The Work Shop @ LJ Idol

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Hello there.

Welcome to the first episode of The Work Shop @ LJ Idol!

You are probably wondering, “Gary, what the heck are you talking about?”

But, if you have spent any time at Idol at all over the years, you know that’s a perfectly normal state of affairs, and have figured out the best course of action is to “Just Go With It”.

What is the Work Shop, and more importantly, why is the Work Shop?

I wanted to create a space, in between seasons, for people to come in and not only talk about writing, but also hammer out whatever it is that they are currently working on.

In looking around to see what was out there for writers, I didn’t see anything quite like it. I hope that it continues to evolve into something useful for not only the current Idol community, but for writers from all over the place.

To that end, I grabbed a few people to start things off in the right direction, threw them together and beat them until they had a conversation.

The next couple episodes are in the works, but the success of this idea relies on you. So jump on it, and join the fun! While you are at it, grab some friends who might need that extra pair of eyes, or shot in the arm to get them motivated.

***

The Work Shop: Getting Started

It’s the off-season—what are you working on? Three veterans from last and past seasons, alephz, mstrobel, and Season 8 winner whipchick, weigh in on beginnings and the tricky balance between inspiration and process.



whipchick: Now that Idol’s over, I’m struggling to maintain that constant writing momentum! How do you "begin" writing? Like, every day you give a brisk shake, trot over to your keyboard and start banging away, or are you more project/assignment oriented?

alephz: I'm kind of in love with distraction. The biggest and most important first step (for me) is to find the right level of of white noise or absurdly-familiar music, to keep that part of my head that craves distraction distracted while I try and sneak around it to do the real work.

whipchick: Totally. I put a song on repeat, or make theme playlists for longer work. It helps me sustain the mood, and I’m conditioned to where feeling my earbuds helps me focus, even without music! And I try to go to a coffee shop, wherever I am, at about the same time every day.

mstrobel: I find that trying to set a time is the greatest way to make me not
write anything! Nor do I force myself to write for X amount of hours each day...I pretty
much just write when inspiration strikes me especially hard—tonight at work, between calls, I was jotting down a story (I may have also "accidentally" hung up on a lot of people because when I'm writing, I don't like to be distracted too much...)

I like it to be quiet: nothing but the birds outside. I guess that's also why I still prefer to hand write everything out first, because then I can just curl up with pen and paper and I
don't have the temptation of the internet just an alt-tab away like I do when typing.

whipchick: I’m playing with hand-writing these days, especially in the car, but it’s so useful to look up a word or check a fact as I go!

alephz: The only thing that works better is actually getting to talk with people about my ideas. Someone to bounce things off of, who can ask you about holes,contradictions and problems, is invaluable.

whipchick: Is writing a joyful pleasure or do you slave away, hoping Fairy Godmother shows up to grant you a finished draft?

alephz: Sometimes it is exactly zero fun to do. Worthwhile, yes. Fulfilling, but no fun. I frequently wish someone would just give me a draft that's already done because part of me wants to get to the Next Thing or the Next Part or what-have-you.

mstrobel: For me, writing is only a joyful pleasure! I think that forcing myself
to write at a certain time, for a certain amount of time, might change that though, which is
why I don't do that. Writing the first draft of my novel, some days I'd be scribbling away
for eight hours straight, then there'd be three or four days where I wouldn't write a word. The same goes with my editing process—I only do it when I’m in the mood for it.

whipchick: Man, I envy that! I have to write regularly for the words to keep
flowing—I really feel a difference in my ability after spending a year of writing weekly.
Even “inspiration” comes more quickly with regular deadlines.

mstrobel: Deadlines do help me get things written properly. I have a LOT of ideas floating around my head and if I don't have a reason to write them down, then I just won't.

alephz: Nothing pushes the brain into gear quite like the spectre of failure in front of an audience (or, more honestly, in front of one's self). Deadlines give a body
a reason to be braver, to put stuff out there that maybe you'd have mulled over and/or discarded if given your druthers. Personal projects are rougher, because if you don't finish, well, who's gonna know but you and the handful of people who care about it?

