GYWO 2023 week 2/52
Jan. 8th, 2023 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sugarspankhornexcellent news, all! on top of making some lovely friends during GYWO, i met all three of my goals for last week! i'm proud of myself but not getting cocky about it-- as i said in my previous entry, motivations are high during the first week of the year. there are no obligations, no plans, and everyone is just getting back into the swing of things post-holiday. in short: the accomplishment is real but the situation we're in is sort of fake. so i'm just doing my best to roll with the punches! which brings us to--
week 2: the real tests begin and i'm studying for the first time in my life
first, let's start with my findings from last week. i've got a little list of projects, some more pressing than others (more on that in a moment). in writing about these ideas, i already had inspo for more fics and original work! so the theory that concepts were just lingering beneath the surface was true! you love to see it. groundbreaking discovery: creative thought begets more creative thought! i wrote 4 days this week, which is more than i thought i would! 3 of those days were journaling and 1 day was chipping away at a twisted wonderland pwp i've had in my drafts for a while (floyd/riddle for those that go there). i made minimal progress but i'm taking any sort of increment as a win! i want to be more self-compassionate and curious-- where has shame gotten me anyway besides endless rumination and creatively stagnating?
which brings us to what a habit might look for me. my strategy right now is to scientific method this-- see what works, what doesn't, and what hangs in the balance between. i'm an extrovert and will always choose time with friends over solo activities, and writing is very solo for me due to my inability to focus with even the smallest sounds or visual noise. so my mindset shift here (trickery, one might call it) is to remind myself that by writing, i'm privately preparing for a larger hangout. which is true! i've made connections and want to talk about what i'm working on with this community. so with that in mind, i'll describe in my bullet points below what my first attempt at habit-building will be.
now you may be wondering at this point-- spankhorn, what's this "first test" you keep talking about? well, you see, i'm an artist as a "second job" and my first obligations of the new year popped up this weekend: i got accepted into an art market next month and got accepted into a gallery exhibit that will be taking place in march. which is so exciting! but it also means that i'm reminded of the thing that has prevented me from developing a writing "habit"-- i have MANY other hobbies and creative pursuits. so i have to be careful with not over-extending myself and realistically integrating my writing practice into an already busy life. so wish me luck in my ventures!!
this brings us to my goals for this week:
- outline my assignment for rare femslash exchange. that pressing project i mentioned earlier? this is it. i did canon review over the weekend and my ideas are sparse but i woke up with a starting point and that in itself is exciting to me. i have to remember that creative thought begets more creative thought-- not to sound like an instagram art influencer but Trust The Process!
- get 100 more words down on that pwp! i've never written smut before so it's a bit of a challenge, and compounds on my usual dilemma of wondering "am i doing Writing right?". but i really like what i've got and know that i can do it since the basic outline is there and just waiting to be fleshed out. in the wise words of shane madej-- i've connected the dots, i've connected them (but future tense).
- explore that first experiment with writing habit. i've read that doing something consistently to "cue" you toward your habit can help trigger your brain to know it's time to do that thing. so i've been lighting a little candle while i work and that's been nice, we'll see if this pavlov situation works out lol. as far as Timing goes, i'm going to try first to write physical notes during my lunch break at work and then transcribe them in the evening time-- see where that takes me. i used to do this years ago but fell out of it when i stopped riding the bus everywhere. i think it can still benefit me, though! my friend militarypenguin reminded me of the power of longhand writing and i think i'm gonna give it a shot again. it's sure helped with outlines!
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Date: 2023-01-08 11:19 pm (UTC)For me, writing is mostly a solo hobby. It would be nice to have people to squee about ships/fandom with, but I don't really have those right now, and the beta I *do* have for one fandom doesn't seem very enthused about it. :/ Maybe that's just me misreading tone online. Who knows.
If I get a new idea while I'm working on something, usually I like to let the new idea percolate for a bit and build up a bit of depth, but sometimes I'll outline or make notes on it and see what flourishes. Usually my ideas come when I'm tying up the loose ends on another project, so they don't tend to overlap.
I'm working on a multichapter longfic right now, sort of coming toward the last third of the story. I can already feel my brain getting bored with the idea and wanting something new to chew on, except surprise, I don't have any new ideas to distract myself with! Hopefully something will come later.
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Date: 2023-01-09 02:46 am (UTC)that seems like a good approach! giving it your best energy and letting it properly germinate. on that topic, i admire that you're able to do the multichap longfic you do! i focus on short stories so that level of plotting is always something i hope to achieve one day. you're in the home stretch with this one, i hope that you're able to catch a second wind before finishing it off! i know that new ideas will come around. do your best!
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Date: 2023-01-09 03:02 am (UTC)Interesting! I always feel weird asking non-fandom literate folks to read my stuff, unless they really want to, it just feels like they're pandering to me. But that's a good idea, to find people who match your energy. *thinking emoji* Now if I only knew where to find them... and hope they have the free time/availability I do. xD
on that topic, i admire that you're able to do the multichap longfic you do!
Aww, thank you! <3333 I admire people who can write shorter stories; it's annoying AF to have all your ideas grow into monster storylines when sometimes you just want something shorter and self-contained D:
Thanks for the encouragement! <3 If you need any, I'm always around :3
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Date: 2023-01-09 02:12 am (UTC)i want to be more self-compassionate and curious-- where has shame gotten me anyway besides endless rumination and creatively stagnating?
HELL YEAH that's the spirit!
