#bc like having something to live for thats real and tangible would be nice

[madame-mongoose]

want kitty to aid my mental health but pet fee at my apartment is $300 💔

[actualbird]

ummmm its not That Personal but like uh. u write a lot, like a lot and i notice that ur also. depressed? and im depressed too and i like to write but i just cant figure out how to like. sit and write for a while. actually get something done idk if thats something u have any advice for i would Appreciate It

oh! okay well. hum. i have to admit that most of my writing habits that push me to do stuff like write 7k words in a day are actually p…unhealthy? to the self? so i’ll skip over those and give u stuff i do that isnt Bad because my god, we gotta look out for each other:

the absolute beginning of writing a piece starts with ideas and concepts, and i have a google doc filled with bullet points of ideas. this doesnt really have anything to do with the Sitting Down And Writing Bit, but it’s super helpful for when you’re in a funk. just. any idea you think of, no matter how dumb, jot it down. in my bmc idea list i have a bullet point that’s just “they are spies” and another thats even dumber that just says “anti-anxiety rice”. these reservoirs of silly ideas help me out a bunch.

this is something that really depends on you, bc people have differing opinions on this, but i write outlines!!! and it’s something that i find very helpful. i was basically trained to outline everything throughout high school, to the point that i cant even write a 500 word essay without one. outlines differ for everybody, but i find that it’s most helpful for me to write out 1) important details (ex. in my latest fic, i listed down all the dragon characteristics i wanted to give michael) and 2) all the main scenes (ex. in my latest fic, i wrote one sentence for each of the eight main scenes). outlines are really good because you’re getting your ideas out in a tangible form that starts to take shape, but it’s not the Heavy Stuff Just Yet. it’s a nice way to ease yourself into the writing mood, and it’s godsend for when youre already writing because, once youve got all your ideas and plot points out, all you have to do is write the words.

of course, that’s kinda the hardest part HAHA. sitting down and Doing The Thing is a chore hhhhhh. but practice helps you get through it easier and easier each time, i guess. 4 years ago i was writing tiny fics that were barely 1k long and took me a week to write. now i am here. it’s cliche advice everybody gets, but it’s because it’s Real: practice. practice. practice. depression is a big heavy sludge that stops you from doing everything, but if you make something a habit, it tends to become muscle memory. if you can, try to write something everyday. it doesnt have to be big! just a sentence or two. even just a few ideas. just write something. then keep on working your way up. when youre confident with the daily habit, maybe set a wordcount goal. like 100 words a day. or maybe 500 a week (that was my goal back when i had class. it’s a nice, lax goal that doesnt feel too daunting but still gets stuff done!) start small and work your way up!! as somebody who marathon writes shitloads of words in a day, it’s draining. setting a schedule with smaller, broken down increments is much, much better. 

my laptop is Really Weird And Probably A Bootleg, so i dont have msword or any word processor that can count words correctly sdhfkjsdhf. so i write on google docs and i use wordcounter.net . wordcounter is a really useful site for me because not only does it display your wordcount WAY HUGER THAN MS WORD WOULD, thus kinda putting it Out There how much youve got written, but it’s also got cool stuff like reading time and reading level and word density (word density saves my life every fic. it makes sure i dont make characters fukn shrug all the time lmao)

my kamikaze mode, aka what i do when i start and finish writing the bulk of a fic or a chapter in one day, goes a little bit like this: heavy breakfast. write write write. more food. write write write. nap. food. write write write. +various twenty minute breaks in between all the writing. frankly, i dont know how i do this because it passes mostly in a haze, but breaks are!!!! important!!!!!!!!!!! i cannot stress this enough. your eyes are gonna hurt like hell after staring at a screen for hours. your WRISTS are gonna ache. your neck!! your butt!!! if you dont take a break, u will turn into a gargoyle!!! trust me, okay, ive already turned into one once. wasnt great. drink water and stretch and walk around. if you dont wanna separate from ur laptop, at least stop writing and look at memes or read over what u have so far.

when youre actually writing, my philosophy is Never Edit. misspelled a word? mark with an asterisk and come back later. forgot a word? mark it with an asterisk and come back later. transition is wonky? dont fix it, keep writing. mark it with an asterisk and come back later. editing is important, but when youre in the Writing Groove is not to the time to do it. more often than not, editing becomes an excuse that hinders your wordcount progress under the thin veil of “hmmmm this could be better.” it sure could! but fix it later. when im writing, my only goal is to get it done. everything else comes later, because at least by that point, i have a full piece to fix instead of a scene i keep reworking over and over again. the momentum that results from this is Powerful and not even the Depression Sludge Monster That Lives On A Couch In My Brain can defeat it. get fucked DSMTLOACINB!!!!

this is barely coherent, but it’s all ive really got to say….all of this is completely subjective, and what works for me will not work for everybody else, but this is how do stuff. depression is an awful piece of fuck and it sucks so bad and im so sorry youve gotta deal with it, but yo, working past it is possible!! it’s hard, but it’s possible.

i hope you have a great day anon. kick depression in the nuts with ur kickass writing.