whipchick: Where do your ideas come from? Do you keep a list?

alephz: Absolutely! Computer files and at least two notebooks that I try to keep
on me at all times so as not to have to rely on my already distraction-prone head.

whipchick: I have folders dating back to middle school, with scraps of napkin,
pieces of notebook paper with a few words scribbled on them. I carry a notebook and I keep an ideas list on my desktop.

alephz: Things come up when talking with friends, or just noticing a story that isn't being told and trying to tell it.

whipchick: I often get a sentence, or an image: the other day, a friend in Cirque
du Soleil told me that when there’s an accident, they have to keep the music going, because then the show is technically still on and they don’t have to give the audience refunds. So there’s a story in there, the performers trying to entertain the audience, with the lights on and someone lying there hurt, but the music is still going.

alephz: I'm often a little skeptical as to whether or not they'll all lead to
anything good (even by my own... let's say "inclusive" standards), but you never know how you'll look at the idea days, months or even years later. What sounds silly today may be the springboard to something truly astounding tomorrow.

mstrobel: THAT! That's why I recycle too, because sometimes I'm still fond of the idea, it's just the execution was really crap...and I want to give the idea a second chance. Or I’ll rework an idea I used in a fan-fiction around some original characters, to make it properly my own. What do you guys think of recycling ideas? Not so much springboarding, but actually re-using the same scenario or similar? Is it laziness/cheating, or fair-play?

alephz: For my money, that's completely on so long as it's a different
work. There's a lot of traction from playing a thing that's already been done from a different perspective. A murder in a locked room and four clever characters who hated the victim is a setup for a classic noir, an anti-authoritarian screed, a dark comedy, a tense
drama—

whipchick: —a door-slamming farce—

alephz: Yeah, I think you really shoot yourself in the foot if you don't let yourself revisit somewhere just because you've been there before. When you come back, you're a different person and it's a different work.

mstrobel: Whether or not I can go back to an idea at a later stage all depends on the idea itself! Sometimes I'll just plain get over it, so I won't care to write it any more.

whipchick: When you start writing, how much comes out fully-formed like armor- clad Athena bursting from your skull, and how much is page vomit that you figure you'll clean up in the next draft?

mstrobel: I write everything out by hand first, and I do simply start at the
beginning and then go from there. I like to write from beginning to end in one messy hit and then go back and fix everything up. Often, I don't even know the ending until just
before I get there—I begin, and then the story continues to write itself.

whipchick: I’m pretty linear, too, though I usually know in my head what
ending is coming.

alephz: Matryoshka dolls are my organizing muses. My current Big Dang Project involves a massive outline followed by chapter outlines. Sometimes I mess with the sub-outlines or redo whole stretches, but it's a whole mess easier for me to break down a massive task into a bunch of smaller ones.

On the other hand, one of my back-burner Big Dang Projects, The Liar's Diary developed
in a kind of scattershot order with bits from various parts of the thing bleeding into one
another.

whipchick: I start with the topic or the initial idea, think about it pretty intently for a few hours, sometimes over a few days, and organize it in my head or scribble
sections down. When I sit down to write a short piece or a chapter, it’s often close to
fully-formed.

alephz: A lot of the stuff I do for fun, I just sit down and try to let the thing
shape itself. Of course, midway through, I often realize that the idea in question doesn't really have a shape. That's where that "idea" file comes in. A lot of them stay as
shapeless things, but some of them can jump right out later; less Athena and more like
butterflies.

whipchick: Nice analogy! I’ve got a flock of butterflies right now—regular blogging, where I pluck a single idea from the file and create a post, and working on my
Young Adult novel. I can’t remember how I started it, it’s been so long, but it’s taking
a lot of commitment, writing dates with other writers and appointments with myself, to move forward. Maybe I need a new playlist.

