September WIP Challenge Check-In, Day 5 -- Toot Your Horn Sunday

[soldierwitch]

Happy Sunday, y'all!

I'm Witch. I'll be your check-in host for this week. Happy to be reveling in all things writing with everyone.

Whether you see this day as the end of your week or the start of a fresh one, I thought we could use today's check-in to give ourselves a pat on the back for what we've accomplished so far in September.



Here are our discussion prompts:

-Name one thing you're happy about with your fic and/or the fic writing process so far.

-Share something you're proud of that you accomplished. Have you thought about your fic more than you had? Did you put something on the page no matter how short? Did you finish your outline or a first draft? Whether it's a big or small achievement, toot your horn!

-What do you have planned for this week in the September WIP challenge? Are you taking time off from writing? Pivoting to another part of your process? What are your goals for the week?

Comments

[soldierwitch]

We're only five days into the challenge so I'm still feeling energized and inspired. I plan to continue to use this energy to keep moving forward with this fic inch by inch. Yesterday I had a bit of a setback because I was busier than I anticipated and ended up having to skip working on my fic, however, I'm excited to be diving back in today.

What I've loved so far about this process is how creative it's allowing me to be. I'm writing a Halloween fic in a genre that I don't often delve in so it's been so fun working out how I want the mythology to function in it and how that'll affect the plot.

I'm most proud of choosing to do this challenge and committing to it, tbh. I've got my head in the fanfic writing game and my eye on my goals, and I'm happy that I'm sticking to it. I'm still allowing myself grace, of course, because things happen and come up and there'll be times where I'm sure I'll struggle but I've accepted the challenge and that's what's got me smiling because I'm working toward creating my fic and putting it into the world.

After I finish my outline and research, I want to start writing, so the goal I'm working toward this week is getting words on the page by next Sunday. I don't have a specific word count just actual sentences on the page lol

[frogfarm]

I'm happy that I'm still managing to make progress every day despite being bogged down with bigger concerns. And considering how big those concerns are -- thankfully not life and death! -- I'm proud of this progress as well. Goal for the week is to finish the three remaining scenes in this chapter.

[soldierwitch]

Congratulations with your progress! Good luck on your goal for the week.

[peachpai]

I'm proud of myself for getting back to writing after weeks of nothing. I set a tiny goal last week at 50 words a day, and most days I exceeded it! I find this trick highly effective for getting my brain to remember how to put words on a page. 50 words is only about two sentences and I get the satisfaction of achieving a goal. :) I think I will probably continue the same goal for another week and then see about increasing it a bit if all goes well. Any larger goals feels like a bit much right now, and I'm far enough ahead on inkingitout that I have plenty of wiggle room.

[soldierwitch]

Oh, I love that daily word count goal! Achievable and low stress. I'm going to have to add that to my writer's block tool box because that's fantastic. Glad to hear 50 words a day has been working for you. It's always good to set reasonable goals, I'm still working on that myself.

How is inkingitout btw? I'm contemplating signing up when it opens up again at the end of the year.

[peachpai]

I highly recommend it and I hope you also find it useful! It's something I picked up in my grad school days for times I was in a slump on my dissertation or struggling with anxiety. Breaking down monthly goals into bite size chunks is the only thing that consistently works for me.

Honestly, I expected to drop it a few months in, yet here I am at the 55k mark lol. It's great! Extremely low pressure, you can work on anything you want - it all counts toward the goal, even stuff that never sees the light of day. The mod team is lovely and supportive, I enjoy the weekly check ins.

[soldierwitch]

Oh, really? That's exciting. I thought it had to be 75K of a specific fic. If I sign-up I think I'll be focusing on a high word count WIP, but I'm glad to know there's wiggle room. Also, congrats on hitting the 55K mark!

[peachpai]

Thanks! :D

Yeah even though the main focus is overall word count, there is a slot to list project name in the tracker chart you're given for the challenge, so it's easier to keep track of progress on a lot of different things.

[soldierwitch]

Okay, I'm no longer on the fence. I'm definitely signing up in December. Everything you've mentioned sounds great.

[peachpai]

Well then, welcome aboard early! :D I will probably sign up again next year too.

[soldierwitch]

[linaewen]

I am happy that I was able to start getting back into a WIP that has been dormant for over a year. I spent time rereading some chapters and some of my brainstorming notes that were made in previous months as an attempt to get back on track. I am proud that I was able to spend a big part of yesterday writing some notes and tweaking some ideas, and I feel much more ready to dive back in to it again.

My plan for this week is to start writing actual words that will become paragraphs that will become a new chapter ready to be posted by the end of the week. Hopefully my busy schedule will allow me enough free time to be able to immerse myself in the story enough to get some writing done!

[soldierwitch]

It's always so nice delving back into a project that's been lying dormant. Happy to hear life slowed down enough for you to be able to get some time to work on your fic yesterday. Brainstorming is such a fun part of the process.

Sending you lots of positive energy for your writing goal for the week!

[mistressofmuses]

Today is the last day of my work week!

And this week I'm pretty proud of the fact that I did actually get some words on the page! Not a ton, but it's something!

[soldierwitch]

Congrats! Every little bit pushes you that much closer to the finish line.

[xmarksthespotwhereistand]

As a bigger summer responsibility is ending, i'm trying to get back into writing. Getting back into writing and into accountability about writing both feel as accomplishments. This week, i managed to write an outsider POV snippet for my beta's birthday and to brainstorm a WIP that i felt stuck on. I'm not entirely back on track but it's a start.

[soldierwitch]

Awesome! Starting again is honestly half the battle sometimes because getting that creative engine up and running once more can be hard work.