(no subject)

[2corbies]

So, I thought I'd say a few words on my habits as a writer. I come from a family of writers, and I have occasionally considered trying to make a living at it. (My sexual orientation, come to think of it, is probably best described as "writers and geeks.") Since I was a kid, I've produced an enormous volume of fiction, much of it original, but most of it fanfic. When I was in college, I paid almost $2000 to recover a damaged hard drive which contained several gigs of pleasure writing. I once spent two years on a fanfiction epic for a very obscure anime called "Legend of the Galactic Heroes."

I never finished my LoGH epic. Nobody ever read it. I still revisit it, or one of it's better spinoff stories, from time to time. Same with the several dozen partial novels I have lying around. Needless to say, I'm not seriously thinking about writing for a living anymore (which is a good thing, considering how most of the folks I know feel about it).

But, that's the kind of writer I am. I'll spend years on something that's never going to be finished and never going to see the light of day. So, really, writing stuff, even short stuff, which gets finished and edited and actually posted for people to read? That's a huge step for me. I am in complete awe of authors, in fandom or IRL, who produce large volumes of finished work. I have absolutely no idea how they do it.

But I still write a lot more than gets finished. I'm actively working on at least a dozen due South fics, and have maybe twice as many that are dead-ends I've discarded, or stuff I've gotten to the point of needing a beta, and then balked. I love prompts, but they are the enemy because they give me more ideas, and tempt me to start new projects before the old ones are finished.

(I'm actually the same way with yarn craft, my other major hobby. Fiber stores are deadly. I routinely have to buy a new drop spindle, because I've got a project on all the ones I have. And I honestly think the reason I crochet more than I knit is because you can take the crochet hook out of the project, and use it on another one, without having to worry so much about raveling!)

So. A reference on helens78 's journal led me over to this writing tracking website 750words.com. It gives you points for writing at least 750 words a day, which, I've discovered, takes me about 20-30 minutes. That's if I only write 750 words-- usually at that point I'm on a roll and I'm good for at least 1500. So, in the last week I've written close to 10,000 words for the due South Kinkmeme here and on lj. What of it gets posted will likely be unattributed, 'cause I'm rather shy.  Posting something, whether fanfic or a podfic recording, is a major effort of will-- actually pimping it on the noticeboard is huge.  Participating in fandom is something I took on as a sort of personal challenge, and I'm so delighted that people seem to like my stuff!

At this point in my life, I'm relatively content with my writing habits.  That definitely wasn't always true-- when I was younger, I'd beat myself up over every unfinished story (which resulted in a lot of psychic bruises, believe you me).  But, now, I've come to terms with doing things for enjoyment, without much expectation of excellence or lust of result.  Whether yarn, music, reading, writing, exercise, whatever, my time is so limited that I have to be able to set it down when needed, with nary a second thought. 

I've been absolutely bored to tears while I've been out of work these last few weeks.  But, in lots of ways, the enforced idleness has been wonderful-- and wonderfully productive!  It's the first time in years I've been able to devote hours a day to reading and writing and other things I enjoy.  I hope I'll be able to keep some of the lessons I've learned (750 words a day, maybe, please?) when I go back to work.  But, if not, so be it.  It's still been a nice sabbatical.

Comments

[akamine_chan]

I was having problems making the time to sit down and write - everything else in the universe came first and before I knew it the day was over and I'd managed to write nothing.

And helens78 kept talking about 750words and I went and tried it out.

It's been a godsend, because it's got me writing again, regularly. Not quiet as prolifically as you. But still. I've written 80k worth of words in 84 days.

Some of that has been fic, some of that has been journal entries, some has been ranting.

I'm glad you've found 750words to be useful - you are someone I would love to see more writing from...

\o/

And hopefully you are healing from your injury.

[2corbies]

its got me writing again. . . Not quite as prolifically as you. . .

Mig have spoken too soon there-- I got completely distracted by yarn and haven't written anything new in a few days. But that might be ok, because I'm finally proofing some of the stuff from earlier. And I'm feeling much better-- in fact, that's the driver behind a lot of my productivity, because I'm going back to work next week and I want to have some more stuff finished first!

And we missed you at the rewatch chat this afternoon! The recaps should be posted soon, I think.

[luzula]

I eagerly clicked on the "navel contemplation" cut", because I love to hear about other people's writing process (and compare it to my own). I'm one of those people who always thought they couldn't write something to save their life. Not that I couldn't string words together in ways that pleased me, but I just couldn't think of ideas for stories. And then I found fan fiction, and tried it out myself--and I could suddenly write. It was pretty cool, and it still surprises me that I can actually write stories. Me! I can write! \o/

I'm glad you're feeling productive, and that you've found a tool that works for you.

I wish I had access to that library in the Sandman books, the one where you can sit and read stories that people planned but never wrote, or that they wrote but never published, or other versions that they might have written. Which is to say that I am curious about your WIP:s and wish more of them would get finished, so I could read them!

[2corbies]

I'm one of those people who always thought they couldn't write. . .

What, are you kidding? You write in two languages! And you do it well! That is truly fantastic, and far beyond anything I could attempt :-). But yes, it's amazing how fanfic can free your creative juices. I know a couple of IRL writers who say the fic side of their writing really saved the whole enterprise.

[sudaki]

You don't know me, so hopefully this won't be completely weird, but I found you through a series of late-night clicks and this caught my eye. Particularly the bit about your LoGH epic. It was half "dammit!" and half "that sounds familiar."

I feel kind of in a similar spot myself. I used to write and post a LOT of stuff -- fanfic, whatever -- and then for whatever reasons I stopped being able to finish or post anything. I'm trying to get back in the habit mostly because I remember writing making me feel better. I think this 750 words thing might help a lot.

Anyway, thanks and good luck. Just popping by.

[2corbies]

I'm glad if anything I said was useful to you! It can definitely be very hard to keep motivated with the writing-- I know writers who like to set word-count goals, but also folks who hate working to a given word count and prefer to set a time goal, or just be very conscientious about giving themselves enough time, space, etc to fuel their muse. Different stuff works for different people at different times. I hope you find what works best for you. :-)