#mournful monday

[welcometololaland]

Monday Mourning

Share your toughest writing challenge - dialogue, plot, overwriting, underwriting, mechanics (grammar / punctuation)

Thank you for the tag @ramonaflow!

I definitely have more than one Struggle, but the main ones are:

Overwriting - I literally always blow out my word counts by at least double, and I think half of that is due to me coming up with new plot points halfway through, but also because I overuse filler words to a ridiculous degree. Would love to make my writing sound a little less...Too Much?

Losing Motivation - Sometimes I get 50% of the way through and just...hate everything I've written. There's usually no particular reason for that, and if I go back later and review it, I realise it's Not That Bad. But I find it so easy to start a hating war against myself and it just ruins the experience (and sometimes the fic). Need a Cooper to tell me to shut down that negative self talk.

Needing Everything to be Different - I find idea generation pretty easy, and one of the things I love the most about writing is coming up with things that haven't been written in the fandom before OR spinning a popular trope, or going in a slightly different direction. But this creates decision paralysis a lot of the time because I'll write myself into a place which I think is TOO SIMILAR to something else and then I'll have a freak out about it not being different enough.

As you can see - many struggles. If anyone else wants to share their struggles, this is an open tag, but I'll also loop in: @celeritas2997 @clottedcreamfudge @rosedavid @iboatedhere @three-drink-amy @goodways @carlos-in-glasses @basilsunrise @strandnreyes @reyesstrand @never-blooms @alrightbuckaroo @heartstringsduet

[flowertrigger]

Mournful Monday

Thank you for the tag @apothecarose 💚 Never has a writing tag game been more appropriate for me than this one 😂

I don't even know why I try to write fics since I've always hated creative writing since a kid. One of my main issues is beefing out an idea so it's interesting enough to sustain a whole story. I love coming up with ideas but I don't want what I'm writing to be too one dimensional which is why I've been so stuck on this one fic. Like what I had planned to write will kinda result in nothing really happening, but then I think about all the fics I've read where nothing really happened but them meeting and getting along, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them - so why am I being so critical about my own story?

And I only have two posted fics, both of which don't have any significant plot so maybe I'll never be a writer who can come up with a super original, plot twisty, oh my god how did they think of that, epic +30k story, and I just have to accept that.

All this to say, is what I'm writing warranted? Will it even be read? Is it all worth it??? I don't know.

*has an existential breakdown*

Anyone else want to have a breakdown, if you haven't been asked already? @ramonaflow @smblmn @chelle-68 @dinnfameron @lizzie-bennetdarcy

[ramonaflow]

Mournful Monday

Thanks for the tag @trickiwooao3 and @jesuisici33 🩵

I'm going to moan about the fact that I'm too easily distracted. I keep setting time aside specifically to read and write and then I end up doing neither.

On Sunday I had the whole day free so I had planned to definitely read some fic and then hopefully write. I attempted a drabble, couldn't get it to fit into less than 300 words so I deleted it. But then I regretted deleting it so today I've tried to remember what I wrote. Then I spent way too long trying to think of a name for an original character - why is that so hard?

So my Sunday was spent not reading, writing a few words that were pointless, thinking about stuff that I could be writing but not actually doing it, scrolling Tumblr, opening and closing my docs and watching Weeds. Oh and asking my son for grammar advice 🤣

I'm going to tag @flowertrigger @a-noble-dragon @chelle-68 @smallumbrella369 @wordthieve @treluna4 @wearpersistencewell @demora00 @legalgal421 @sspaz1000

[rmd-writes]

mournful monday

a place to complain about our writing woes - thanks @trickiwooao3 and @hippolotamus for the tags

I’ve been reading everyone else’s posts about how they used to be able to write more, or faster, or “better” (whatever that means for them) and my god can I relate. There was a really rough patch for me recently where the words just. did. not. work. I could write snippets and drabbles, but trying to write a fic was like pulling teeth and there was no real reason for it. In the end, I had to do what I never do and abandon a wip and move on from it to get unstuck. I am very much a writer who finishes things. I have two unfinished wips because it pains me to leave things unfinished. It wasn’t an instant solution, but it helped (as did abandoning my plans to write some smut lol).

