snowflake challenge #3

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In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out.

Okay, I'm actually bad at this, at least online, because I always feel the need to correct myself at the end or be all "but it's not that bad" because I'm doing the whole "in the grand scheme of things", comparing it to what I feel are real problems. With other people, I will definitely be like "just because other people have it worse doesn't mean your problems are less valid" but somehow the brain doesn't really let you extend that kind of sympathy to yourself. Funny how that works.

Since I'm avoiding real life/politics talk and *gestures to the state of the world* all that, my gripe is currently my inability to write. I want to write fic, I have to write fic with the deadlines I have (both real and self imposed), but somehow, when I stare at a word document, I'm getting nothing! It's not like I don't know what to write either. I even have ideas on what I want to do or where I want to go with my stories, but the scenes that sound so great in my head will just not come out. I barely wrote in December and I have nothing so far this month. It's just extremely frustrating to want to want to do something yet not be able to.

I thought maybe stepping back for a few days and not thinking about it would help, but it's just a few more days that I'm not writing and it's not any easier. I may just have to go back into writing sprints and force it out but I wish it could come more naturally. I miss when it came more naturally.

If anyone has any advice on what they do in similar situations, please feel free to share!

Comments

[demigodscum]

Ah, I've been in the exact same boat with regard to writing for a couple of months now. It's the whole reason I started vidding.

City Lights did a virtual session last year with adrienne maree brown and Alexis Pauline Gumbs, whose work I enjoy deeply, in which they talked a little about following Octavia Butler's (brown and Gumbs are both Butler scholars) philosophy. Basically, the advice is "Trust habits, don't wait for inspiration. Make yourself available to the work and take responsibility for it." So now I try to practice that. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm slowly getting more consistent, I think. It helps to start by building routine — every evening, even if I know I'm not going to write, I open Scrivener and re-read bits of my wip or whatever. I also really like the advice wearing_tearing gives above, and I think it could work well in combination with this habit thing. I'm certainly going to give it a go.

Best of luck! May we all write all the words in our head soon.

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Vidding is one of those things that I would love to but don't have the patience/dedication. And my laptop is super old so I doubt it can handle anything lol

I will keep that in mind. Thank you! Building good habits is important and I can see how something like writing can be a routine. If I wait until I have inspiration, I can just keep putting it off and I do procrastinate. I will give this a shot too. :d

Thank you! Fingers crossed for us both!