WIP Challenge: Day 22 Check-In

[katzenjamming]

Hey y'all! It's Thursday and half the week's already gone... has it been going well for you? (But I'm feeling better today -- thanks for the wishes!)

So, what'd you do today?

• Wrote?
• Planned?
• Edited?
• Researched?
• Sent to beta?
• Posted?
• Took a break?
• ...did something else? (Tell us in the comments!)

Discussion Topic: Is there a certain time of day, practice you have, or other catalyst that sparks inspiration in you (fannish or otherwise)? What is it? Is it something you can count on for giving you ideas, or is it touch-and-go?

Comments

[katzenjamming]

Haven't done any writing yet today (dealing with what I'm guessing is either a stomach bug or insane food poisoning @_@).

But today's topic came from the fact that I just got a shower, and during so I spun off a whole alternate approach to the first chapter in my big WIP that might actually work better than what I have, which I'm super-excited about. I've noticed that no matter what time of day I get a shower, I usually get lots of ideas for various things -- whether it's fic, or ways to approach anything else I have to get done for the day. I really need one of those waterproof notapads to hang in there!

[littlebutfierce]

Oooh, the shower thing is a good idea! I can't remember where I saw it, but it was either on a blog about depression or one about productivity/not procrastinating (maybe the blogger dealt w/both issues?): the person said that if they're feeling stuck & upset & blah, they take a shower, & it pretty much always at least makes them feel a little better. I try to do that (& often faaaaaail) -- if nothing else it gets me physically in a different place, which can help (if I've been sitting on the internet refreshing pages uselessly instead of going to bed or folding laundry or something).

[jagnikjen]

One of the reasons why showers work is because they relax you and the "wall" between the right brain and the left brain is less rigid so ideas can flow more easily from one side to the other. Same for being sleepy-ish.

[katzenjamming]

Wow, I totally didn't know that! I guess this new information proves that I should definitely devise a way to get some writing materials into the shower with me. :P

[littlebutfierce]

Interesting!! I didn't know that. Though the flamingo has just pointed out a possible peril in the shower plan, hehehe.

[littlebutfierce]

More random snippety bits as I try & figure out the Tumbling guys in my head, ha!

I don't have a particular practice -- or a deliberate practice, anyway (I mean, I tend to write in the evenings b/c of work, but that's not deliberate) -- other than 750 Words, which srsly must be the best thing that ever happened to my writing. I feel like writing in there every day, even when it's not fic (even when it's just GRRRR COWORKERS or whatever), keeps writing in my head, in my life, as something I do. Making it a usual thing that I write seems to break down some mental blocks against it. It proves I can write when I'm sick, when I'm depressed, when I'm exhausted from jetlag (I've started falling asleep a few times doing it, & the last few words I manage to type are always hilarious!), etc. & sometimes the words I write in these states are even good ones!

I think it does give me ideas. Not reliably, but enough to notice. Sometimes if I log in to the site w/o any idea of what to write, I'll just start w/the first writing prompt I see somewhere (I have a few places I check, mostly on DW) & sometimes interesting stuff unfolds!

[katzenjamming]

As usual, I wish you well in your character quest! :D

Breaking down those "walls" sounds awesome. I'm such a temperamental writer; being able to produce something consistently is definitely a cool thing, and a point I aspire to reach!

[ficwriter1966]

Wrote and posted another tiny one-shot!

Morning is the best time for me, writing-wise. A rainy, quiet day seems to work best - that way I can slide into my imagination and listen to the voices in my head. *g*

[katzenjamming]

Congrats on the post! It seems like you've been really productive lately! :)

I definitely agree -- rainy, dreary days are the absolute best for reading and writing, and I'm a morning person too!

[jagnikjen]

No writing today and there probably won't be--still in reading mode. Though I did get my assignment for an fic/art exchange I signed up for. So I will be pondering the prompt for a few days hoping for some inspiration.