mstrobel: I'm slowly editing the fourth or so draft of my novel into the fifth or
so draft, really taking my time with it and enjoying the breaks because then I can return with a new perspective and much less reluctance to chop out huge sections. Honestly, I just picked up a pen and suddenly it was 400 pages later and I had a completed story (and really sore fingers). Beforehand I'd always doubted my ability both to commit to anything longer than a couple of scenes, and to have enough ideas to fill out a whole novel, so it was surprising when I suddenly realized I knew what ending I was heading towards.

alephz: I’m working on comic scripts and prose (remember me mentioning how much I crave distraction?)—my main current project is a superhero epic comic script. Getting started was, basically, just a matter of getting past my knee-jerk fear of proceeding with things (trying invites the possibility of success but also a constant feeling that failure is certain; usually ending with abandoning the thing) and just sitting down with an outline and jamming my fingers on the keyboard until something halfway decent comes out. Now if only video games would stop being so fun...

whipchick: So let’s finish up by asking the writers listening: What are you working on, and how did you get started? Would you do it that way again? How do you keep going when you don’t have an external deadline?

________________________________________

mstrobel is an Aussie girl who is loving being back in Australia after two years abroad. Writing aside, her favourite pastimes include tap dancing, going to the theatre, and convincing publishers to send her advance copies of books to review.

alephz is an American expatriate living in Sweden who makes a valiant effort to keep his feet on the ground while his head is in the clouds; he occasionally has thoughts at the world on his LJ (http://alephz.livejournal.com) and his tumbl(http://kaijuvsgiantrobotsvsme.tumblr.com/).

whipchick is a writer and trapeze artist whose LJ Idol piece, Reality, is featured in the October issue of Magic magazine. She blogs at I Do Words.

Comments

[fading-light.livejournal.com]

This is great. I love it. Everyone has their own way of doing things when it comes to writing, and it is actually kind of helpful just knowing what other people go through when it comes to writing anything.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I'm working on my Cliffton (http://n3m3sis43.livejournal.com/4594.html#cutid1) stuff, which I started during Idol and apparently am going to keep writing? I am in some kind of weird moody character development stage that is polar opposite of the goofy way it started out. I'm sensing there are going to be massive edits in my future.

One thing that's helping me keep writing is that I'm doing writerverse. Having prompts really helps. Also, I'm still talking a lot with some of my friends from last season of Idol. We give each other encouragement, brainstorming and feedback and it's awesome.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

It's so helpful to have/build a community. Do you find that you end up being the initiator, or that others in the group do, or is it the mechanics of the community itself? (Like, you're all responding to the same prompts)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I am working on a couple of projects some with Peter and some without. Still blogging and plan to be a little more consistent with that because the exercise of writing something in the morning sets me up for writing the rest of the day.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

I find that, too! I feel so much more productive and focused when I start the day with writing--like, Ahhh, that's done, now I am An Accomplished Person.

How do you avoid getting sucked into the internet?

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of on hiatus. Without a deadline I tend to get distracted by the RL shiny stuff. Right now I'm working on a cake project into which my creative energy pours. When it's over I'll be mentally and physically spent. Writing?!? What's that?!?

I probably should keep an idea list. So many times I'll suddenly get a glimmer -- thought, opening sentence, a slender strand of memory -- while I'm working. Sometimes it'll stick until I can write it down. Other times it'll disappear into the atmosphere, and I'll wonder whether or not it will return.

Excluding Idol, something within me has to be moved enough to make me want to write. I used to liken it to a volcanic eruption when a story I'd been mentally writing just HAD to spill in all its messy glory. I'd be so hyperfocused on it that the rest of the world, in my mind, didn't exist. I learned the hard way that that particular creative process, for me, isn't the way to operate. I'm still working on that.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

What's replacing that process?

[ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com]

I am working on a collection of short stories I'm calling _Something Zombie This Way Comes_
It will include _Zombie Christmas_
The stories I'm writing now are not going in my lj so that it will have never before seen material.
I am planing to have thirteen stories in it total.
Additional
I finished painting my bed for any on interested photos posted in my lj.
I love the way the hummer turned out.
and remember
meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taiste good with ketchup.

