#anyway this is from Nov/22 and I never posted it but my brain is going insaneo mode over these fictional charters and needed to publish this

[gravityfalls-amirite]

Ironically watched the first Trolls movie with my sister last night because I started watching Trolls Band Together ironically in front of her to see her reaction. About 5 mins in, because neither of us wanted to back down and understood nothing going on, she was like ‘we don’t have the lore knowledge!!’ and goaded me to watching the first movie with her for jokes

… we have just finished unironically watching the second movie just now, and back where we started with the latest movie and will be watching it (now unironically 🫠😂)

Edit(ish): ended up placing this in my drafts instead of posting but whatever. Finished the 3rd movie movie and I actually like these movies now I don’t care. I guess it’s cringe but I’m not immune to catchy covers of songs I like and that new nsync song lol

[momentofmemory]

it’s almost the end of october, which means one of the greatest, most terrifying exploits known to writers is upon us: NaNoWriMo.

there are plenty of super good survival posts out there, but as this’ll be my seventh time participating (six wins, hoping for a seventh), i thought i’d drop my own set of tips into the mix. i’m going to focus mostly on the practical details of how to write; if you want tips on the writing itself either search the writing/reference tags or pester me to do another one later :P with that said, ~on with the post~

Step One: Figure Out Your Goal

i know, i know, obviously it’s to write 50k, but what does that mean to you? are you expecting

polished prose, ready to send off to a publisher?

being able to write every day? 

just throwing up a bunch of ideas?

a mix of everything?

all of these are valid, but they’re going to require different approaches. if you want jaw-dropping writing, you’re going to need in the ballpark of five or more hours each day, if not more. if you want consistency, you’ll want to look at your normal schedule and set up a couple times you know you can write at. if just you want words, pretty much all you need to make sure is that you squeeze writing time in whenever.

your goal will probably change as the month progresses, and that’s totally fine. just check in every so often to remember a)what you’re working for and b)if it’s actually plausible. speaking of...

Step Two: Realize Your Limitations

1. Typing.

imma get super practical here: your typing speed dictates how fast you can get done. if you write 40wpm (the average), you cannot write the full 1667 in a half hour any more than you can run a mile in under three minutes. it’s honestly not a bad idea to check out your own speed, if only to help you understand yourself better. in my experience, actual writing then works like this (using my max speed, 89, as an example):

Absolute Max: 89 wpm (baseline)

Warring: 70 (75% of baseline)

In the zone: 45 (50% of baseline)

Taking my time, concentrated: 22 (25% of baseline)

anything lower than your max/4 probably means you’re spending a lot of time either researching or staring at the page, so just be aware of that.

2. Time & Focus

this kinda goes without saying, but best case scenario this is at least 1-2 hours of your life a day, or dedicating full Saturday/Sundays if you’re a weekend warrior kind of person. it’s so, so worth it if you can make time for it, but also don’t feel bad if you can’t! doing a half nano (25k) or whatever you want is also a fully acceptable plan.

that said, if you do have time, figure out your focus too. if you’ve never been the kind of person that can type for six hours straight, you will probably not magically become this person when it hits Nov. 1 (though with practice, you might be by Nov. 30). i like trying to write at least 300 before work and another 300 during lunch. that way there’s only 1k left for the evening, and having words on the page just makes me feel better. experiment with different ways of blocking out your time in the first few days and see what works best for you.

3. Don’t Forget You Live in a Body

writing is hard work, you will need to eat brain food! hunching over wrecks your back, stand up and stretch every so often! you will hate existing if you forgo sleep for days! and for the love of charles dickens, patron saint of getting paid by the word, take care of your mother-effing wrists!!

seriously on that last one. i’ve ignored it in the past and thoroughly screwed up my wrists one year; don’t be me. keep in them in a neutral position, do regular stretches, and if you need to, get wrist wraps (i recommend these).

Step Three: Actually Doing the Thing

the previous steps have had pretty broad advice, but now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. these are mostly things i know work for me, and therefore may not for you—adjust to your own needs!

1. Write for 15 Minutes Every Day, Non-Negotiable.

i don’t even mean this is a “write 15 min and then your brain will be tricked into writing more” kinda way, but like, literally. you’re probably not going to be able to do 1667 every day—sometimes you’ll be tired and just won’t have the time. you’re very likely, however, to have 15 minutes, and you’ll want to use them. Doesn’t matter if you write 50 words or 500 in that time, at least you’ll have done something, and that’s usually enough to keep you from feeling like just giving up the next day.