I WISH there was something that would reliably and regularly spark ideas for me, but alas, there's not.

[katzenjamming]

There's totally nothing wrong with the old-fashioned "thinking about things and hoping something will pop into mind approach"! That being said, best of luck in coming up for something for your prompt. :)

[lacerta]

No writing today, but I keep finding scribbles and notes and prompts everywhere in my flat which is fun.

Going to bed, when I'm too tired to still be writing, is bound to spark ideas. (That's probably where half the hand-written notes come from.) Also, having to study dry, theoretical texts. At some point, my brain just starts wandering off. Although now that I think about it, I usually also fall asleep shortly after that, so maybe it's the same thing.

[katzenjamming]

Finding stuff like that is exciting! Hopefully they spark something awesome for you to work from!

I also find that I come up with ideas right before I go to sleep! I think jagnikjen offered a reason for why that is above, but it is certainly inconvenient since you can't really write then. And hahah, do the theoretical texts make you sleepy? Maybe I should try pulling out some of my old textbooks for inspiration! :P

[sylvaine]

What is this writing you speak of? >.>

I tend to get inspired when I'm out in the forest with my family with no way to write anything down. And by the time I get home it's been at least an hour in the car and I no longer have any inclination whatsoever to write, lol.

[katzenjamming]

Is it possible to bring a small notepad or something when you're out there? It's a shame to lose that inspiration and those ideas!

Sorry to hear about the no writing! It seems like you haven't been getting a lot of fic progress lately? I really hope you can get inspired enough to get some writing done soon! :)

[bay_alexison]

Yay, got around close to 900 words today with my Big Bang. It took me a bit to get some of the political talk going, but I think I did a decent job so far. Hopefully I'll be able to get more of the fourth chapter written tomorrow.

Also, I was able to catch my friend online and he said he would look over my short story I finished a few days ago, but he told me he needed to review a fic first. Andddd at the moment he's away. >.>; I might just leave him a message saying he can let me look over his corrections through a PM at one of the forums we frequent to because I'll be going to bed in a little bit and not sure when he'll get back.

I tend to get ideas when I'm super sleepy (like right now I'm already thinking up how I'll write more of the political talk in my Big Bang XD; ) and I would write them in my notebook or in the chapter's document itself so that I don't forget. Oftentimes though I get my ideas when I'm either at work (the characters just won't leave me alone, LOL) or anywhere else away from home. Because I don't have my notebook with me, I would have to use other means of material like napkins to write down my ideas.

[katzenjamming]

Congrats on 900 words, and of political talk, too! That sounds like it could've been very difficult!

Isn't it funny how we get these ideas at the most inconvenient times? :P No shame in writing down on napkins and the like, though! Gotta get down your inspiration any way you can!

[lacygrey]

Ive been practicing making exports from ywriter to livejournal so I don't get caught short for the big bang submission in a week and Ive been editing, making a net total of 250, although there's been a lot of in and out. I'm starting to see that long fics involve more editing work per word than short ones, because of their complexity. An exponential relationship!

[katzenjamming]

Converting between formats is personally a pain for me! @_@ I've never used ywriter; how is it about exporting for different sites?

Longfic does require a more fine-tuning, doesn't it? But editing is more about getting things right than the word count, so it still sounds like you got a lot done today!

[lacygrey]

I'm stil 'playing' with ywriter. Its fairly pleasing so far and has many features I haven't tried yet, like tools that analyse your working habits and allow you to set goals.

Export can't be done directly as far as I can tell, after all its not blogging software.

Ywriter exports as rtf, txt, latex or html. I exported as html, opened the file in Wordpad so that the tags were apparent and then cut and pasted to the Post window in LJ.

This appears primitive - and I'm sure that someone 'in the know' could do better - but at least it works.

still sounds like you got a lot done today!

Thanks, I might have done. Its hard to keep a handle on stats when you are deep in a fictional world.