GYWO 2023 week 2/52

[sugarspankhorn]

excellent 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!

how was last week for you writing-wise-- what projects have you been working on? how do you handle it when a new idea comes up when you're working on something-- do you chase the new idea or do you persist on your current project? does writing feel like a solo hobby to you, or do you take part in group writing events; maybe a mix of both? thank you for replying to my posts and chatting with me, it's been so encouraging! i can't wait to hear from you and hear what's going on in the life!! would love to hear about it all!

Comments

[militarypenguin]

Already told you on Discord, but seriously excellent work on that first week! You're already ahead of the game with writing three more days than what you initially intended, things are only going uphill from there.

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!

[sugarspankhorn]

thank you miles, that means a lot to me ;__; im doing my very best!!

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!!

[militarypenguin]

is an outline not a bullet-point list?

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!! 👊