#i'm gonna set a FIVE MINUTE pomodoro timer

[beneathsilverstars]

it's 9:30 and i still haven't started my work 😵‍💫 i haven't procrastinated this badly since before i- started taking my new meds that i've forgotten to take several times this week afaik, fuck

[imaginarybird]

✏️ Do you write every day? 🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP. ⏰ Do you spend more time reading fic, writing fic, or do you do both equally?

✏️ Do you write every day? I try really hard to. I don't have word goals, but I try to write for at least 30 minutes a day.

⏰Do you spend more time reading fic, writing fic, or do you do both equally? It probably depends on the day but to try and keep myself on track with writing and let me keep on top of things in the tags/fandoms I like to read for I've been using a pomodoro timer to go in between the two lately.

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP. Beyond the readmore is a snippet from the first whumptober one (prompt: Blackmail) I'm working on, as of yet untitled. But it's a season three AU that starts post-tsunami but before Buck comes to the decision to sue.

Buck is going to say more and ask Chris about some of the things on his poster, but his phone buzzes in his pocket grabbing his attention. He pulls it out, frowning when he sees that the incoming text is from an unknown number. 

He swipes the message open. It’s a link that, when he clicks on it, brings him to a news story from Houston.

Former Houston Firefighter Awarded $5.6 Million in Employment Discrimination Lawsuit

Buck is scanning the article when his phone buzzes again, this time for longer. The unknown number is calling. He glances at Chris. “Sorry bud, I’ve got to answer this. I’ll be right back.” He steps out into the hallway, accepting the call. “Hello?”

“Buckley!”  The caller greets with more enthusiasm than Buck is expecting. He recognizes the voice fairly quickly as he speaks. “Did you get my message?”

“Mackey.” Buck rolls his eyes as he walks down the hall. He’s never been able to stand still while he’s on the phone.

“Hell of an article, isn’t it? A firefighter in almost exactly your situation--had an injury, rehabbed the injury, wasn’t let back on the job--did what I told you you should do and got more than five million dollars. And his injury didn’t even occur on the job! Not to mention that Houston is small potatoes compared to LA. I’m telling you, the payout you are sitting on is massive.  But we have to get moving and file the suit.”

“And I’m telling you, I’m not interested.” Buck turns into the living room. “How did you even get my phone number?”

“Lawyers work with private investigators, Buckley. And while you’ve tightened up your internet presence in the past couple of years, it’s still not all that hard to track things down.”

Buck feels slimy even talking to this guy. And he doesn’t like knowing that he’s been digging into his life, even if it is just to contact him. He’s about to reiterate that he’s not interested in anything Mackey has to offer and hang up when the lawyer starts to speak again.

“Look I get that you’re reluctant. You had a good thing going, firefighting is a brotherhood, yada yada yada. But you’re one of this city’s finest. A hero. You saved people during the tsunami and you weren’t even working, and you’re gonna let some pencil-neck downtown keep you from saving lives? You deserve better, Buckley. And this city owes you. If you work with me, we can give them the wake-up call they need to take you seriously.”

“The answer is no. I don’t care if it’ll take a little longer. This isn’t how I want to get this fixed.”

“Time?” Mackey asks incredulously. “Who cares about time? I’m talking about a multi-million dollar payout. You’d be set for life and I’d--,” He cuts himself off. “This isn’t just about you,  kid.”

“I don’t care.” Buck repeats. “I’m not interested in money. I’m not interested in suing. I’m not interested in anything you have to offer. Don’t call me again.”

He hangs up before Mackey can say anything else and, just for good measure, blocks the number. He sighs, feeling tired. He hadn’t thought much about the lawyer after leaving the fire drill that morning, but apparently Mackey had been thinking about him. Buck will give him points for enthusiasm, but he loses just about all of that credit for his lack of listening skills and general sleaziness. Hopefully, this conversation will be the end of it.

[bleep0bleep]

hello ms. 0bleep i was hoping for some advice if you have a spare second? how do you motivate yourself to write? i recently made some writing commitments which i'm now a bit D: about because i feel like writers block is gong to kick me in the face. do you have any tips or tricks that you could share? thank you!

hi there anon! it’s a little different for everyone but i hope these ideas will help you!

first, make a goal or commitment-- it sounds like you already did, yay! now it might sound scary at first, like oh, i’m gonna write this huuuuge 50k thing but if you break it down into small pieces, like “today i’m gonna try and write 500 words”, it’s much more manageable

squeeze in short writing times! i typically go for about twenty minutes at a time. i set a timer (i don’t have an actual one, but if you type into google ___ minute timer, google automatically makes one for you), and then just write write write for twenty minutes, and then stop. and do something fun, like scroll tumblr for a few minutes, or eat a snack, or something else. then set another twenty minutes. i try to do this at least once a day, and have made pretty good progress on some big projects that sounded really scary at first.

have more than one project at a time-- this doesn’t work for everyone, but i really really really like it, because very often i will get stuck, and i don’t know how to proceed with a scene, or it’s hard and i don’t know where to go from here. so that way if i get stuck on one project, then i can go work on another one. 

write out of order -- again, if you are stuck, don’t just close the thing and stop. don’t know how to finish this scene? ok, open up a new thing and write the ending. don’t know the ending? write the middle. wanna write that big kiss scene? do it. if you’re writing and you’ve got energy, keep going, keep going. you can always put it back in order later.

write a random scene for funsies-- are you stuck? think of something fun your characters might do, it doesn’t matter if it’s part of the story or not, you can do it just to explore what they might do in that situation. i actually did this because i was really stuck in one of my novels, and i was like... i’m gonna write the first thing that comes to my head, which was i stuck my character in a coffeeshop. eventually a reworked version of that scene made it into the novel and it actually became a good plot point.

use placeholders for things to research later- this is super helpful because if you could be in the middle of a flow and you stop to ponder about what x character name is, then get sucked into backstory and what that name means, and then get distracted by the internet... this looks kind of like “Hello there,” [side character A] says, “[witty comment about tractors]”. i don’t know anything about tractors but i want this character to make a joke about it, so sticking this here right now is a easy way to keep writing and getting down the bones of the story without getting sidetracked.

write with friends! get into the spirit by asking a friend to sprint with you, or just tell someone you’re writing, so they can cheer you on. the #amwriting tag on twitter is pretty cool for this, lots of people cheering others on there! also the #nanowrimo tag, even though it’s not nano time right now, a lot of people really get into it. you can make friends to sprint with through the forums and it’s really fun!

treat yourself-- you are AWESOME and writing is a huge, daunting endeavor. take breaks! take lots of breaks. for every twenty minutes of work take a five minute break. (or twenty five and five, there’s an actual science to this called the pomodoro timer. this is a really great site that will time and it even makes cool ticky noises, and it’ll count down your work time/ break time.)

i hope these were helpful, anon! all the best ❤❤❤❤❤