to obsess over any idea I get from every angle for days at a time before I commit to them. Every once in a while I'll jot something down on a post-it or a receipt or some such, but I usually lose them. Then I find them years later and think either "Oops, that would have been nice to have a few years ago when I was working on that," or, "What is this even supposed to be?" depending on what it says.