[muchtooarrogant.livejournal.com]

Honestly, writing with a deadline and assigned topics worked so well for me that, desperate for an ongoing challenge after Gary gave me the boot, I revived an old writing community of mine that had gone dormant, and cajoled people on my Flist and as many others as I could find to join it. For me, writing is an outlet, a way of challenging myself to achieve something new every week in different ways. I suppose I could've somehow motivated myself to simply write on my own, but I also enjoy the community aspect of talking to people about writing, as well as reading what they've come up with. A writing workshop that never ends? *grin*

For the moment, I don't have any large projects that I'm working on.

Thanks to Gary for posting this, as well as to the three of you for writing down your various writing philosophies. It was enjoyable to read, and also nice to see echoes here and there of what motivates me. "I must not be so crazy after all." *grin* Or, at least I have good company if I am.

Something mstrobel said really resonated as well, " I like it to be quiet: nothing but the birds outside."

Oh, absolutely. I can't write worth a damn in noisy environments, and actually prefer total silence. I guess that's why so much of what I write gets typed after midnight. *smile*

Dan

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

99% of the time I just get distracted SO easily if there's any type of words going on around me. Instrumental music would be fine - not that I listen to it that often. Sometimes I can totally tune it out, but I prefer not to chance it because that's how I end up accidentally watching the footy and writing about four words an hour. In fact, when we were having the above discussion one of my housemates came home and decided to watch Chicago and that was it, I had to relocate to my room or it would have taken me two hours to answer one of whipchick's questions!

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Currently working on five novels simultaneously, a novella length fanfic, and whatever little smaller pieces strike my fancy.

Basically, I have no idea how to focus so I just try and pound out at least 1000 words a day, no matter what it's for. Knowing I NEED that many words a day gets me working on *anything.* And really, I know which sections I'm going to end up rewriting. I know which ones I feel are perfect now. The ones I rewrite? I rewrite when the mood strikes.

I also rely on prompts. They give me a way to focus my energy on something -- a situation, a character, anything. Joining communities like hc_bingo and writerverse, as well as the themes list from 500themes -- these are "projects" that push me to keep producing ideas. And I love it. :)

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Is 500themes open? If it is, will you link it pretty please?

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

This is great stuff. I'm not currently working on anything of my own, I feel like I need a break after each Idol season (even though I've been out of the running for quite some time), but I am currently helping give a once-over / Beta read to a novel written by another Idolist, which is cool - sort of like getting an advanced copy of her book, LOL.

I like having background music when I'm writing. Total silence drives me batty!

[muchtooarrogant.livejournal.com]

"I like having background music when I'm writing. Total silence drives me batty!"

*grin* Which explains a lot about me. Background music sometimes works for me, although I usually find myself humming along, and then wondering where the artist came up with a particular line, or how they decided to use a specific instrument, and... LOL

Dan

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I've barely switched on my computer this month, what with birthdays, week long headaches and massive hardware issues. So writing has been non existent. However, I've just been accepted as a writer for Yahoo! Contributor Network, so I'm getting back into my routine of writing while my daughter is at Rainbows tonight, since I've finally sorted my laptop and will be writing my first article for them about life in an alternative family. Funnily enough, it'll be quite Idolish in approach.

I've also been plotting with a fellow Idoler about a possible co-writing project, which I'm very excited about. There's a lot of preplanning required, but hopefully we'll be getting down to that soon. Plus I'll be returning to my sorely neglected zombie blog, lurchingfromthefryingpan.wordpress.com - neglected due to the aforesaid not switching on my computer.

I've also been making a few other important decisions which will free me up to focus on writing as well. So a lot's been going on in my corner of the world.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, that's awesome!