The words are flowing more freely these days, but not like they used to. Part of it is a lack of time, part of it is a lack of focus (I struggle to not do All The Things). It’s hard sometimes, to see how much writer friends are able to generate in just hours/a day/a week and not compare it to my own output.  But I know that they have their own struggles. Which is it really, isn’t it? There are parts of this that we all find difficult, and yet we persist, because we love it and it brings us joy 💖

consider this an open tag for anyone who wants to complain about their writing woes

[mostlyinthemorning]

Mournful Monday aka Moaning Monday

Thanks to @trickiwooao3 and @carolrain for the tags!

I deeply appreciate the opportunity to moan about my writing, because I have barely written any words since Christmas, mostly because work is sucking away all my time and energy. Plus, I'm supposed to be editing some original words, which is the worst thing ever, but I'm locked into a vortex of "can't write, I should be editing -> can't edit, because editing sucks."

At any rate, this is me 👇

Tagging @weathereyehorizon @dinnfameron @missgeevious @noahreids @blackandwhiteandrose because I know they'd like to complain about their writing.

[filet-o-feelings]

Mournful Monday

Thanks for the tag @stereopticons and @hippolotamus

I'm going to start this off by saying I'm both sad and thrilled that there is a designated day/tag game to complain about writing, because yes, we all seem to be struggling lately and it's good to know we aren't alone, but also... I hate that everyone else seems to be struggling lately.

Anyway, I will admit that a lot of the time when I complain about not writing I'm not making much of an effort, but over these last few weeks I have actually opened docs and reread things and tried to write drabbles and prompts and nothing seems to be getting through. I've been here before, so I'm trying to tell myself I'm just gathering data by reading a bunch instead of writing, and the words will come back eventually... but it's hard when the motivation is actually there but the words just refuse. I want to be writing, but the words don't want to be written right now.

I did write about 240 words this weekend on the tumblr poll build-a-fic (which I want to share so bad, but I need to hold off) so there's a tiny amount of progress and maybe a sign that things will start turning around soon.

Anyone else want to complain about writing? @statueinthestone @sspaz1000 @jamilas-pen @flowertrigger @jesuisici33

[lizzie-bennetdarcy]

Mournful Monday

Tagged by @carolrain @hippolotamus @jesuisici33 @flowertrigger thank you, lovely friends ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I do finally have an outline for my main wip, but it doesn't have an ending and I'm having trouble finding motivation to write. I was telling a friend the other day, I try not to make myself write because I don't want to it to turn into a chore, but that also means I don't get a lot of writing done. And I do really want to write this fic. It's hard to think of myself as a writer, and I don't have a lot of perception when it comes to my own writing skill, so it's tough to be confident.

Life is generally okay. It's pretty good actually, I just feel like I've gotten into a rut and I wish there were more time in the day for creative endeavors.

It's barely Monday anymore, so I won't tag anyone, but feel free to consider this your tag if you need to vent, and my inbox is always open if you want to talk!

[nopizzaaftermidnight]

[carolrain]

Mournful Monday

Ha ha ha ha ha. @trickiwooao3 wants to hear about our writing experiences today, and, well, I aim to please.

See, I was just going to listen to a couple of Judy Collins songs while I finished my coffee and did the daily jigsaw puzzle. But that turned into sifting through her albums on Spotify, which somehow led me to listening to . . . thirteen different versions of “City of New Orleans.” Then I had to read a couple of Wikipedia articles on trains and a rec.music.folk thread from 1994 about the writing of the song.

I also maybe told a cat to get out of my face and off my paper seventy-six times, ate a piece of cold pizza, and paced in the kitchen a bit. And checked on Twitter (they are not okay over there; it’s all rabies, Duggars, and how much women weigh).