2. You Might Need Physical Spaces

i’m a pretty sensory person when it comes to writing, and having a dedicated writing space is so helpful for me. going back to the idea of being an embodied person, it’s a lot easier to get your brain into a writing mode if your body’s already there. some good options include:

coffee shops (cozy! food!)

a specific room in your home (easily accessed! do what you want!)

libraries (free! quiet!)

a friend’s house (writing buddy! easy access to sounding board!)

all of these places usually have access to wifi, which is a positive.

3. You Definitely Need Digital Spaces

i pretty much always write in the same processor, once again because it helps set the mood. the main options include:

google drive (solid choice, cloud backup, mobile accessible)

dabble writer (cloud backup, links to nano, dark mode, chapter options)

write or die (only for actual writing—a scary but effective motivator; save elsewhere)

word/pages/etc. (ready to go on your computer, formatting options)

scrivener (great plotting tools, detailed interface)

i use dabble writer myself (they’re a nano sponsor, so you can get it free for this month, and as a double bonus you get it half off for the rest of the year if you win). and no, i’m not getting paid to wax poetic about them, but honestly i’ve used it to win the past two years and i adore it. 

anyway my biggest tip here is that i SUPER SUPER DON’T RECOMMEND NON-CLOUD OPTIONS. it’s very risky, but if you must, do a proper back up at least once a week. that shiz is not worth it.

4. The Timer is Your New Best Friend

because i’ve heard this argument before: no, it’s not a crutch, and no, it’s not cheating. it’s literally best practices. i’m personally a big fan of this online timer, and i let it run for 15 min every time i write. after each session i check how many words i wrote, then after maybe a quick 1-2 min break, start over.

you can totally set the timer for longer or shorter periods, depending on what works for you. i’m a fan of the 15 min sessions bc it’s just long enough to get a bit of flow going, and just short enough that i can convince my spacy brain that we can get through it without wandering. it’s also a fantastic length for warring, if you’re down for that.

5. Write That Idea Down for Lewis’s Sake

the original idea for the chronicles of narnia came to c.s. lewis when he was at a restaurant, and thank the lord, he wrote it down on a napkin. he wouldn’t write it until some time later, but if he hadn’t written it down, he might’ve forgotten it. why is this important, you ask?

BC YOU WILL FORGET THINGS.

if you have an idea, write it down in your phone or your notebook or the waterproof paper in your shower, because i don’t care how sure you are that you’ll remember it, you super won’t. i’ve forgotten many solutions to plot holes in my time and i still hold vigils over their graves. don’t be me. write it down.

Step Four: Managing that Inner Critic of Yours

all right, pay attention. i’m not going to tell you not to edit, because i would be a massive hypocrite if i did. i totally edit during nano. the important part is letting your editor help you win, not hurt you. and that means gaming your critic’s system.

1. Have a Dedicated Deletion Section

many people hear “don’t delete anything” and baulk, because for some of us it’s distracting and we want to rewrite that section until it matches our vision. so, i’m here to tell you: delete it!! rewrite entire chapters!! just save the original content as part of your word count. this is another reason i love dabble, bc at the start of nano i just make a separate part of the book, label it “delete”, and any time i’m writing and dislike a sentence/paragraph i just dump it into that folder and move on. this way you still get to keep the numbers (and why shouldn’t you? you wrote them!) while also writing words you actually like. plus, sometimes that line you deleted in ch. 1 winds up being supremely pertinent in ch.15, and now you can just copy/paste it instead of having to try to remember what exactly you’d said.

2. Acknowledge Ranting as a Time Honoured Tradition

think there’s no precedent for that 2K diatribe you wrote on the london underground? well fear not, because you can’t possibly do worse than hugo’s entire chapters worth of content on the french sewer system! or melville’s frankly terrifying obsession with the finer features of whale biology!

like, yeah, maybe you’ll decide later you don’t need it, but for now, embrace that soap box. dead white guys have been doing it for centuries and still get places in college syllabi. the least you can do is give it a place in your word count.