How do you find balance with so many things going on in your life? You've got family and homeschool and you sound very active in your community, where does writing fit, and how do you manage all of it? Like, duh, part of it's just being capable (and awesome!) but do you have any scheduling techniques or prioritizing philosophies?

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I'm a big playlist person too. I think the interesting thing about playlists, is that not only do they inform the mood of your writing, but sometimes your writing will inform how you listen to things differently. I have often been in the car and decided to move a song to a playlist because while I'm thinking about my characters the thoughts I previously had about a piece of music will warp to suit my head space.

As for trying to set a schedule, I'm really bad at it. But I also realize I need to do it. I get much more done if I have a set time to sit down and work through words, even if it's not always what I'm meant to be working on.


I'm currently working on a short story about steampunk vampires in space, which some of you probably know about. I told someone in my local writing group I'd have her a draft by the end of October, so that's a deadline I set for myself with the help of an outside person. I'm also trying to figure out how to start this magical realism novel I've been kicking around. I'm not quite sure how to tackle it. I keep thinking about what I want it to be in its finished form and becoming overwhelmed by everything entirely.

WORDS. HOW DO THEY WORK?

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

It's true, sometimes knowing the shape of the finished piece can be daunting!

What if you didn't start at the beginning? What if you wrote the scene that feels strongest, or the end, or a couple of moments?

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

This is cool. Love the icon, Gary. I only felt a tiny bit voyeuristic watching the conversation. :)

I am a deadline kinda girl, which is why things like Idol and Nano are good for me. whipchick and I have been doing writing agreements - "I'll write tonight if you will." - which has helped.

I entered the Lascaux Flash Fiction contest (http://www.lascauxflash.com/2012/09/146-broken.html), which was I think my first non-Idol public submission of a story (and proof that I do occasionally write fiction. I know. It's shocking.) :)

I've all but stopped working on the Nicole novel. I may just set it down for a while, since I can't wrap my mind around the bad guy and that's kinda major. My mind has already been mulling ideas for this year's Nano.

I write best in the dark. There's probably a writing topic right there, or a subject for therapy. :) If I have music it can't have lyrics or I'll sing instead of write, so I have some new-agey relaxationish music I play.

I CAN sit down and write because I said I would, but I find that I do much better when inspired. Of course, there is value in priming the pump, and I've been thinking about some of my daily-ish writing sessions as akin to scales and arpeggios in music. You don't expect to ever perform them for an audience, but they help you be ready to play.

The "tell a story in 250 words or less" concept was so foreign to me, I went back and grabbed some old stories of mine and brutally edited them down to 250 words just to see what they looked like. Most of them I was happiest with around 450-500 words, but most of them had started over a thousand. So I learned a lot.

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

If I have music it can't have lyrics or I'll sing instead of write

I DO THIS TOO. [/random]

[alien-infinity.livejournal.com]

I've been working on my Gemma (http://alien-writings.livejournal.com/tag/the%20church%20and%20its%20orbs) universe, with the first book/the series tentatively titled "The Church and Its Orbs." I have nebulous plans to turn Gemma's story into a trilogy. It's currently in major rewrites right now, with pretty much the entire story getting overhauled.

That's far from the only thing I'm working on, though. I have a NaNoWriMo idea I want to try, as well as my "Jake & Vivienne (http://alien-writings.livejournal.com/tag/character:%20vivienne)" universe, which will probably end up being novella length or maaaaaaaaybe a shortish novel. It's now titled "It's All Downhill from Here."

That's not including all the other little universes that like to sprout up in my head. Like others, I am rather reliant on prompts, especially the ones from 500themes and writerverse.

Also, my major journal now is my writing journal, alien_writings, so I may be doing Idol from there as it's where all my writing is now.

[teenagewitch.livejournal.com]

I am still in my planning stages for Nano. I really want to hit 50K words this year and hopefully have some sort of novel to show for it. I pick music based on what mood I am in.

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

Well, this was a nice surprise! I just happened to click on my LJ link and was, well er, yeah, surprised...to see the site active in between seasons.
Way to go, Gary! Keep up the interest and offer a little something here for the more serious folks. There's some really good stuff here. Thanks,everybody for contributing!