But I did write a page of handwritten notes about how to make a Broken Dishes quilt and other thoughts about the fic, so I could have been less productive.

This is all in-character and extremely typical for me.

I'll tag @mostlyinthemorning @mammameesh @lizzie-bennetdarcy and @mallpretzles in case they want to talk about their own writing, critique my music choices, or just look at a nice quilt.

(The making of this quilt is lovingly documented here, here, and here by susies-scraps.com)

[rosedavid]

Mournful Monday

Tagged by @stereopticons to allow myself to vent about writing which, whew, I always have something to vent about. 

This week, I’m really struggling with the idea of perfectionism. I know the best thing to do with writing is just write, but I’m finding myself writing a sentence only to immediately go back and edit it until it’s perfect. Of course, because of this, I’m struggling to get more than a few sentences down at a time. 

This week, I want to work on just writing messy. I want to try and get my thoughts down with reckless abandon. I want to write the most undignified draft ever because then at least I’ll have something written. 

To any others out there struggling with perfectionism in your writing, I’m right there with you. It can be so hard sometimes not to let yourself get too caught up in the little details. 

Monday is basically over, but please feel free to share your writing woes! Also, if anyone ever wants to chat privately about it, my DMs are open <3

[blackandwhiteandrose]

Mournful Monday

I was tagged by @mostlyinthemorning and @hippolotamus to whine about writing.

I’m at a weird place with writing right now. I haven’t done much of it, nor have I really been in the mood to try. 

I’ve spent the last couple of years feeling I had to keep making words, had to keep putting things out there and maybe I’m just a little burnt out. Or maybe life be life-ing a little too hard.

I don’t know.

But as I’ve written this, it’s making me think maybe I actually I do kind of miss it.

Huh.

(anyone who wishes to complain about the creative process, please consider yourself tagged.)

[smallumbrella369]

Mournful Monday

Thanks for the tags @trickiwooao3 and @ramonaflow

A mournful Monday indeed. I’ve been in a creative limbo for some time. My bandwidth has been taken up by heavier than usual life stuff. My brain swirls with the wips I have waiting. I’ve opened docs and completely freeze. It feels awful in a variety of ways!

All those unpleasant feelings are telling me something though.

 You’re carrying a heavy thing. It’s okay to rest. 

So, if you’re feeling terrible about your writing or not writing at all, or whatever it is, know that you’re not alone and that it’s okay to rest. 

It’s barely even Monday but I’ll tag @five678patty @meadowharvest4856 @apothecarypants @statueinthestone @missgeevious

[hippolotamus]

Mournful Monday

thank you for the tag @stereopticons

Not to be heavy, but... due to some personal health issues my writing time has been cut down a lot. Some days I can barely stay awake to read other people's work, let alone create my own. And I'm realizing one of the fics I'm working on (that I thought would be shortish) is going to be more involved than I originally anticipated (I'm shocked! said no author ever). I'm not upset that it will take more - I would never want to cheat the story - but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't disheartening considering how much I've slowed down. The silver lining is that I'm being forced to really take the process scene by scene and not think about the whole thing. So there's that 💞

care to share your writing woes my love @lizzie-bennetdarcy @blackandwhiteandrose @shortsighted-owl @alyxmastershipper @elvensorceress @rmd-writes @apothecarose?

[cal-kestis]

battle choso (ง •̀–•́)ง

[mermaidinn]

[sakasakiii]

the idea of the peredhel twins having heightened senses due to their maia blood is one of the concepts ive seen floating around that i really like, so here's my take on it combined with the feanorians (+ fingon) lingering about as houseless spirits that i explored some time ago in an old inktober post 😌

houseless spirits see all, but they can't interact with the world around them so i suppose that makes for quite a static existence...but compared to an oathbound eternity in Mandos (sans Fingon??), i like to imagine they'll stay a little longer to watch over those left behind, just to make sure they're doing alright 👍🏻

some more lighthearted bonuses cuz why not: