Work Room - Week 26

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Some weeks are easier than others for you. Not just the topics, but getting the time to concentrate on writing. During intersection weeks, there are times when things just click between people and other times when they don't.

How do you take those rough patches and make them into something positive?

That's important after all, being able to use those hurdles as growth opportunities is one of the biggest cliches in the book! ;) So, obviously, there must be something you learn from them!

How do you manage to transition back into thinking about your entries as a solo act? Are there people that you have previously intersected with that you continue to use as sounding boards?

Comments

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

First?

YAY FIRST!

Also - Gary, you scurvy rogue! Here I thought I was SO DAMN CLEVER preemptively nabbing an awesome partner before the topic post even went up, but noooo. Evil creature :P

ETA: Wait, are "firsts" even allowed in the work room? Or is that GR only? My lack of social skills, let me show you them.

[emploding.livejournal.com]

I'm almost thinking I can manage a homegame entry this week!

Which of course means it won't happen.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

So far, the hardest thing for me with intersections has been getting past my tendency to finish at the last minute. Working with people has been awesome and every time, I feel that the inspiration from someone else helped me write something better than what I'd do on my own.

It's really hard for me to transition back to working on my own. I do have people who've betaed for me repeatedly but they weren't always former intersection partners. My partner from last week has betaed for me a lot, though. :)

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I kinda saw this coming but I'm sad about it.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I definitely think it gets harder to make an impact as time goes on.

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry if you feel being partners messed you up this week. They were hard topics!

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I wold be happy to brainstorm with you. I have a hard time going back to solo writing too.

[alien-infinity.livejournal.com]

I've had a couple Intersection partners beta for me outside of Intersections. I wanted to give an extra-special shout out to porn_this_way because I essentially met her through said Intersections. I have continued bombarding her with the bizarre workings of my imagination even after her poll standing wasn't at stake, and she hasn't told me to shut up (yet). ^_^

I feel a little...adrift not having a partner this week. I'm not sure how I'll transition yet. Possibly by annoying porn_this_way and asking her if my ideas suck. :P

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Okay, now that I'm done posting questionably appropriate declarations of "FIRST!" and shaking my fist at the overlord...

I *definitely* still talk with previous intersection partners. alien_infinity and I bounce ideas off each other all the damn time, and that girl is a godsend. I get to see her cool shit ahead of time in order to beta it, and she's downright amazing with poking and prodding me out of writer's block when I go flailing to her on AIM at some weird-ass hour of the night. java_fiend, however, who I worked with on intersection week 2, is a tool of Satan, not God, and I have the feeling he'd do me in for slander if I claimed otherwise :P

As far as transitioning back into a solo act - that shit's tough, NGL. It's weird because I always hated group work as a kid in school, and still generally prefer to work alone on most things, but I find myself writing better, stronger pieces, and being much more willing to go out of my comfort zone when I'm working with someone in an intersection. IDK if it's because an intersection = an automatic sounding board, or because I've got another person's ideas to play with, or because I'm horrified at the idea of dragging somebody else down with me should I fuck up a piece, or some combination thereof, or something else entirely.

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

Writing solo or porn_this_way getting Workroom Frist? :D

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

If you hadn't kicked so much everlovin' ass this week I'd have been dragging you down liek whoa - which I guess technically I was still doing, you were just too good for it to matter. I'm relieved to be writing solo this week, because I can't hurt anyone else if I screw up again.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Firsts are allowed anywhere. You should declare it loudly in the line at the bank, too, as soon as you get to the front. :)

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I am probably not the only one relieved that this week is not an intersection week. My dad is in town this weekend, and collaboration, though not impossible, would have been more difficult.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

What's always fascinating about the intersections is how it can raise someone's game.

Some of my best online friends over the past three years have come from LJ Idol. They are people who live all over the globe, and my husband has gotten used to me constantly talking about them. :)

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

It's ok. Voting was weird too. I watched and at one point, we both had an extra vote, when then someone(s) took away and our count went down.

I don't know that voting always correlates. But I do know there were MANY great intersections out there this week and many great entries.

I've been *VERY* fortunate...

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I've never had a *BAD* intersection partner. However, I'm not sure I can say my experiences last season were particularly *GOOD*, either...

My first partner and I had no clue how to work together -- the fault was as least as much mine as theirs, so *PLEASE* don't think that I'm pointing my finger. But since neither of us had a clue how to work together, we didn't even try: We each wrote our respective pieces without communicating or coordinating... and posted them when they were ready. The stories obviously had nothing to do with each other, so we never claimed otherwise. We made it through the week, so I can't say it was a *BAD* experience... but I learned nothing from it, so I can't call it a *GOOD* experience.

My second partner did try to coordinate with me... but that boiled down to them saying "Tell me what you're writing about, and I'll build my piece as an extension of yours." So they did all the real work, all the "heavy lifting"... and they came up with a very nice piece. I didn't have to do any extra work at all.

At first, this sounds like a *GREAT* partner... except since my partner did all the work, I didn't learn anything from the experience! So again, I'm not sure I can say it was a *GOOD* experience.


This season... I thought I was going to "screw the pooch" the first time Intersections came up. Granted, my self-esteem problem was going full blast at the time, but still: I had no idea what I was doing, no clue how to pick a "good" partner for me. But I did have one thing going for me: I've always been open-minded. So when my first partner pitched their idea, I quickly came up with a story both they and I could work with. And we just kept the lines of communication open, traded ideas back and forth. I'm still amazed how well it worked out.

My second partnership... it was a little rough in the beginning for both of us, as it took us a while to come up with ideas that we were both happy with that we could connect. OTOH, after the initial rough patch, things got *MUCH* better... because we were both willing to talk things through and make adjustments to our tales as needed.

My most recent partnership, I got to play in someone else's world. A lot of people have complimented me on my "world building" skills, but it was interesting and unusual for me to employ those skills according to my partner's rules... but again, the lines of communications stayed open both ways, and we were both reasonably flexible. And we were both *VERY* happy with the results.


Never having had a truly "bad" partnership, I'm not sure what to say about handling that situation, and what could be learned from it, though I hope I would try to stay positive. OTOH, I *KNOW* that I've enjoyed working with all three of my partners this season, and I absolutely would be willing to use them as sounding boards / beta readers / con crit advisers. They are each wonderful writers in their own way, and each brings something different to the table, so to speak.

I know my partners this season feel the same way about me. They've said so many times.

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

My best friends do not even live in my same state. My husband and kids find that odd but friendship can be non geographic specific.

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

Hell, I did a FRIST on a vote page. So as far as I'm concerned, Work Room counts.

But since you did a FIRST instead of a FRIST, you're not dead to me...

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Me too. My first thought was some sort of people-eating monster but that might be too obvious.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Writing solo! Workroom frists are never sad. :)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I'd almost forgotten what a blast it is to have a sounding board/intersection partner! whirlgig and I just pounded out every conceivable idea that popped into our heads. It was exhilarating for me because I seldom work that way except in my own head ;)

The one thing I'm tempted to take away from the intersection experience is beta'ing. My husband usually beta's my work, but there is definitely something to be said about having somebody beta who's also playing Idol. I've never gotten into it because of my work schedule. But I figure, if I can successfully intersect with somebody on the other side of the world from me, trying to juggle beta'ing with my work schedule can't be too difficult, can it?

[notodette.livejournal.com]

That was my parents' favorite skit.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Hehe!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I just happened to finish eating a dish of fudge brownie frozen yogurt when the topic was posted -- now I'm a bit too sated!

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

AND LO AND BEHOLD, what are we doing on AIM right now?? Heehee.

Though you are not remotely annoying me. ♥ ♥