My summer has gone Whoooosh! Unreal.
Looking forward to Season 9. See you all soon!

[michikatinski.livejournal.com]

I'm with mstrobel--it's hard to write unless I really want to write, but then sometimes it's a matter of just parking myself in front of a keyboard against my will and typing nonsense till something that interests me emerges.

:)

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

Gary & All,

What a great way to stay connected!

I finished my adoption memoir book a while back but have bees in super- serious edit mode Dow a few years. Last spring, I sucked it up money-wise and had it professionally edited. My editor believes it is too good a story for just Indy publishing, but the market sux, especially for memoir and especially more for newbie writers.

My book is a bit more than just growing up adopted and finding my birth family, altho that is the main plot. I have a fairly unique sub plot going with a father-daughter theme. Don't want to give spoilers here, but my editor says this would sell the book over other adoption books.

My daughter gets married in two weeks. After the wedding I need to buckle down and work on researching the iBook/ indep publishing options available to me.

In the meantime, I am finding contests to enter and using Twitter and FB and even LinkedIn to pimp my write!

All the info out there is very overwhelming to read and understand.
AW

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finishing! I'm just gearing up to send a piece to a professional editor, and it's scary! I keep having a hard time thinking, ok, I can just make it a little better before I send it, when I need to just go hey, I'm PAYING for this, JUST SEND IT :)

What info are you finding overwhelming?

[caile.livejournal.com]

Oh this is exciting!

I'm a small town reporter, so I'm already writing upwards of 100,000 words a year of non-fiction. I'm not saying that I'd rather not do that, because a. it pays my bills, b. it's endlessly interesting and c. I'm not at all sure I'd be able to do that much writing without externally imposed weekly deadlines. But I often find it hard to spend much time writing fiction in my free time. Does anybody else with a writing-intensive job have thoughts on managing this?

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Yay fun!

If I'm writing, I've got one of two motives: I'm trying to get laughs, or I'm so blindly furious about something it just comes exploding out of me. Even then, I tend to go for laughs, though I'll do it in a way that's far more pointed and satirical than silly and whimsical.

When I'm writing for laughs, I definitely need a deadline. My attention span is SHAMEFUL, so I gotta have some sort of whip being cracked at me or not a damn thing is going to get done. When I'm writing because I'm pissed, that's when shit takes on a life of its own.

As for what I'm working on at the moment... I'm kicking around a vague idea for a "this is how it really is" handbook and warning manual for people entering the teaching profession. Every New Teacher book out there is either idealistic to the point of being uselessly naive, or just a bunch of philosophical wank that's not good for anything at all other than setting new teachers up to fail because reality and philosophical wank are so damn different. I want to make a "Yes, Virginia, the emperor is naked" variety that identifies the heaping mountains of bullshit in public education, calls them out for what they are, and gives realistic survival strategies for navigating the murky depths.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

My attention span is SHAMEFUL, so I gotta have some sort of whip being cracked at me or not a damn thing is going to get done.

You know, we happen to have someone around here who can do exactly that. :)


I'm kicking around a vague idea for a "this is how it really is" handbook and warning manual for people entering the teaching profession.

This is a brilliant idea, and a perfect fit for you. Dooooooo iiiiiiiiiit!!!!!


Holy crap. There should be a whole series of these (a la the Dummies books). I could do customer service centers. Or, you know, couch potatoing.

Get crackin!

[oxymoron67.livejournal.com]

I've been working on writing down family stories (my family has an oral history that goes back to my my great-great grandparents).

Since I'm just on first drafts of these stories, I'm just writing down what comes into my mind. It's very episodic in its way.

I've actually been hesitating to write lately because the stories that have going through my mind are some of the darker ones. (I recently wrote down the story about my great-grandfather's sister's death, which was probably caused by a botched abortion.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

Maybe break up the emotional drain by editing a funny story between writing the darker ones? That way you can be the reader of the light hearted stuff and not have to drag it out of your own brain at the time.