Step Five: Have Fun!

i know, i know, it’s cliche, but seriously. if this isn’t fun, or at least rewarding, why are you doing it anyway? so enjoy it! send passages you’re proud of to your friends! daydream about it in the car on the way to work/school! cry over a notebook about the twist you just came up with! nano’s a time of fun and exploration, and you shouldn’t miss out on it because you’re thinking too much.

also, this might be counter productive to put at the end of an essay on nano, but don’t obsess over reading essays on nano :P there comes a time when one must simply do, and nano is pretty much the definition of that.

[impalaimagining]

Top Fics of 2016

Super late to this party, like almost a month, but I was tagged in a few of these, so better late than never. I guess, maybe?

I started this blog in 2016, so pretty much everything on my masterlist is from last year. This was hard to choose! I feel so attached to all my fics, I hate picking favorites, but here we go! (In no particular order)

Here’s the format I used for this:

Fic Name w/ Link - date. Summary.       Why I chose it.

Always You - Dec. 28. Reader’s now ex-fiance calls off the engagement and leaves her high and dry. She finds comfort in Jared.        So, I actually feel some type of personal connection to this story. I have a really good (male) friend who I can’t help but turn to when things get rough with my now-fiance (Andrew). There was one time, things were really bad with hubs-to-be, and I went to said friend (we’ll call him Joe, for the sake of confidentiality). Andrew and I fought, I actually left, went back home to my parents’ house, and Joe lived right down the street. I told him I didn’t want to see anyone, just wanted to be alone to figure everything out, but he came over anyway. It didn’t end the way this fic did, thank goodness, but he was there for me like no one else ever has been. Sometimes I use my life to write for y’all. Does that make me selfish? Probably. Did I just totally spill my guts to all of you? I sure did. Oops.

Party of Five - Sept. 16. AU where Jared is not married to Gen (no offense or disrespect intended). Jensen is still married to Danneel and they still have JJ. You’re pregnant, and Jensen comes to visit while Jared is away. When Jared returns, you’re all in for a big surprise.       I loved writing this. Just thinking about how Jared would react to having a daughter, man, it gets me. I feel all kinds of things, even just reading it now. And the friendship and protectiveness of Jensen makes my heart happy.

Blood Red - Started Sept. 30, ongoing series. Meeting the Winchesters happened unexpectedly, but it was in someone’s plans all along.      This is such a strange brainchild of mine. When I posted the most recent part, someone asked me what kind of twisted web I’m spinning. It’s a trip, but I think it’s worth it.

Inner Demons - Nov. 4. (Slight) AU. Demons don’t always come from Hell and possess people, sometimes they live within - forever.      This one was a cool twist on Demon!Dean. Very happy my cousin suggested it and showed the song to me.

Just Another Face in the Crowd - Started Aug. 18, ongoing series. You poured your heart into a letter, then you gave it to Jared Padalecki. You never thought that letter would’ve changed your life the way it did.      My baby. My first fanfiction ever. This story is so close to my heart. The letter the reader gives Jared? That’s my AKF story. The tattoo behind the reader’s ear? That’s my tattoo. I wish this sounded less selfish, but I absolutely adore this series. I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna keep it going, maybe a few more parts. It’s going to break my heart to see it go.

Ruined - Oct. 22. One convention, one question, one positive pregnancy test, and some terrible news from the Padalecki’s. That was all it took to flip your world upside down.      This started as a one shot idea. Then, of course, my brain took over and it turned into a series. Now it’s spiraling out of control and I’m probably in over my head, but hey, I love it! This series is full of angst and heartbreak, some fluff here and there, and the smut is on its way. Definitely one of my favorites.

Cold and Close - Oct. 7. A cold night chills you to the bone, and Sam gives you his jacket.       I just need this so badly, that’s why I love this. Plain and simple. Fluffy Sam giving you his jacket to keep you warm, and you get to share a bed with him? Oh man.

Just Once - Nov. 1. You find Sam about a year after you two spent the night together.      There’s really no reason for choosing this other than the fact that it’s smut and fluff with my boy Sam. Really, that’s all there is to it. I just love it.

What if I Stay? - Sept. 14. Sam spends the night, Dean shows up the next morning.      It’s cute, it’s silly, it’s slightly smutty. This song was stuck in my head for weeks and I couldn’t help but write it. I loved writing Dean as he was realizing what happened between his best friend and his little brother. This is a trope I’ve definitely fallen in love with, which is why it appears so much in my fics.

Yeah, that’s it, there’s my favorite nine fics of last year! Hope y’all enjoy(ed) them! :)