When I get a new idea I write down all my ideas for it as a bullet point list (basically an outline but sloppier) while it's still fresh in my head so I can go back to work on my current project. But if I'm really feeling the inspiration for this new idea I just set to work on it, then either set the current project aside for it or set it aside for the current project (depends on if this current project has a deadline of any sort or not).
Writing's by and large a solo hobby for me, and I'd like it to become more of a communal one in especially with regards to brainstorming, outlining, planning and getting hyped up over each other's ideas. I've already joined a couple writing communities (in addition to GYWO I'm also in a whump-centric Discord server), plus talking to you about it, and I'd like to continue building on it from there!
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Date: 2023-01-09 02:42 am (UTC)laughing, is an outline not a bullet-point list? sounds about right to me! i think it's good that you chase the energy where you've got it, i think that's something i want to do better at myself. less judgement for placing my energy and inspiration where i have it. if i've done something, why be upset at myself for that? doesn't add up to me!
selfishly i def wanna hear more about your writing and process etc. i know it means a lot to you and it's always got me curious and excited. im happy youre among your fellow whump-likers that sounds cool as hell. keep on keepin on, my friend, i'm always in your corner!!
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Date: 2023-01-09 04:01 am (UTC)Oh, absolutely; I refer to this one as a sloppy version because the ideas usually aren't sorted out into ordered sequence yet. I treat my outlines like they're maps to my destination, and until it's cleaned up this map is probably going to make me jump around a lot as is before I reach the destination (unless I intend it to be a nonlinear narrative)!
Aaaahhhh that means a lot to me that you want to hear more about my writing and progress! 😭 Your weekly journals have been a huge inspiration for me reflecting on how I get things done and how I can build on those skills--I'm for sure going to talk more about my progress this year because I could definitely use some pumping up and I love reading others' too!
You keep on keeping on too, buddy!! 👊
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Date: 2023-01-10 08:35 am (UTC)I have several writing communities where I do focus sessions with other people - I'm much more likely to get stuff done if I have set times and other people to help me stick with it.
I haven't made a ton of progress with my writing projects so far this year - enough that they're moving forward, but I haven't managed to get back into the 'Wooo! Writing! Yay!' frame of mind yet. I have reasonably realistic plans to write a first draft of my next novel by the end of July - but at the moment it very much feels like work I have to get through, rather than something I'm looking forward to, which is annoying.
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Date: 2023-01-13 11:09 pm (UTC)isn't it the best feeling to get in a groove and really focus in like that? i'm happy you're able to get more done in sessions like that. i didn't really think that the accountability of community would be helpful for me, but i've been really proven wrong with gywo, and i'm VERY glad about that.
excited to hear about your plans for your novel's first draft! do you mind if i ask what you're writing about? i definitely hear you about the "feels like work" piece. a lot of my goals this year are mindset shifting because i'm feeling very much the same. i want to re-connect with writing as fun and play!!
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Date: 2023-01-14 01:47 pm (UTC)I'm writing a YA fantasy novel about Derenna, a girl who is training to be the next DreamWalker - someone who goes into the DreamWorld to combat the Darkness that's threatening to overpower people's minds. When a young thief steals something that's very precious to her, she discovers there's a lot more to her past origins than she ever knew and that those in power are hiding a huge secret that makes her question the destiny she's been preparing for her whole life.
Ooh - I didn't have a pitch paragraph before - and that's not half bad - thanks for prompting me to do that!
It's my fifth novel - and you'd think I'd know what I was doing by now, right? But it doesn't seem to be getting any easier...
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Date: 2023-01-10 08:29 pm (UTC)i too noticed that i had more ideas popping up or resolving themselves once i started doing gywo. its true!!! creative thoughts beget more creative thoughts!! when i have a new idea, i jot it down roughly in evernote and set it aside until i can work on it. most of the things i think about in passing are things that i can't work on yet, and often when i come back to something later, i can figure out where to combine it with other concepts for a more solid idea, find the flaws i need to work out, or determine if it needs scrapped. once i put it in the "save it for later" box, i can move on with my life and work on the things that come first.
i feel like i didn't get as much done this week but i'm having fun rereading and making notes as i go. i'm still making little comments like "lol" at the stuff i laughed at. good job, past me! along the way, i'm also manually writing out a timeline of their published romantic chapters so i can better plot out what comes next (including who felt what at that point). i decided way back when that it would be fun and easier to write a non-linear story... which was and still is true... but i didn't keep good notes! why didn't i keep good notes??
best wishes for this week of gywo!!!! <3
p.s. is your candle marshmallow fireside
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Date: 2023-01-10 10:14 pm (UTC)weekly bullet points have been serving me well! it's an easy marker of time on top of giving me multiple days in which to fulfill it. i think that might be part of the habit forming actually, is marking time a bit differently. daily goals? maybe not working. weekly goals? super doable so far!!!
i keep a dream journal and that's interestingly made me a LOT better at writing down quick idea notes. cuz i KNOW i'll forget it if it isn't captured! and man, isn't it the best when you're able to combine concepts into one thing? not only does it solidify your taste as cohesive, it also makes things so much easier!! one big passion project!! i'm happy the re-read is still going strong and treating you well! as someone who has almost never kept good notes... my sympathy. but this is a great way to kill two birds with one stone!
cheering you on as well! keep me in the loop on fun moments in the re-read!!
p.s. it's warm apple pie rn (good in theory, fine in practice-- it's mostly artificial apple smell) but soon... the prophecy will be fulfilled