[lilycobalt.livejournal.com]

First, thanks for getting this going, Gary!

I'm having trouble sustaining momentum right now. Even though I have an idea box that's filling up and several short stories from Idol that I want to polish, none of them are saying "write me now." I think that may be because so far, I haven't been able to sustain anything of any real length. Even with writerverse, I haven't come up with much.

I do have hope for a fantasy currently called The Girl in the Glass House. It's a reboot of a story that I did six years ago, but better. I liked what mstrobel had to say about revisiting ideas for this reason--I still find this one compelling enough to resume.

I write on a schedule now: two days a week on my Sims story, two days a week on original writing, two days a week editing, and a free day. I have not been successful with this schedule yet, but I have hope.

I find a lot of use in bouncing ideas with other people (seriously, talk to me), and in music. I also like writing on trains, but that's an expensive, time-consuming means of inspiration.

[alien-writings.livejournal.com]

I feel you on expensive and time-consuming inspiration. I've written some pretty neat stuff (and at other times gotten studying done!) while getting pedicures, but while that makes my toenails pretty, it does the opposite to my wallet, haha.

I'm feeling pretty damn low on inspiration right now. I'm also kind of pissed at my brain for wanting to work on different things than *I* want to work on, if that makes any sense. :/

[dreamwriteremmy]

I'm doing a lot of stuff.

I'm currently working on my NaNoWriMo set-up..

I picked up the last research book I needed a half-hour ago. And right now I'm about to embark on a cleaning journey because I actually think feng shui might be right about the state of my room interfering with the free flow of writing. I have so many piles of papers of old things that i need to seriously sit down and get rid of so working on that now.

I'm inspired by music too... And one of my other cleaning goals is to go through all my music and re-tag it so it's all good again so I can re-upload it back onto my google music account. :)

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your book!

I've been looking for poetry calls myself, trying to teach myself to write poems that people want to read and hoping that having guidelines will force that to happen. So far it's only worked once. What I really need is to find a cache of poets to talk to and pick brains with.

[selcazare.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this space, Gary!

I grabbed a freelance editing gig two weeks ago so my writing is not coming along as well as I'd like but I am still working on my crime novel and editing my horror novel's first draft. I am also working on short pieces for magazine submissions, including a pseudo-academic piece.

I am distracted by my homesickness as usual. I try to channel it into my writing but I basically just end up writing about place, which can only go so far. My musical choices are probably not helping but the music that fits the novel happens to be the music I listened to growing up, and I must have music on to write.

Reading is always my ultimate distraction and one that is completely guilt-free because I know I have to read... but I don't need to write 1,000-word reviews or re-read tomes like The Passage either.

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

I need a deadline in order to write, and preferably a focus/prompt. I had no motivation at all until Lascaux turned up, and then *poof*. Now I'm working on a concept for a NaNo novel, hoping if I have an outline to work from I can find it in me to crank out the words in November. The hard parts will be trying not to edit as I go, and just peel through - and creating the time and space to write. I don't have dedicated space in my house that's just mine, I get distracted in public places like coffee shops, and I haven't found a solution other than waiting until EK goes to bed - which means if I get on a roll I'm up until 2 or 3 in the morning, and that 6:30 alarm is truly alarming on four hours sleep. We'll see how it goes.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Nano! I hope you do it. I'm planning on doing my picture prompts every day again this year, since that seemed to help people last year. Or if it didn't help them they liked it well enough.

I don't have a dedicated space either, and I'm wondering if it wouldn't help me to carve one out. I tend to do all of my computer work perched on my bed, because I keep the laptop on my bedside table, but I worry that's part of the reason I can't sleep well either. And I can actually buckle down and work really well in coffee shops and bookstores, but sometimes I get too lazy to leave the apartment, which doesn't help. Pfah.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I miss that write GOOD pressure, too. What can we do about it?